VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
São Paulo Cathedral, Sao Paulo
Sao PauloSão Paulo Cathedral

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Sao Paulo by Webysther Nunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Sao Paulo?

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
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Sao Paulo for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Sao Paulo’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, Sao Paulo 42: Sao Paulo leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Sao Paulo 84: Sao Paulo leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Sao Paulo 60: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Sao Paulo 86: Sao Paulo leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Sao Paulo 48: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Sao Paulo 47: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Sao Paulo 52: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Sao Paulo 44: Sao Paulo leads by 6 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Sao Paulo 70: Sao Paulo leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Sao Paulo 62: Chiang Mai leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Sao Paulo 76: Sao Paulo leads by 46 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Sao Paulo 25: Chiang Mai leads by 57 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Sao Paulo.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

Sao Paulo
58match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife 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

Sao Paulo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
53 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
11 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSao Paulo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Sao Paulo: 1991-2020 normals, Sao Paulo (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSao Paulo
Official languageThaiPortuguese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Brazilian Real (BRL)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCN60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 190, ambulance 192, fire 193
Elevation310 m760 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsSão Paulo/Guarulhos–Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport (GRU)21 km from centre104 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-15 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSao Paulo
City population1,198,00011,451,999
People per km²2,9587,519
Museums within 10 km690
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 Sao Paulo 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.