VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo
TokyoShibuya Crossing

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Tokyo by Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Tokyo?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Tokyo for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Tokyo’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, Tokyo 40: Tokyo leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Tokyo 84: Tokyo leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 41 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Tokyo 68: Chiang Mai leads by 5 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Tokyo 85: Tokyo leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Tokyo 95: Tokyo leads by 40 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Tokyo 98: Tokyo leads by 60 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Tokyo 99: Tokyo leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Tokyo 48: Chiang Mai leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Tokyo 86: Tokyo leads by 56 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Tokyo 78: Chiang Mai leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Tokyo.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Tokyo
Best match
80match

Wins on getting around 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

Tokyo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
157 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
23 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiTokyo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Tokyo: 1991-2020 normals, Tokyo (3.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiTokyo
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 m6 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsTokyo Haneda International Airport (HND)18 km from centre98 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiTokyo
City population1,198,00014,264,798
People per km²2,9586,501
Museums within 10 km6192
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C-4 months

Where else could you go?

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