VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

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

Luang Prabang or Mazatlan?

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 Luang Prabang for

  • wellness
  • culture and sights
  • prices

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

Choose Mazatlan for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’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. Luang Prabang 14, Mazatlan 80: Mazatlan leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Mazatlan 62: Mazatlan leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Mazatlan 42: Luang Prabang leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Mazatlan 55: Mazatlan leads by 47 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Mazatlan 66: Luang Prabang leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Mazatlan 45: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Mazatlan 60: Mazatlan leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Mazatlan 42: Luang Prabang leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Mazatlan 30: Luang Prabang leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Mazatlan 70: Luang Prabang leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Mazatlan 40: Mazatlan leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Mazatlan 35: Luang Prabang leads by 25 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Mazatlan.

Your match

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

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on wellness and culture and sights with your weighting.

Mazatlan
Best match
52match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangMazatlan
Official languageLaoSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-7
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190911
Elevation305 m139 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangMazatlan
City population53,792441,975
Museums within 10 km03
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Luang Prabang or Mazatlan 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.