VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Montpellier?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Montpellier’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, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Montpellier 64: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Montpellier 60: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Montpellier 56: Montpellier leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Montpellier 72: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Montpellier 85: Montpellier leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Montpellier 62: Montpellier leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Montpellier 74: Montpellier leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Montpellier 47: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Montpellier 50: Chiang Mai leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Montpellier 63: Montpellier leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Montpellier 42: Chiang Mai leads by 40 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Montpellier.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Montpellier
Best match
62match

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

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiMontpellier
Official languageThaiFrench
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m7 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiMontpellier
City population1,198,000310,240
People per km²2,9585,452
Museums within 10 km614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Montpellier 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.