VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara
GuadalajaraThe twin towers of the cathedral over Plaza de Armas

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Guadalajara by Ponchomx, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Guadalajara?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Guadalajara for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Guadalajara’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, Guadalajara 5: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Guadalajara 75: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Guadalajara 62: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Guadalajara 68: Guadalajara leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Guadalajara 55: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Guadalajara 66: Guadalajara leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai and Guadalajara are level on 55.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Guadalajara 40: Guadalajara leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Guadalajara 60: Chiang Mai leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Guadalajara 78: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Guadalajara 60: Guadalajara leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Guadalajara 35: Chiang Mai leads by 47 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Guadalajara.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Guadalajara
55match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

Guadalajara in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
205 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiGuadalajara

Where the figures come from

Guadalajara has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Guadalajara: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiGuadalajara
Official languageThaiSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyBaht (THB)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m1,536 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsGuadalajara International Airport (GDL)17 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiGuadalajara
City population1,198,0001,385,621
People per km²2,9589,556
Museums within 10 km617
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Guadalajara 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.