VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Lima?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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

Choose Lima for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Lima’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, Lima 42: Lima leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Lima 88: Lima leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Lima 66: Lima leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Lima 62: Lima leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Lima 45: Chiang Mai leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Lima 34: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Lima 42: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Lima 35: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Lima 52: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Lima 70: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Lima 53: Lima leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Lima 25: Chiang Mai leads by 57 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Lima.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Lima
51match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiLima

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiLima
Official languageThaiSpanish, Aymara, Quechua
CurrencyBaht (THB)Sol (PEN)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzABC220 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199111 or 911
Elevation310 m154 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiLima
City population1,198,0009,943,800
People per km²2,9583,721
Museums within 10 km647
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

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