VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Place d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal
MontrealPlace d'Armes and Notre-Dame Basilica

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Montreal by Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Montreal?

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 Montreal for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Montreal’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, Montreal 25: Montreal leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai and Montreal are level on 78.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Montreal 60: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Montreal 75: Montreal leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Montreal 66: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Montreal 55: Montreal leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Montreal 68: Montreal leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Montreal 72: Montreal leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Montreal 60: Chiang Mai leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Montreal 45: Chiang Mai leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Montreal 76: Montreal leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Montreal 57: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Montreal.

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.

Montreal
Best match
61match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around 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

Montreal in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
98 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiMontreal

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Montreal: 1991-2020 normals, Montreal McTavish (3.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiMontreal
Official languageThaiFrench, English
CurrencyBaht (THB)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m31 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsMontreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL)16 km from centre166 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiMontreal
City population1,198,0001,895,211
People per km²2,9583,806
Museums within 10 km637
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

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