VacationSelector
The fountain on Plaza Mayor, Lima
LimaThe fountain on Plaza Mayor
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple

Photos: Lima by James C., CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lima 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 Lima for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Luang Prabang for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • 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. Lima 42, Luang Prabang 14: Lima leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Lima 88, Luang Prabang 42: Lima leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Lima 66, Luang Prabang 65: Lima leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Lima 62, Luang Prabang 8: Lima leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lima 45, Luang Prabang 68: Luang Prabang leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Lima 34, Luang Prabang 35: Luang Prabang leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Lima 42, Luang Prabang 38: Lima leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Lima 35, Luang Prabang 50: Luang Prabang leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Lima 52, Luang Prabang 38: Lima leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Lima 70, Luang Prabang 80: Luang Prabang leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lima 53, Luang Prabang 18: Lima leads by 35 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lima 25, Luang Prabang 60: Luang Prabang leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lima and Luang Prabang.

Your match

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

Lima
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink with your weighting.

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on wellness 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.

Lima in July

19 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
1 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
12 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
LimaLuang Prabang

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lima: 1991-2020 normals, Lima-Callao / Aerop. Internacional Jorgechavez (10.9 km from centre). Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLimaLuang Prabang
Official languageSpanish, Aymara, QuechuaLao
CurrencySol (PEN)Lao Kip (LAK)
SocketsABC220 V, 60 HzABCEF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+7
Emergency number111 or 911Police 191, ambulance 195, fire 190
Elevation154 m305 m
Main airportJorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)9 km from centre61 non-stop destinationsLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLimaLuang Prabang
City population9,943,80053,792
People per km²3,721-
Museums within 10 km470
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C2 months-

Where else could you go?

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