VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Portland?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Portland for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Portland leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Portland 68: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Portland 38: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Portland 52: Portland leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Portland 84: Portland leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Portland 58: Portland leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai and Portland are level on 55.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Portland 62: Portland leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Portland 52: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Portland 38: Chiang Mai leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Portland 55: Portland leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Portland 42: Chiang Mai leads by 40 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around 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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiPortland
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m152 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiPortland
City population1,198,000652,503
People per km²2,9581,736
Museums within 10 km617
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 Portland 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. 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.