VacationSelector
Korenlei reflected in the Leie, Ghent
GhentKorenlei reflected in the Leie
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Ghent by ykeiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Ghent 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 Ghent for

  • day trips
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Ghent 25, Luang Prabang 14: Ghent leads by 11 points.
Food & drink. Ghent 62, Luang Prabang 42: Ghent leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Ghent 72, Luang Prabang 65: Ghent leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Ghent 55, Luang Prabang 8: Ghent leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Ghent 35, Luang Prabang 68: Luang Prabang leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Ghent 88, Luang Prabang 35: Ghent leads by 53 points.
Good for families. Ghent 50, Luang Prabang 38: Ghent leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Ghent 78, Luang Prabang 50: Ghent leads by 28 points.
Shopping & style. Ghent 50, Luang Prabang 38: Ghent leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Ghent 38, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Ghent 60, Luang Prabang 18: Ghent leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Ghent 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: Ghent and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Ghent
Best match
54match

Wins on day trips and nightlife with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Ghent in July

23 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
77 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 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
GhentLuang Prabang

Where the figures come from

Ghent 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.

Ghent's sunshine is measured 45 km from the centre, at Vlissingen.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Ghent: 2009-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Melle / Kalverhaag (10.1 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGhentLuang Prabang
Official languageFrench, German, DutchLao
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation12 m305 m
Main airportBrussels Airport (BRU)56 km from centre191 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days-

By the numbers

MeasureGhentLuang Prabang
City population272,65753,792
People per km²1,728-
Museums within 10 km300
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km51
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Ghent or Luang Prabang somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national 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.