VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Vieux Nice and the Baie des Anges, Nice
NiceVieux Nice and the Baie des Anges

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Nice by Daniel Stockman, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Nice?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Nice for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Nice’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, Nice 75: Nice leads by 69 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Nice 66: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Nice 64: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Nice 47: Nice leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Nice 80: Nice leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Nice 87: Nice leads by 39 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Nice 57: Nice leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Nice 74: Nice leads by 36 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Nice 55: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Nice 35: Chiang Mai leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Nice 45: Nice leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Nice 40: Chiang Mai leads by 42 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Nice.

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.

Nice
Best match
60match

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

Nice in July

28 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiNice

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Nice: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiNice
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 m0 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsNice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)6 km from centre130 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiNice
City population1,198,000357,737
People per km²2,9584,975
Museums within 10 km617
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Nice 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.