VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Colourful shopfronts in the city centre, Cork
CorkColourful shopfronts in the city centre

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Cork by Selim Karadayı, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Cork?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Chiang Mai for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Chiang Mai’s own page.

Choose Cork for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Cork’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Chiang Mai 6, Cork 25: Cork leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Cork 58: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Cork 40: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Cork 40: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Cork 62: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Cork 68: Cork leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Cork 50: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Cork 58: Cork leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Cork 40: Chiang Mai leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Cork 33: Chiang Mai leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Cork 45: Cork leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Cork 22: Chiang Mai leads by 60 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Cork.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Cork
45match

Wins on day trips and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Chiang Mai in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Cork in July

19 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiCork

Where the figures come from

Cork's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiCork
Official languageThaiEnglish, Irish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m0 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsCork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre47 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiCork
City population1,198,000222,333
People per km²2,9585,961
Museums within 10 km65
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Cork somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.