VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands, Toronto
TorontoThe CN Tower and skyline from the Toronto Islands

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Toronto by Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Toronto?

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 Toronto for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Toronto’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, Toronto 34: Toronto leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Toronto 70: Chiang Mai leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Toronto 50: Chiang Mai leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Toronto 62: Toronto leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Toronto 52: Chiang Mai leads by 21 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Toronto 50: Toronto leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Toronto 74: Toronto leads by 19 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Toronto 65: Toronto leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Toronto 66: Toronto leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Toronto 34: Chiang Mai leads by 56 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Toronto 72: Toronto leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Toronto 33: Chiang Mai leads by 49 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Toronto.

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.

Toronto
55match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Toronto in July

27 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiToronto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Toronto: 1991-2020 normals, Toronto City (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiToronto
Official languageThaiFrench, English
CurrencyBaht (THB)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation310 m76 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsToronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)20 km from centre191 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiToronto
City population1,198,0002,794,356
People per km²2,9584,434
Museums within 10 km632
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

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