VacationSelector
Durban
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

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

Durban 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 Durban for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • getting around
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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. Durban 80, Luang Prabang 14: Durban leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Durban 60, Luang Prabang 42: Durban leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Durban 38, Luang Prabang 65: Luang Prabang leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Durban 40, Luang Prabang 8: Durban leads by 32 points.
Nature & outdoors. Durban and Luang Prabang are level on 68.
Day trips. Durban 38, Luang Prabang 35: Durban leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Durban 60, Luang Prabang 38: Durban leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Durban 20, Luang Prabang 50: Luang Prabang leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Durban 42, Luang Prabang 38: Durban leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Durban 72, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 8 points.
Live music & performing arts. Durban 40, Luang Prabang 18: Durban leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Durban 30, Luang Prabang 60: Luang Prabang leads by 30 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Durban and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Durban
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on getting around 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.

Durban in July

23 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
22 °Csea
10 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
DurbanLuang Prabang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Durban: 1991-2020 normals, Durban, Durban International Airport (14.1 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDurbanLuang Prabang
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageLao
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation22 m305 m
Main airportKing Shaka International Airport (DUR)29 km from centre13 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureDurbanLuang Prabang
City population595,06153,792
People per km²2,634-
Museums within 10 km10
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
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 Durban 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.