VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
Waterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor, Newport Beach
Newport BeachWaterfront houses on Harbor Island in Newport Harbor

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Newport Beach by Don Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Newport Beach?

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
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose Newport Beach for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Newport Beach’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, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 56 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Newport Beach 50: Newport Beach leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Newport Beach 20: Luang Prabang leads by 45 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Newport Beach 33: Newport Beach leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Newport Beach 66: Luang Prabang leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Newport Beach 70: Newport Beach leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Newport Beach 80: Newport Beach leads by 42 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Newport Beach 20: Luang Prabang leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Newport Beach 62: Newport Beach leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Newport Beach 15: Luang Prabang leads by 65 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Newport Beach 46: Newport Beach leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Newport Beach 44: Luang Prabang leads by 16 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Newport Beach.

Your match

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

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Newport Beach
Best match
48match

Wins on beaches and families 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

Newport Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangNewport Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Newport Beach: 1991-2020 (rainfall 1981-2010) normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangNewport Beach
Official languageLao-
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190911
Elevation305 m3 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)7 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangNewport Beach
City population53,79285,239
People per km²-622
Museums within 10 km04
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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