VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The cathedral of Santa Marta, Santa Marta
Santa MartaThe cathedral of Santa Marta

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Santa Marta by Oliver H, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Santa Marta?

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
  • shopping
  • food and drink

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

Choose Santa Marta for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Marta’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, Santa Marta 70: Santa Marta leads by 64 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Santa Marta 44: Chiang Mai leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Santa Marta 34: Chiang Mai leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Santa Marta 50: Santa Marta leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Santa Marta 84: Santa Marta leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Santa Marta 38: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Santa Marta 40: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai and Santa Marta are level on 38.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Santa Marta 27: Chiang Mai leads by 35 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Santa Marta 80: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Santa Marta 17: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Santa Marta 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 Santa Marta.

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 shopping with your weighting.

Santa Marta
46match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors 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

Santa Marta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSanta Marta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Santa Marta: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Marta / Simon Bolivar (11.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSanta Marta
Official languageThaiSpanish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199123
Elevation310 m8 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsSimón Bolívar International Airport (SMR)13 km from centre6 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSanta Marta
City population1,198,000505,915
People per km²2,9581,723
Museums within 10 km63
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
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 Santa Marta 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.