VacationSelector
The Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
EdinburghThe Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Edinburgh by Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Edinburgh 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 Edinburgh for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • day trips

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • prices
  • wellness

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. Edinburgh 22, Luang Prabang 14: Edinburgh leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Edinburgh 53, Luang Prabang 42: Edinburgh leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Edinburgh 75, Luang Prabang 65: Edinburgh leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Edinburgh 50, Luang Prabang 8: Edinburgh leads by 42 points.
Nature & outdoors. Edinburgh 75, Luang Prabang 68: Edinburgh leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Edinburgh 75, Luang Prabang 35: Edinburgh leads by 40 points.
Good for families. Edinburgh 62, Luang Prabang 38: Edinburgh leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Edinburgh 74, Luang Prabang 50: Edinburgh leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Edinburgh 50, Luang Prabang 38: Edinburgh leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Edinburgh 30, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 50 points.
Live music & performing arts. Edinburgh 72, Luang Prabang 18: Edinburgh leads by 54 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Edinburgh 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: Edinburgh and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Edinburgh
Best match
56match

Wins on live music and the arts 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.

Edinburgh in July

19 °Cdaytime high
11 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
17 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
EdinburghLuang Prabang

Where the figures come from

Edinburgh 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.

Edinburgh's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Leuchars.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Edinburgh: 1991-2020 normals, Edinburgh Airport (10 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureEdinburghLuang Prabang
Official languageEnglishLao
CurrencyPound Sterling (GBP)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112 or 999Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation47 m305 m
Main airportEdinburgh Airport (EDI)11 km from centre163 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days-

By the numbers

MeasureEdinburghLuang Prabang
City population488,05053,792
People per km²1,884-
Museums within 10 km320
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km31
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Edinburgh 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.