VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
La Concha beach and Monte Urgull, San Sebastian
San SebastianLa Concha beach and Monte Urgull

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; San Sebastian by Guérin Nicolas, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or San Sebastian?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose San Sebastian for

  • beaches
  • getting around
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on San Sebastian’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 Sebastian 68: San Sebastian leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, San Sebastian 88: San Sebastian leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, San Sebastian 52: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, San Sebastian 44: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, San Sebastian 72: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, San Sebastian 66: San Sebastian leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, San Sebastian 80: San Sebastian leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, San Sebastian 40: Chiang Mai leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, San Sebastian 32: Chiang Mai leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, San Sebastian 45: San Sebastian leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, San Sebastian 50: Chiang Mai leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and San Sebastian.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

San Sebastian
Best match
60match

Wins on beaches 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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

San Sebastian in July

22 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
92 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSan Sebastian

Where the figures come from

San Sebastian's station stands 252 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). San Sebastian: 1991-2020 normals, San Sebastian / Igueldo (6.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSan Sebastian
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m6 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsSan Sebastián Airport (EAS)16 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSan Sebastian
City population1,198,000189,866
People per km²2,9583,118
Museums within 10 km614
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or San Sebastian 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.