VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
JerusalemThe golden Dome of the Rock

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Jerusalem by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Jerusalem?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Jerusalem for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Jerusalem’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, Jerusalem 40: Jerusalem leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Jerusalem 66: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Jerusalem 92: Jerusalem leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Jerusalem 38: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Jerusalem 60: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Jerusalem 80: Jerusalem leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Jerusalem 52: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Jerusalem 55: Jerusalem leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Jerusalem 48: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Jerusalem 20: Chiang Mai leads by 70 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Jerusalem 40: Jerusalem leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Jerusalem 42: Chiang Mai leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Jerusalem.

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 wellness with your weighting.

Jerusalem
53match

Wins on beaches 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

Jerusalem in July

30 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiJerusalem

Where the figures come from

Jerusalem 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). Jerusalem: 1991-2020 normals, Jerusalem (1.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiJerusalem
Official languageThaiHebrew
CurrencyBaht (THB)New Israeli Sheqel (ILS)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCHM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 100, fire 102
Elevation310 m754 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsBen Gurion International Airport (TLV)42 km from centre111 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiJerusalem
City population1,198,0001,050,151
People per km²2,9588,374
Museums within 10 km669
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km07
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

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