VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Chiang Mai or New Orleans?

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
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose New Orleans for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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, New Orleans 14: New Orleans leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, New Orleans 84: New Orleans leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, New Orleans 67: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, New Orleans 85: New Orleans leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, New Orleans 42: Chiang Mai leads by 31 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, New Orleans 52: New Orleans leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai and New Orleans are level on 55.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, New Orleans 55: New Orleans leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, New Orleans 54: Chiang Mai leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, New Orleans 40: Chiang Mai leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, New Orleans 80: New Orleans leads by 50 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, New Orleans 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 New Orleans.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

New Orleans
54match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiNew Orleans

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiNew Orleans
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m-2 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiNew Orleans
City population1,198,000383,997
People per km²2,958423
Museums within 10 km616
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

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