VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Palacio Salvo under a blue sky, Montevideo
MontevideoPalacio Salvo under a blue sky

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Montevideo by Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Montevideo?

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 Montevideo for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Montevideo’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, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Montevideo 57: Chiang Mai leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Montevideo 54: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Montevideo 50: Montevideo leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Montevideo 34: Chiang Mai leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Montevideo 55: Montevideo leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai and Montevideo are level on 55.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Montevideo 54: Montevideo leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Montevideo 36: Chiang Mai leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Montevideo 42: Chiang Mai leads by 48 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Montevideo 57: Montevideo leads by 27 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Montevideo 38: Chiang Mai leads by 44 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Montevideo.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Montevideo
49match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Montevideo in July

15 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
99 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
11 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiMontevideo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Montevideo: 1991-2020 normals, Carrasco (19.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiMontevideo
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)Peso Uruguayo (UYU)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCFIL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m41 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsCarrasco General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport (MVD)17 km from centre15 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiMontevideo
City population1,198,0001,302,954
People per km²2,9581,785
Museums within 10 km636
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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