VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
A madrasa and its minarets on the Registan, Samarkand
SamarkandA madrasa and its minarets on the Registan

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Samarkand by Yaşar Başkurt, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Samarkand?

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
  • nightlife

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

Choose Samarkand for

  • day trips
  • getting around
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Samarkand’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, Samarkand 4: Chiang Mai leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Samarkand 54: Chiang Mai leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Samarkand 84: Samarkand leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Samarkand 14: Chiang Mai leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Samarkand 40: Chiang Mai leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Samarkand 72: Samarkand leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Samarkand 30: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Samarkand 58: Samarkand leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Samarkand 42: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Samarkand 80: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Samarkand 24: Chiang Mai leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Samarkand 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 Samarkand.

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Samarkand
45match

Wins on day trips 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

Samarkand in July

34 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSamarkand

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Samarkand: 1991-2020 normals, Samarkand (10 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSamarkand
Official languageThaiUzbek
CurrencyBaht (THB)Uzbekistan Sum (UZS)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCFI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+5
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m702 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsSamarkand International Airport (SKD)5 km from centre29 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSamarkand
City population1,198,000546,303
People per km²2,9585,058
Museums within 10 km611
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Samarkand 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. 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.