VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Durban

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Durban?

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
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Durban for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Durban’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, Durban 80: Durban leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Durban 60: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Durban 38: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Durban 40: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Durban 68: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Durban 38: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Durban 60: Durban leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Durban 20: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Durban 42: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Durban 72: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Durban 40: Durban leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Durban 30: Chiang Mai leads by 52 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Durban.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Durban
49match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Durban in July

23 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiDurban

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiDurban
Official languageThaiEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyBaht (THB)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m22 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiDurban
City population1,198,000595,061
People per km²2,9582,634
Museums within 10 km61
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Durban 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. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.