VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Painted colonial houses in the Pelourinho, Salvador
SalvadorPainted colonial houses in the Pelourinho

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Salvador by Paul R. Burley, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Salvador?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

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

Choose Salvador for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Salvador’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, Salvador 84: Salvador leads by 78 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Salvador 66: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Salvador 74: Salvador leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Salvador 70: Salvador leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Salvador 52: Chiang Mai leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Salvador 56: Salvador leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Salvador 42: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Salvador 42: Salvador leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Salvador 42: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Salvador 70: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Salvador 63: Salvador leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Salvador 32: Chiang Mai leads by 50 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Salvador.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Salvador
58match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Salvador in July

27 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
201 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSalvador

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Salvador: 1991-2020 normals, Salvador (4.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSalvador
Official languageThaiPortuguese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation310 m8 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsDeputado Luiz Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SSA)20 km from centre31 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSalvador
City population1,198,0002,417,678
People per km²2,9583,489
Museums within 10 km649
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 Salvador 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.