VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or York?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose York for

  • getting around
  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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, York 14: York leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, York 42: Chiang Mai leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, York 70: York leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, York 36: Chiang Mai leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, York 62: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, York 80: York leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, York 60: York leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, York 72: York leads by 34 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, York 46: Chiang Mai leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, York 38: Chiang Mai leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, York 38: York leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, York 34: Chiang Mai leads by 48 points.
0255075100

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

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 wellness with your weighting.

York
49match

Wins on getting around 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
13 hdaylight a day

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiYork

Where the figures come from

York has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiYork
Official languageThaiEnglish
CurrencyBaht (THB)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112 or 999
Elevation310 m25 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-8 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiYork
City population1,198,000208,400
People per km²2,958766
Museums within 10 km624
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

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