VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The church of San Francisco under a blue sky, Quito
QuitoThe church of San Francisco under a blue sky

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Quito by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Quito?

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
  • food and drink
  • families

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

Choose Quito for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Quito’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, Quito 5: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Quito 54: Chiang Mai leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Quito 77: Quito leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Quito 40: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Quito 86: Quito leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Quito 55: Quito leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Quito 32: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Quito 45: Quito leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Quito 40: Chiang Mai leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Quito 78: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Quito 38: Quito leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Quito 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 Quito.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Quito
50match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights 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

Quito in July

18 °Cdaytime high
5 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiQuito

Where the figures come from

Quito's station stands 208 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Quito: 1961-1990 normals, Izobamba-Santa Catalina (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiQuito
Official languageThaiSpanish, Shuar, Northern Quichua
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m2,850 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsMariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)20 km from centre22 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiQuito
City population1,198,0001,763,275
People per km²2,9584,735
Museums within 10 km616
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Quito 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.