VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Camelback Mountain above the city, Scottsdale
ScottsdaleCamelback Mountain above the city

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Scottsdale by Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Scottsdale?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Scottsdale for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Scottsdale’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, Scottsdale 8: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Scottsdale 46: Chiang Mai leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Scottsdale 38: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Scottsdale 52: Scottsdale leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Scottsdale 68: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Scottsdale 50: Scottsdale leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Scottsdale 60: Scottsdale leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Scottsdale 20: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Scottsdale 60: Chiang Mai leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Scottsdale 32: Chiang Mai leads by 58 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Scottsdale 40: Scottsdale leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Scottsdale 72: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Scottsdale.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Scottsdale
46match

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

Scottsdale in July

41 °Cdaytime high
29 °Cnight-time low
23 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiScottsdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Scottsdale: 1991-2020 normals, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (13.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiScottsdale
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-7
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m380 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)10 km from centre148 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiScottsdale
City population1,198,000241,361
People per km²2,958-
Museums within 10 km610
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Scottsdale 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.