VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Riga?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Riga for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Riga leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Riga 52: Riga leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Riga 66: Riga leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Riga 52: Riga leads by 44 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Riga 55: Luang Prabang leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Riga 60: Riga leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Riga 50: Riga leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Riga 68: Riga leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Riga 45: Riga leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Riga 62: Luang Prabang leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Riga 65: Riga leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Riga 50: Luang Prabang leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Riga.

Your match

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

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Riga
Best match
55match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangRiga
Official languageLaoLatvian
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190112
Elevation305 m6 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangRiga
City population53,792588,911
Museums within 10 km012
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

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