VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nightlife

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • culture and sights
  • wellness
  • prices

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. Faro 74, Luang Prabang 14: Faro leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Luang Prabang 42: Faro leads by 6 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Luang Prabang 65: Luang Prabang leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Luang Prabang 8: Faro leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Luang Prabang 68: Luang Prabang leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Luang Prabang 35: Faro leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Luang Prabang 38: Faro leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Luang Prabang 50: Faro leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Luang Prabang 38: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Luang Prabang 18: Faro leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Luang Prabang 60: Luang Prabang leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Faro and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Faro
Best match
49match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °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
FaroLuang Prabang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroLuang Prabang
Official languagePortugueseLao
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation10 m305 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFaroLuang Prabang
City population64,56053,792
People per km²319-
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Faro 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.