VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Opera House from the water, Sydney
SydneyThe Opera House from the water

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Sydney by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Chiang Mai or Sydney?

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 Sydney for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Sydney’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, Sydney 95: Sydney leads by 89 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Sydney 77: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Sydney 60: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Sydney 60: Sydney leads by 15 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Sydney 85: Sydney leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Sydney 50: Sydney leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Sydney 75: Sydney leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Sydney 68: Sydney leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Sydney 22: Chiang Mai leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Sydney 73: Sydney leads by 43 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Sydney 55: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Sydney.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Sydney
Best match
66match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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

Sydney in July

18 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
70 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiSydney

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Sydney: 1991-2020 normals, Sydney Airport (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiSydney
Official languageThaiEnglish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199000
Elevation310 m6 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsSydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)9 km from centre99 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiSydney
City population1,198,0005,450,496
People per km²2,958449
Museums within 10 km638
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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