VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Edinburgh?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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

Choose Edinburgh for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Edinburgh’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, Edinburgh 22: Edinburgh leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Edinburgh 53: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Edinburgh 75: Edinburgh leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Edinburgh 50: Edinburgh leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Edinburgh 75: Edinburgh leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Edinburgh 75: Edinburgh leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Edinburgh 62: Edinburgh leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Edinburgh 74: Edinburgh leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Edinburgh 50: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Edinburgh 30: Chiang Mai leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Edinburgh 72: Edinburgh leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Edinburgh 34: Chiang Mai leads by 48 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Edinburgh.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Edinburgh
56match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiEdinburgh

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiEdinburgh
Official languageThaiEnglish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112 or 999
Elevation310 m47 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiEdinburgh
City population1,198,000488,050
People per km²2,9581,884
Museums within 10 km632
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
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 Edinburgh 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.