VacationSelector
The Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua, Antigua Guatemala
Antigua GuatemalaThe Santa Catalina arch below Volcan de Agua
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Antigua Guatemala by Chad Davis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Antigua Guatemala 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 Antigua Guatemala for

  • nightlife
  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • wellness
  • prices
  • beaches

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. Antigua Guatemala 6, Luang Prabang 14: Luang Prabang leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Antigua Guatemala 48, Luang Prabang 42: Antigua Guatemala leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Antigua Guatemala 68, Luang Prabang 65: Antigua Guatemala leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Antigua Guatemala 34, Luang Prabang 8: Antigua Guatemala leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Antigua Guatemala 78, Luang Prabang 68: Antigua Guatemala leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Antigua Guatemala 55, Luang Prabang 35: Antigua Guatemala leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Antigua Guatemala and Luang Prabang are level on 38.
Getting around. Antigua Guatemala 60, Luang Prabang 50: Antigua Guatemala leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Antigua Guatemala 45, Luang Prabang 38: Antigua Guatemala leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Antigua Guatemala 67, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Antigua Guatemala 22, Luang Prabang 18: Antigua Guatemala leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Antigua Guatemala 42, Luang Prabang 60: Luang Prabang leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Antigua Guatemala and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Antigua Guatemala
Best match
47match

Wins on nightlife and day trips with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on wellness and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Antigua Guatemala in July

25 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
188 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 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
Antigua GuatemalaLuang Prabang

Where the figures come from

Antigua Guatemala 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Antigua Guatemala: 1998-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Guatemala Aeropuertola Aurora (23.5 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaLuang Prabang
Official languageSpanishLao
CurrencyQuetzal (GTQ)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 110/120, ambulance 128, fire 123Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation1,582 m305 m
Main airportLa Aurora International Airport (GUA)22 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAntigua GuatemalaLuang Prabang
City population59,09153,792
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Antigua Guatemala 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). 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.