VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
The Limmat from Quaibrücke, Zurich
ZurichThe Limmat from Quaibrücke

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Zurich by Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Chiang Mai or Zurich?

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
  • food and drink
  • wellness

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

Choose Zurich for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Zurich’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, Zurich 45: Zurich leads by 39 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Zurich 53: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Zurich 58: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Zurich 62: Zurich leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Zurich 80: Zurich leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Zurich 84: Zurich leads by 36 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Zurich 76: Zurich leads by 21 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Zurich 95: Zurich leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Zurich 66: Zurich leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Zurich 3: Chiang Mai leads by 87 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai 30, Zurich 70: Zurich leads by 40 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Zurich 58: Chiang Mai leads by 24 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Zurich.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
56match

Wins on prices and food and drink with your weighting.

Zurich
Best match
63match

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
13 hdaylight a day

Zurich in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiZurich

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Zurich: 1991-2020 normals, Zurich Town / Ville. (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiZurich
Official languageThaiFrench, German, Italian, Romansh
CurrencyBaht (THB)Swiss Franc (CHF)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzCJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199112
Elevation310 m408 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsZürich Airport (ZRH)9 km from centre226 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-10 days

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiZurich
City population1,198,000440,935
People per km²2,9585,016
Museums within 10 km663
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

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