VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The beach and the bay with the mountains behind, Nuevo Vallarta
Nuevo VallartaThe beach and the bay with the mountains behind

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Nuevo Vallarta by Harpqueen, Public domain.

Luang Prabang or Nuevo Vallarta?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Nuevo Vallarta for

  • beaches
  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Nuevo Vallarta’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, Nuevo Vallarta 84: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Nuevo Vallarta 40: Luang Prabang leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Nuevo Vallarta 6: Luang Prabang leads by 59 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Nuevo Vallarta 16: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Nuevo Vallarta 75: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Nuevo Vallarta 58: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Nuevo Vallarta 73: Nuevo Vallarta leads by 35 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Nuevo Vallarta 25: Luang Prabang leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Nuevo Vallarta 22: Luang Prabang leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Nuevo Vallarta 45: Luang Prabang leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang and Nuevo Vallarta are level on 18.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Nuevo Vallarta 55: Luang Prabang leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Nuevo Vallarta.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Nuevo Vallarta
43match

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

Nuevo Vallarta in July

34 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
206 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangNuevo Vallarta

Where the figures come from

Nuevo Vallarta has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Nuevo Vallarta: 1991-2020 normals, TerraClimate 4 km grid at the town, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangNuevo Vallarta
Official languageLaoSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190911
Elevation305 m3 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsPuerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR)4 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-9 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangNuevo Vallarta
City population53,7921,301
Museums within 10 km00
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Luang Prabang or Nuevo Vallarta 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. 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.