VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Golden Bridge held up by stone hands, Da Nang
Da NangThe Golden Bridge held up by stone hands

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Da Nang by Nghia Tran, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Da Nang?

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

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Da Nang for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Da Nang’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, Da Nang 80: Da Nang leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Da Nang 67: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Da Nang 38: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Da Nang 44: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Da Nang 72: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Da Nang 80: Da Nang leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Da Nang 62: Da Nang leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai and Da Nang are level on 38.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Da Nang 40: Chiang Mai leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai and Da Nang are level on 90.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Da Nang 20: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Da Nang 64: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Da Nang.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping with your weighting.

Da Nang
58match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Da Nang in July

35 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0200400600800JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiDa Nang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Da Nang: 1991-2020 normals, Da Nang (4.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiDa Nang
Official languageThaiVietnamese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Dong (VND)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzACFG220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 113, ambulance 115, fire 114
Elevation310 m19 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsDa Nang International Airport (DAD)3 km from centre47 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiDa Nang
City population1,198,0002,819,900
People per km²2,958238
Museums within 10 km62
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Da Nang 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. 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.