VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Sapporo?

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
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Sapporo’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, Sapporo 28: Sapporo leads by 22 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Sapporo 40: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Sapporo 58: Chiang Mai leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Sapporo 60: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Sapporo 44: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Sapporo 80: Chiang Mai leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Sapporo.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on getting around 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

Sapporo in July

25 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSapporo
Official languageThaiJapanese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Yen (JPY)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 110, fire 119
Elevation310 m5 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSapporo
City population1,198,0001,959,313
People per km²2,9581,747
Museums within 10 km633
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Sapporo 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.