VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower, Nairobi
NairobiThe Nairobi skyline with the KICC tower

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Nairobi by Lmwangi, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Nairobi?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Nairobi for

  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Nairobi’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, Nairobi 4: Chiang Mai leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Nairobi 48: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Nairobi 35: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Nairobi 58: Nairobi leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Nairobi 84: Nairobi leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Nairobi 28: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai and Nairobi are level on 55.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Nairobi 20: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Nairobi 45: Chiang Mai leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Nairobi 60: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Nairobi 35: Nairobi leads by 5 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Nairobi 25: Chiang Mai leads by 57 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Nairobi.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Nairobi
41match

Wins on nightlife and nature and the outdoors 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

Nairobi in July

24 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
11 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiNairobi

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Nairobi: 1991-2020 normals, Nairobi ACC/FIC/RCC/MET/COM/ (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiNairobi
Official languageThaiEnglish, Swahili
CurrencyBaht (THB)Kenyan Shilling (KES)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 112/999, ambulance 112/999, fire 112/999
Elevation310 m1,661 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsJomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)13 km from centre60 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiNairobi
City population1,198,0005,545,000
People per km²2,9587,967
Museums within 10 km64
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 Nairobi 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.