VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The opera house on Place de la Comédie, Montpellier
MontpellierThe opera house on Place de la Comédie

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Montpellier by Peter, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Montpellier?

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

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Montpellier for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Montpellier’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, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 50 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Montpellier 64: Montpellier leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Montpellier 60: Luang Prabang leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Montpellier 56: Montpellier leads by 48 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Montpellier 72: Montpellier leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Montpellier 85: Montpellier leads by 50 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Montpellier 62: Montpellier leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Montpellier 74: Montpellier leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Montpellier 47: Montpellier leads by 9 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Montpellier 50: Luang Prabang leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Montpellier 63: Montpellier leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Montpellier 42: Luang Prabang leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Montpellier.

Your match

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

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Montpellier
Best match
62match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Montpellier in July

30 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
17 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangMontpellier

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Montpellier: 1991-2020 normals, Montpellier (7.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangMontpellier
Official languageLaoFrench
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190112
Elevation305 m7 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsMontpellier-Méditerranée Airport (MPL)8 km from centre41 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangMontpellier
City population53,792310,240
People per km²-5,452
Museums within 10 km014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-2 months

Where else could you go?

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