VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The coloured houses stepping down to the sea, Positano
PositanoThe coloured houses stepping down to the sea

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Positano by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Positano?

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 Positano for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Positano’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, Positano 77: Positano leads by 63 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Positano 40: Luang Prabang leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Positano 22: Luang Prabang leads by 43 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Positano 22: Positano leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Positano 80: Positano leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Positano 88: Positano leads by 53 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Positano 28: Luang Prabang leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Positano 35: Luang Prabang leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Positano 45: Positano leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Positano 10: Luang Prabang leads by 70 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Positano 15: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Positano 45: Luang Prabang leads by 15 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Positano.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Positano
42match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Positano in July

29 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangPositano

Where the figures come from

Positano's temperatures are measured 25 km from the centre, at Capri.

Positano 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.

Positano's sunshine is measured 59 km from the centre, at Grazzanise.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Positano: 2005-2025 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Capri (25.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangPositano
Official languageLaoItalian
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190112
Elevation305 m142 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsNaples International Airport (NAP)33 km from centre131 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangPositano
City population53,7923,729
People per km²-429
Museums within 10 km010
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Luang Prabang or Positano 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.