VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens, Marrakech
MarrakechThe Koutoubia Mosque from its gardens

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Marrakech by Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Marrakech?

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

  • families
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Marrakech for

  • culture and sights
  • shopping
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Marrakech’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, Marrakech 7: Marrakech leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Marrakech 64: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Marrakech 76: Marrakech leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Marrakech 33: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Marrakech 70: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Marrakech 28: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Marrakech 25: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai and Marrakech are level on 38.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Marrakech 72: Marrakech leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Marrakech 72: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Marrakech 25: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Marrakech 75: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

Marrakech
49match

Wins on culture and sights and shopping 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

Marrakech in July

38 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiMarrakech

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Marrakech: 1991-2020 normals, Marrakech (5.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiMarrakech
Official languageThaiArabic, Standard Moroccan Tamazight
CurrencyBaht (THB)Moroccan Dirham (MAD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCE50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15
Elevation310 m465 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsMarrakesh Menara Airport (RAK)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiMarrakech
City population1,198,0001,002,697
People per km²2,9584,360
Museums within 10 km614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

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