VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline, Macau
MacauThe Grand Lisboa above the Macau skyline

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Macau by tian Jin, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Macau?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Macau for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Macau’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, Macau 24: Macau leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Macau 77: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Macau 62: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Macau 40: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Macau 5: Chiang Mai leads by 68 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Macau 52: Macau leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Macau 48: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Macau 60: Macau leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Macau 58: Chiang Mai leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Macau 44: Chiang Mai leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Macau 36: Macau leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Macau 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 Macau.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and prices with your weighting.

Macau
46match

Wins on getting around and beaches 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

Macau in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
281 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiMacau

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Macau: 1991-2020 normals, Taipa (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiMacau
Official languageThaiPortuguese, Cantonese, Standard Chinese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Pataca (MOP)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzFGM220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199999
Elevation310 m22 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsMacau International Airport (MFM)7 km from centre41 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiMacau
City population1,198,000682,100
People per km²2,9585,916
Museums within 10 km628
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

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