VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Valletta from the water, Valletta
VallettaValletta from the water

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Valletta by Pho Tomass, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Valletta?

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
  • prices
  • shopping

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

Choose Valletta for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Valletta’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, Valletta 68: Valletta leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Valletta 55: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Valletta 46: Valletta leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Valletta 56: Chiang Mai leads by 17 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Valletta 76: Valletta leads by 28 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Valletta 58: Valletta leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Valletta 62: Valletta leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Valletta 38: Chiang Mai leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Valletta 50: Chiang Mai leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Valletta 44: Valletta leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Valletta 32: Chiang Mai leads by 50 points.
0255075100

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

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 wellness and prices with your weighting.

Valletta
55match

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

Valletta in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiValletta

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Valletta: 1991-2020 normals, Luqa (5.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiValletta
Official languageThaiEnglish, Maltese
CurrencyBaht (THB)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m56 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsMalta International Airport (MLA)6 km from centre113 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiValletta
City population1,198,0005,197
People per km²2,9586,496
Museums within 10 km616
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km03
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 Valletta 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.