VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
White sand and turquoise water at Pensacola Beach, Pensacola
PensacolaWhite sand and turquoise water at Pensacola Beach

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Pensacola by Jason Meredith, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Pensacola?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Pensacola for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Pensacola’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, Pensacola 84: Pensacola leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Pensacola 45: Chiang Mai leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Pensacola 45: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Pensacola 42: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Pensacola 62: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Pensacola 45: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Pensacola 62: Pensacola leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Pensacola 18: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Pensacola 28: Chiang Mai leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Pensacola 44: Chiang Mai leads by 46 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Pensacola 36: Pensacola leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Pensacola 30: Chiang Mai leads by 52 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Pensacola.

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 prices with your weighting.

Pensacola
45match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Pensacola in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
200 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiPensacola

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Pensacola: 1991-2020 normals, Pensacola / Pleasant Grove (12.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiPensacola
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 m31 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsPensacola International Airport (PNS)6 km from centre27 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiPensacola
City population1,198,00054,312
People per km²2,958515
Museums within 10 km65
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 Pensacola 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.