VacationSelector
The pastel houses of Rainbow Row, Charleston
CharlestonThe pastel houses of Rainbow Row
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Charleston by NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Charleston 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 Charleston for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • food and drink

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Charleston 72, Luang Prabang 14: Charleston leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Charleston 72, Luang Prabang 42: Charleston leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Charleston 64, Luang Prabang 65: Luang Prabang leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Charleston 44, Luang Prabang 8: Charleston leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Charleston 55, Luang Prabang 68: Luang Prabang leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Charleston 62, Luang Prabang 35: Charleston leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Charleston 60, Luang Prabang 38: Charleston leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Charleston 46, Luang Prabang 50: Luang Prabang leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Charleston 55, Luang Prabang 38: Charleston leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Charleston 27, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 53 points.
Live music & performing arts. Charleston 42, Luang Prabang 18: Charleston leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Charleston 40, Luang Prabang 60: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Charleston and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Charleston
Best match
53match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Charleston in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
167 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
28 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Luang Prabang in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
250 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
CharlestonLuang Prabang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Charleston: 1991-2020 normals, Charleston Airport (16.1 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCharlestonLuang Prabang
Official language-Lao
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation6 m305 m
Main airportCharleston International Airport (CHS)16 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCharlestonLuang Prabang
City population150,22753,792
People per km²532-
Museums within 10 km190
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C6 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Charleston 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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. 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.