VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Tromso?

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
  • shopping
  • wellness

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

Choose Tromso for

  • getting around
  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Tromso leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Tromso 36: Chiang Mai leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Tromso 27: Chiang Mai leads by 38 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Tromso 38: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 19 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Tromso 14: Chiang Mai leads by 34 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Tromso 45: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Tromso 60: Tromso leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Tromso 15: Chiang Mai leads by 47 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Tromso 11: Chiang Mai leads by 79 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Tromso 32: Tromso leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Tromso 38: Chiang Mai leads by 44 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Tromso.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on prices and shopping with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on getting around and nature and the outdoors 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiTromso
Official languageThaiNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyBaht (THB)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation310 m20 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiTromso
City population1,198,00079,943
People per km²2,95832
Museums within 10 km68
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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