VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Comares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra, Granada
GranadaComares Tower and the Palace of Charles V, Alhambra

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Granada by Jebulon, CC0.

Chiang Mai or Granada?

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
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Granada for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Granada’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, Granada 38: Granada leads by 32 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Granada 62: Chiang Mai leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Granada 80: Granada leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Granada 58: Granada leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Granada 80: Granada leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Granada 76: Granada leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Granada 52: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Granada 68: Granada leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Granada 40: Chiang Mai leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Granada 63: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Granada 58: Granada leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Granada 48: Chiang Mai leads by 34 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Granada.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Granada
Best match
60match

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
13 hdaylight a day

Granada in July

35 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
13 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiGranada

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Granada: 1991-2020 normals, Granada / Caserío Hospicio (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiGranada
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m693 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsF.G.L. Airport Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX)16 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiGranada
City population1,198,000233,975
People per km²2,9582,659
Museums within 10 km620
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

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