VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Dzhumaya Mosque, Plovdiv
PlovdivThe Dzhumaya Mosque

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Plovdiv by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Plovdiv?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Plovdiv for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Plovdiv’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, Plovdiv 7: Plovdiv leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Plovdiv 50: Chiang Mai leads by 28 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Plovdiv 66: Plovdiv leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Plovdiv 42: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Plovdiv 68: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Plovdiv 70: Plovdiv leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Plovdiv 40: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Plovdiv 65: Plovdiv leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Plovdiv 33: Chiang Mai leads by 29 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Plovdiv 78: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Plovdiv 42: Plovdiv leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Plovdiv 44: Chiang Mai leads by 38 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Plovdiv.

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.

Plovdiv
50match

Wins on getting around 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
13 hdaylight a day

Plovdiv in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiPlovdiv

Where the figures come from

Plovdiv has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Plovdiv's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Kurdjali.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Plovdiv: 1997-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Plovdiv (1.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiPlovdiv
Official languageThaiBulgarian
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m172 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsPlovdiv International Airport (PDV)12 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiPlovdiv
City population1,198,000333,994
People per km²2,9583,274
Museums within 10 km618
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 Plovdiv 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. 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.