VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock, Petra
PetraThe Treasury, Al-Khazneh, cut into the rock

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Petra by Yasir Gürbüz, Pexels License.

Luang Prabang or Petra?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose Petra for

  • culture and sights
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Petra’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, Petra 5: Luang Prabang leads by 9 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Petra 22: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Petra 85: Petra leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Petra 5: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Petra 78: Petra leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Petra 30: Luang Prabang leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Petra 25: Luang Prabang leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Petra 25: Luang Prabang leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Petra 18: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Petra 45: Luang Prabang leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Petra 10: Luang Prabang leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Petra 28: Luang Prabang leads by 32 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Petra.

Your match

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

Luang Prabang
Best match
43match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Petra
31match

Wins on culture and sights and nature and the outdoors 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
13 hdaylight a day

Petra in July

35 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangPetra

Where the figures come from

Petra's temperatures are measured 34 km from the centre, at Ma'An.

Petra's station stands 219 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Petra 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). Petra: 1991-2020 normals, Ma'An (33.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangPetra
Official languageLaoArabic
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Jordanian Dinar (JOD)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzBCFGJ230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+3
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190911
Elevation305 m850 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsKing Hussein International Airport (AQJ)90 km from centre5 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangPetra
City population53,792-
Museums within 10 km02
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11

Where else could you go?

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