VacationSelector
The pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto
KyotoThe pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Kyoto by Bert Mulder, Pexels License; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Kyoto 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 Kyoto for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • 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. Kyoto 15, Luang Prabang 14: Kyoto leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Kyoto 85, Luang Prabang 42: Kyoto leads by 43 points.
Culture & sights. Kyoto 96, Luang Prabang 65: Kyoto leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Kyoto 35, Luang Prabang 8: Kyoto leads by 27 points.
Nature & outdoors. Kyoto 70, Luang Prabang 68: Kyoto leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Kyoto 96, Luang Prabang 35: Kyoto leads by 61 points.
Good for families. Kyoto 68, Luang Prabang 38: Kyoto leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Kyoto 72, Luang Prabang 50: Kyoto leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Kyoto 72, Luang Prabang 38: Kyoto leads by 34 points.
Affordability. Kyoto 50, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Kyoto 60, Luang Prabang 18: Kyoto leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Kyoto 70, Luang Prabang 60: Kyoto leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Kyoto and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Kyoto
Best match
66match

Wins on day trips and food and drink with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Kyoto in July

31 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
225 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
25 °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
KyotoLuang Prabang

Where the figures come from

Kyoto's sunshine is measured 43 km from the centre, at Osaka.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Kyoto: 1971-2000 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Kyoto (3.2 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKyotoLuang Prabang
Official languageJapaneseLao
CurrencyYen (JPY)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the regionABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9UTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 110, fire 119Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation51 m305 m
Main airportKansai International Airport (KIX)81 km from centre62 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureKyotoLuang Prabang
City population1,463,72353,792
People per km²1,768-
Museums within 10 km770
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km41
Swim season, months above 21 °C5 months-

Where else could you go?

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