VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park, Paphos
PaphosThe lighthouse in the Paphos Archaeological Park

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Paphos by Nikodem Nijaki, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Paphos?

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
  • shopping

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

Choose Paphos for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Paphos’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, Paphos 76: Paphos leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Paphos 45: Paphos leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Paphos 62: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Paphos 38: Paphos leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Paphos 70: Paphos leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Paphos 64: Paphos leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Paphos 68: Paphos leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Paphos 40: Luang Prabang leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Paphos 25: Luang Prabang leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Paphos 52: Luang Prabang leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Paphos 22: Paphos leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Paphos 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 Paphos.

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.

Paphos
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Paphos in July

30 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
27 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangPaphos

Where the figures come from

Paphos has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Paphos: 1991-2020 normals, Paphos Airport (8.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangPaphos
Official languageLaoTurkish, Greek, Modern Greek
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzG240 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190112
Elevation305 m72 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsPaphos International Airport (PFO)8 km from centre58 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-17 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangPaphos
City population53,79235,961
People per km²-1,987
Museums within 10 km04
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C-6 months

Where else could you go?

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