VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo, Merida
MeridaThe yellow Palacio Canton on Paseo de Montejo

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Merida by Mariposa2723, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Merida?

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 Merida for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Merida’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, Merida 50: Merida leads by 44 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Merida 72: Chiang Mai leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Merida 64: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Merida 42: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Merida 48: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Merida 80: Merida leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Merida 50: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Merida 45: Merida leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Merida 50: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Merida 75: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Merida 52: Merida leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Merida 40: Chiang Mai leads by 42 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Chiang Mai
56match

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

Merida
56match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Merida in July

35 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
148 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
27 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiMerida

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

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiMerida
Official languageThaiSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyBaht (THB)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m12 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsManuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (MID)5 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiMerida
City population1,198,000892,363
People per km²2,9581,010
Museums within 10 km65
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 Merida 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.