VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Portland?

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
  • wellness

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

Choose Portland for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Portland leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Portland 68: Portland leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Portland 38: Luang Prabang leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Portland 52: Portland leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Portland 84: Portland leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Portland 58: Portland leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Portland 55: Portland leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Portland 62: Portland leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Portland 52: Portland leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Portland 38: Luang Prabang leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Portland 55: Portland leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Portland 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 Portland.

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.

Portland
Best match
52match

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
13 hdaylight a day

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangPortland
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 m152 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangPortland
City population53,792652,503
People per km²-1,736
Museums within 10 km017
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10

Where else could you go?

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