VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Interlaken?

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
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Interlaken for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Interlaken’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, Interlaken 30: Interlaken leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Interlaken 25: Chiang Mai leads by 53 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Interlaken 8: Chiang Mai leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Interlaken 15: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Interlaken 97: Interlaken leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Interlaken 78: Interlaken leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Interlaken 72: Interlaken leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Interlaken 80: Interlaken leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Interlaken 22: Chiang Mai leads by 40 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Interlaken 8: Chiang Mai leads by 82 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Interlaken 15: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Interlaken 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 Interlaken.

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 culture and sights with your weighting.

Interlaken
41match

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
13 hdaylight a day

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiInterlaken

Where the figures come from

Interlaken has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiInterlaken
Official languageThaiFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyBaht (THB)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m571 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiInterlaken
City population1,198,0006,123
People per km²2,9581,424
Museums within 10 km63
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 Interlaken 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.