VacationSelector
The Golden Bridge held up by stone hands, Da Nang
Da NangThe Golden Bridge held up by stone hands
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Da Nang by Nghia Tran, Pexels License; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Da Nang 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 Da Nang for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nightlife

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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. Da Nang 80, Luang Prabang 14: Da Nang leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Da Nang 67, Luang Prabang 42: Da Nang leads by 25 points.
Culture & sights. Da Nang 38, Luang Prabang 65: Luang Prabang leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Da Nang 44, Luang Prabang 8: Da Nang leads by 36 points.
Nature & outdoors. Da Nang 72, Luang Prabang 68: Da Nang leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Da Nang 80, Luang Prabang 35: Da Nang leads by 45 points.
Good for families. Da Nang 62, Luang Prabang 38: Da Nang leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Da Nang 38, Luang Prabang 50: Luang Prabang leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Da Nang 40, Luang Prabang 38: Da Nang leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Da Nang 90, Luang Prabang 80: Da Nang leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Da Nang 20, Luang Prabang 18: Da Nang leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Da Nang 64, Luang Prabang 60: Da Nang leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Da Nang and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Da Nang
Best match
58match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on culture and sights and getting around with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Da Nang in July

35 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
83 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 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

0200400600800JFMAMJJASOND
Da NangLuang Prabang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Da Nang: 1991-2020 normals, Da Nang (4.9 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDa NangLuang Prabang
Official languageVietnameseLao
CurrencyDong (VND)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsACFG220 V, 50 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 113, ambulance 115, fire 114Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation19 m305 m
Main airportDa Nang International Airport (DAD)3 km from centre47 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureDa NangLuang Prabang
City population2,819,90053,792
People per km²238-
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Da Nang 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). 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.