VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Johannesburg by K, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Johannesburg?

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
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose Johannesburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Johannesburg’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, Johannesburg 5: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Johannesburg 58: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Johannesburg 56: Chiang Mai leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Johannesburg 62: Johannesburg leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Johannesburg 55: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Johannesburg 52: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Johannesburg 42: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Johannesburg 18: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Johannesburg 58: Chiang Mai leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Johannesburg 72: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Johannesburg 55: Johannesburg leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Johannesburg 28: Chiang Mai leads by 54 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Johannesburg.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on wellness and food and drink with your weighting.

Johannesburg
47match

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

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiJohannesburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiJohannesburg
Official languageThaiEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
CurrencyBaht (THB)Rand (ZAR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCMN230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m1,753 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiJohannesburg
City population1,198,0004,803,262
People per km²2,9582,922
Museums within 10 km614
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 Johannesburg 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. 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.