VacationSelector
The church of La Compania under a blue sky, Arequipa
ArequipaThe church of La Compania under a blue sky
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Arequipa by DocSlyper, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Arequipa 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 Arequipa for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • wellness
  • beaches
  • day trips

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. Arequipa 8, Luang Prabang 14: Luang Prabang leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Arequipa 66, Luang Prabang 42: Arequipa leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Arequipa 64, Luang Prabang 65: Luang Prabang leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Arequipa 36, Luang Prabang 8: Arequipa leads by 28 points.
Nature & outdoors. Arequipa 74, Luang Prabang 68: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Arequipa 30, Luang Prabang 35: Luang Prabang leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Arequipa 35, Luang Prabang 38: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Arequipa 54, Luang Prabang 50: Arequipa leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Arequipa 44, Luang Prabang 38: Arequipa leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Arequipa 82, Luang Prabang 80: Arequipa leads by 2 points.
Live music & performing arts. Arequipa 27, Luang Prabang 18: Arequipa leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Arequipa 34, Luang Prabang 60: Luang Prabang leads by 26 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Arequipa and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Arequipa
Best match
46match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on wellness and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Arequipa in July

21 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
11 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
ArequipaLuang Prabang

Where the figures come from

Arequipa's station stands 203 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Arequipa: 1991-2020 normals, Arequipa (9.2 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureArequipaLuang Prabang
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaLao
CurrencySol (PEN)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number111 or 911Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation2,335 m305 m
Main airportRodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP)7 km from centre2 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year17 days-

By the numbers

MeasureArequipaLuang Prabang
City population1,008,29053,792
People per km²1,551-
Museums within 10 km30
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 Arequipa 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.