VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Fort Lauderdale?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’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, Fort Lauderdale 88: Fort Lauderdale leads by 82 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Fort Lauderdale 47: Chiang Mai leads by 31 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Fort Lauderdale 28: Chiang Mai leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Fort Lauderdale 62: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Fort Lauderdale 58: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Fort Lauderdale 66: Fort Lauderdale leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Fort Lauderdale 32: Chiang Mai leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Fort Lauderdale 52: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Fort Lauderdale 32: Chiang Mai leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Fort Lauderdale 40: Chiang Mai leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Fort Lauderdale.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
50match

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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiFort Lauderdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiFort Lauderdale
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m11 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiFort Lauderdale
City population1,198,000182,760
People per km²2,9581,829
Museums within 10 km66
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Fort Lauderdale 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.