VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Senate Square and the statue of Alexander II, Helsinki
HelsinkiSenate Square and the statue of Alexander II

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Helsinki by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Helsinki?

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
  • food and drink
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Helsinki for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Helsinki’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, Helsinki 28: Helsinki leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Helsinki 52: Chiang Mai leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Helsinki 60: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Helsinki 50: Helsinki leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Helsinki 58: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Helsinki 62: Helsinki leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Helsinki 76: Helsinki leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Helsinki 86: Helsinki leads by 48 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai and Helsinki are level on 62.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Helsinki 30: Chiang Mai leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Helsinki 63: Helsinki leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai and Helsinki are level on 82.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Helsinki.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Helsinki
Best match
59match

Wins on getting around 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

Helsinki in July

22 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiHelsinki

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Helsinki: 1991-2020 normals, Helsinki Kaisaniemi / Harju (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiHelsinki
Official languageThaiFinnish, Swedish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m17 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsHelsinki Vantaa Airport (HEL)16 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiHelsinki
City population1,198,000694,392
People per km²2,9583,239
Museums within 10 km674
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Helsinki 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.