VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Kek Lok Si temple on the hillside, Penang
PenangKek Lok Si temple on the hillside

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Penang by Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Penang?

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
  • shopping
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Penang for

  • beaches
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Penang’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, Penang 44: Penang leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Penang 86: Penang leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Penang 70: Penang leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Penang 40: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Penang 55: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Penang 42: Chiang Mai leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Penang 52: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Penang 40: Penang leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Penang 42: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Penang 78: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai and Penang are level on 30.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Penang 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 Penang.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Penang
52match

Wins on beaches and food and drink 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

Penang in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
189 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiPenang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Penang: 1991-2020 normals, Penang / Bayan Lepas (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiPenang
Official languageThaiMalay
CurrencyBaht (THB)Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199999
Elevation310 m4 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsPenang International Airport (PEN)14 km from centre32 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiPenang
City population1,198,000794,313
People per km²2,958-
Museums within 10 km69
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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