VacationSelector
The blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud, Fes
FesThe blue gate of Bab Bou Jeloud
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

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

Fes 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 Fes for

  • shopping
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families
  • 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. Fes 5, Luang Prabang 14: Luang Prabang leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Fes 62, Luang Prabang 42: Fes leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Fes 80, Luang Prabang 65: Fes leads by 15 points.
Nightlife. Fes 12, Luang Prabang 8: Fes leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fes 52, Luang Prabang 68: Luang Prabang leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Fes 62, Luang Prabang 35: Fes leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Fes 22, Luang Prabang 38: Luang Prabang leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Fes 40, Luang Prabang 50: Luang Prabang leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Fes 68, Luang Prabang 38: Fes leads by 30 points.
Affordability. Fes and Luang Prabang are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Fes 32, Luang Prabang 18: Fes leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fes 70, Luang Prabang 60: Fes leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fes and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Fes
Best match
49match

Wins on shopping and day trips with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and families with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fes in July

36 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Luang Prabang in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
250 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
FesLuang Prabang

Where the figures come from

Fes's station stands 171 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Fes 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.

Fes's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at Meknes.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fes: 1999-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Fes-Sais (12.4 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFesLuang Prabang
Official languageArabic, Standard Moroccan TamazightLao
CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsCE50 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 19/112, ambulance 15, fire 15Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation408 m305 m
Main airportFes Saïss International Airport (FEZ)13 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureFesLuang Prabang
City population1,167,84253,792
People per km²3,650-
Museums within 10 km20
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fes 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. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). 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.