VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Krakow?

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
  • prices

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

Choose Krakow for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Krakow’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, Krakow 9: Krakow leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Krakow 55: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Krakow 77: Krakow leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Krakow 68: Krakow leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Krakow 62: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Krakow 76: Krakow leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Krakow 58: Krakow leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Krakow 74: Krakow leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Krakow 48: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Krakow 72: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Krakow 55: Krakow leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Krakow 36: Chiang Mai leads by 46 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Krakow.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on wellness and food and drink with your weighting.

Krakow
58match

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

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiKrakow

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiKrakow
Official languageThaiPolish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Zloty (PLN)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m219 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiKrakow
City population1,198,000804,237
People per km²2,9582,459
Museums within 10 km6113
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km04

Where else could you go?

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