VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan, New York
New YorkBrooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; New York by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or New York?

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 York for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on New York’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, New York 50: New York leads by 36 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, New York 92: New York leads by 50 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, New York 89: New York leads by 24 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, New York 97: New York leads by 89 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, New York 55: Luang Prabang leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, New York 68: New York leads by 33 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, New York 70: New York leads by 32 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, New York 82: New York leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, New York 97: New York leads by 59 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, New York 12: Luang Prabang leads by 68 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, New York 99: New York leads by 81 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, New York 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 New York.

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 York
Best match
71match

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 York in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
107 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
22 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangNew York

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). New York: 1991-2020 normals, LaGuardia Airport (12.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangNew York
Official languageLao-
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190911
Elevation305 m25 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsJohn F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)21 km from centre189 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangNew York
City population53,7928,804,190
People per km²-7,256
Museums within 10 km0157
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Luang Prabang or New York 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.