VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or San Jose?

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 San Jose for

  • day trips
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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 30: San Jose leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, San Jose 56: Chiang Mai leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, San Jose 36: Chiang Mai leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, San Jose 33: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, San Jose 72: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, San Jose 30: Chiang Mai leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, San Jose 48: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, San Jose 20: Chiang Mai leads by 70 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, San Jose 38: San Jose leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, San Jose 30: Chiang Mai leads by 52 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and San Jose.

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.

San Jose
45match

Wins on day trips 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSan Jose

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: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSan Jose
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 m25 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSan Jose
City population1,198,0001,013,240
People per km²2,9582,167
Museums within 10 km619
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or San Jose 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.