VacationSelector
The Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken, Interlaken
InterlakenThe Aare at Unterseen, Interlaken
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Interlaken by Roy Egloff, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Interlaken 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 Interlaken for

  • day trips
  • families
  • getting around

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Interlaken 30, Luang Prabang 14: Interlaken leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Interlaken 25, Luang Prabang 42: Luang Prabang leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Interlaken 8, Luang Prabang 65: Luang Prabang leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Interlaken 15, Luang Prabang 8: Interlaken leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Interlaken 97, Luang Prabang 68: Interlaken leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Interlaken 78, Luang Prabang 35: Interlaken leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Interlaken 72, Luang Prabang 38: Interlaken leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Interlaken 80, Luang Prabang 50: Interlaken leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Interlaken 22, Luang Prabang 38: Luang Prabang leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Interlaken 8, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 72 points.
Live music & performing arts. Interlaken 15, Luang Prabang 18: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Interlaken 40, Luang Prabang 60: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Interlaken and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Interlaken
41match

Wins on day trips and families with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Interlaken in July

24 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
126 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 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
InterlakenLuang Prabang

Where the figures come from

Interlaken 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Interlaken: 2005-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Meiringen / Unterbach (19.3 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureInterlakenLuang Prabang
Official languageFrench, German, Italian, RomanshLao
CurrencySwiss Franc (CHF)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsCJ230 V, 50 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation571 m305 m
Main airportZürich Airport (ZRH)100 km from centre226 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days-

By the numbers

MeasureInterlakenLuang Prabang
City population6,12353,792
People per km²1,424-
Museums within 10 km30
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Interlaken 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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.