VacationSelector
The Thiou canal with the castle behind, Annecy
AnnecyThe Thiou canal with the castle behind
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Annecy by Dmitry A. Mottl, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Annecy or Luang Prabang?

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 Annecy for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Luang Prabang’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. Annecy 55, Luang Prabang 14: Annecy leads by 41 points.
Food & drink. Annecy 50, Luang Prabang 42: Annecy leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Annecy 38, Luang Prabang 65: Luang Prabang leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Annecy 25, Luang Prabang 8: Annecy leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Annecy 92, Luang Prabang 68: Annecy leads by 24 points.
Day trips. Annecy 70, Luang Prabang 35: Annecy leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Annecy 60, Luang Prabang 38: Annecy leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Annecy 62, Luang Prabang 50: Annecy leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Annecy 35, Luang Prabang 38: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Annecy 35, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 45 points.
Live music & performing arts. Annecy 33, Luang Prabang 18: Annecy leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Annecy 48, Luang Prabang 60: Luang Prabang leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Annecy and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Annecy
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Annecy in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Luang Prabang in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
250 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
AnnecyLuang Prabang

Where the figures come from

Annecy 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.

Annecy's sunshine is measured 39 km from the centre, at Geneve-Cointrin.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Annecy: 2007-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Annecy / Metz-Tessy (4.4 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAnnecyLuang Prabang
Official languageFrenchLao
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation418 m305 m
Main airportGeneva International Airport (GVA)38 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAnnecyLuang Prabang
City population132,11753,792
People per km²1,975-
Museums within 10 km10
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Annecy or Luang Prabang 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.