VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Supertrees, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
SingaporeThe Supertrees, Gardens by the Bay

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Singapore by Kai Kai, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Singapore?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Singapore for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Singapore’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, Singapore 40: Singapore leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Singapore 88: Singapore leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Singapore 62: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Singapore 50: Singapore leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Singapore 45: Chiang Mai leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Singapore 25: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Singapore 88: Singapore leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Singapore 92: Singapore leads by 54 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Singapore 76: Singapore leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Singapore 25: Chiang Mai leads by 65 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Singapore 50: Singapore leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Singapore 40: Chiang Mai leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Singapore.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Singapore
57match

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

Singapore in July

31 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
145 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSingapore

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Singapore: 1991-2020 normals, Singapore / Changi Airport (17 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSingapore
Official languageThaiEnglish, Tamil, Malay, Standard Chinese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Singapore Dollar (SGD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+8
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 999, ambulance 995, fire 995
Elevation310 m21 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsSingapore Changi Airport (SIN)17 km from centre167 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSingapore
City population1,198,0005,866,139
People per km²2,9588,158
Museums within 10 km640
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
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 Singapore 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. 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.