VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Great Mosque with the mountains behind, Tirana
TiranaThe Great Mosque with the mountains behind

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Tirana by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Tirana?

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
  • shopping
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Tirana for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Tirana’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, Tirana 46: Tirana leads by 40 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Tirana 57: Chiang Mai leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Tirana 42: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Tirana 58: Tirana leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Tirana 62: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Tirana 64: Tirana leads by 16 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Tirana 40: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Tirana 54: Tirana leads by 16 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Tirana 32: Chiang Mai leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Tirana 76: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Tirana 32: Tirana leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Tirana 27: Chiang Mai leads by 55 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Tirana.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on wellness and shopping with your weighting.

Tirana
49match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Tirana in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
43 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiTirana

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Tirana: 1961-1990 normals, Tirana (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiTirana
Official languageThaiAlbanian
CurrencyBaht (THB)Lek (ALL)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m110 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsTirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)13 km from centre121 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiTirana
City population1,198,000389,323
People per km²2,9589,314
Museums within 10 km611
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Tirana 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.