VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Big Ben and Westminster Bridge, London
LondonBig Ben and Westminster Bridge

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; London by AXP Photography, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or London?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose London for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on London’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, London 25: London leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, London 84: London leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, London 94: London leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, London 88: London leads by 43 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, London 57: Chiang Mai leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, London 90: London leads by 42 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, London 82: London leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, London 85: London leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, London 95: London leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, London 15: Chiang Mai leads by 75 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, London 98: London leads by 68 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, London 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 London.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

London
Best match
71match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around 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

London in July

23 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiLondon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). London: 1992-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, London Weather Centre (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiLondon
Official languageThaiEnglish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112 or 999
Elevation310 m4 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsLondon Heathrow Airport (LHR)23 km from centre224 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-8 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiLondon
City population1,198,0008,799,728
People per km²2,9585,598
Museums within 10 km6216
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 London 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.