VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima, Hiroshima
HiroshimaThe floating torii of Itsukushima at Miyajima

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Hiroshima by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Hiroshima?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Hiroshima for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Hiroshima’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, Hiroshima 30: Hiroshima leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Hiroshima 66: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Hiroshima 60: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai and Hiroshima are level on 45.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Hiroshima 62: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Hiroshima 80: Hiroshima leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Hiroshima 60: Hiroshima leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Hiroshima 74: Hiroshima leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Hiroshima 52: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Hiroshima 58: Chiang Mai leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Hiroshima 38: Hiroshima leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Hiroshima 50: Chiang Mai leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Hiroshima.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Hiroshima
56match

Wins on getting around and day trips 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

Hiroshima in July

31 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
299 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiHiroshima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Hiroshima: 1991-2020 normals, Hiroshima (1.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiHiroshima
Official languageThaiJapanese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Yen (JPY)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 110, fire 119
Elevation310 m3 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsHiroshima Airport (HIJ)43 km from centre10 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiHiroshima
City population1,198,0001,198,021
People per km²2,9581,324
Museums within 10 km618
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Hiroshima 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.