VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Santa Monica?

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 Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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 Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Santa Monica 60: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Santa Monica 35: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Santa Monica 38: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Santa Monica 72: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Santa Monica 64: Santa Monica leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Santa Monica 52: Santa Monica leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Santa Monica 56: Chiang Mai leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Santa Monica 14: Chiang Mai leads by 76 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Santa Monica 38: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Santa Monica 45: Chiang Mai leads by 37 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Santa Monica.

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.

Santa Monica
51match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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 Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSanta Monica
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 m32 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSanta Monica
City population1,198,00093,076
People per km²2,9584,270
Museums within 10 km619
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Santa Monica 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.