VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
Botero sculptures on Plaza Botero, Medellin
MedellinBotero sculptures on Plaza Botero

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Medellin by Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Medellin?

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
  • beaches

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

Choose Medellin for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Medellin’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, Medellin 5: Luang Prabang leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Medellin 42: Luang Prabang leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Medellin 76: Medellin leads by 68 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Medellin 66: Luang Prabang leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Medellin 58: Medellin leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Medellin 50: Medellin leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Medellin 55: Medellin leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Medellin 45: Medellin leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang and Medellin are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Medellin 42: Medellin leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Medellin 30: Luang Prabang leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Medellin.

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.

Medellin
Best match
51match

Wins on nightlife and live music and the arts 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
13 hdaylight a day

Medellin in July

29 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
133 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangMedellin

Where the figures come from

Medellin 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. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Medellin: 1958-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Medellin / Olaya Herrera (5.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangMedellin
Official languageLaoSpanish
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Colombian Peso (COP)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190123
Elevation305 m1,405 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsJose Maria Córdova International Airport (MDE)19 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-19 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangMedellin
City population53,7922,529,403
People per km²-6,644
Museums within 10 km014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Luang Prabang or Medellin 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.