VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi, New Orleans
New OrleansThe steamboat Natchez on the Mississippi

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; New Orleans by Bernard Spragg, CC0.

Luang Prabang or New Orleans?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose New Orleans for

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

What lies behind each score is written up on New Orleans’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 and New Orleans are level on 14.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, New Orleans 84: New Orleans leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, New Orleans 67: New Orleans leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, New Orleans 85: New Orleans leads by 77 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, New Orleans 42: Luang Prabang leads by 26 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, New Orleans 52: New Orleans leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, New Orleans 55: New Orleans leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, New Orleans 55: New Orleans leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, New Orleans 54: New Orleans leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, New Orleans 40: Luang Prabang leads by 40 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, New Orleans 80: New Orleans leads by 62 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, New Orleans 25: Luang Prabang leads by 35 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and New Orleans.

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.

New Orleans
Best match
54match

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
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

New Orleans in July

33 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
169 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangNew Orleans

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). New Orleans: 1991-2020 normals, New Orleans Airport (2.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangNew Orleans
Official languageLao-
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190911
Elevation305 m-2 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsLouis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)18 km from centre51 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-14 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangNew Orleans
City population53,792383,997
People per km²-423
Museums within 10 km016
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-7 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Luang Prabang or New Orleans 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.