VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Faro?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Faro for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Faro’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, Faro 74: Faro leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Faro 48: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Faro 35: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Faro 32: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Faro 62: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Faro 64: Faro leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Faro 60: Faro leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Faro 60: Faro leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Faro 35: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Faro 60: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai and Faro are level on 30.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Faro 33: Chiang Mai leads by 49 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Faro.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches 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

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiFaro

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiFaro
Official languageThaiPortuguese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m10 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiFaro
City population1,198,00064,560
People per km²2,958319
Museums within 10 km62
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

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