VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0.

Chiang Mai or San Jose, Costa Rica?

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
  • prices

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

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’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, San Jose, Costa Rica 12: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, San Jose, Costa Rica 42: Chiang Mai leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, San Jose, Costa Rica 40: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, San Jose, Costa Rica 78: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, San Jose, Costa Rica 52: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, San Jose, Costa Rica 44: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, San Jose, Costa Rica 30: Chiang Mai leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, San Jose, Costa Rica 36: Chiang Mai leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, San Jose, Costa Rica 54: Chiang Mai leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, San Jose, Costa Rica 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, San Jose, Costa Rica 28: Chiang Mai leads by 54 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and San Jose, Costa Rica.

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.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches 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

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSan Jose, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

San Jose, Costa Rica's station stands 241 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler 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). San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSan Jose, Costa Rica
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m1,161 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSan Jose, Costa Rica
City population1,198,000335,007
People per km²2,9587,511
Museums within 10 km69
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 San Jose, Costa Rica 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.