VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Mazatlan?

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
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Mazatlan 62: Chiang Mai leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Mazatlan 42: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Mazatlan 55: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Mazatlan 66: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Mazatlan 45: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Mazatlan 60: Mazatlan leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Mazatlan 30: Chiang Mai leads by 32 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Mazatlan 70: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Mazatlan 40: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Mazatlan 35: Chiang Mai leads by 47 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Mazatlan.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiMazatlan
Official languageThaiSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyBaht (THB)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-7
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m139 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiMazatlan
City population1,198,000441,975
People per km²2,958-
Museums within 10 km63
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Mazatlan 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.