VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The old Bath House in the Government Gardens, Rotorua
RotoruaThe old Bath House in the Government Gardens

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Rotorua by W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Rotorua?

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 Rotorua for

  • families
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotorua’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, Rotorua 33: Rotorua leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Rotorua 33: Luang Prabang leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Rotorua 38: Luang Prabang leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Rotorua 14: Rotorua leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Rotorua 45: Rotorua leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Rotorua 68: Rotorua leads by 30 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Rotorua 30: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Rotorua 22: Luang Prabang leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Rotorua 36: Luang Prabang leads by 44 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Rotorua 30: Rotorua leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Rotorua 86: Rotorua leads by 26 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Rotorua
43match

Wins on families and wellness 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

Rotorua in July

11 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
113 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangRotorua

Where the figures come from

Rotorua has no weather station within reach, so its figures come from a gridded climate model rather than a measured record, and read a broad area rather than the city itself.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Rotorua: 2001-2020 normals, NASA POWER reanalysis grid, no weather station within 90 km.

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangRotorua
Official languageLaoEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190111
Elevation305 m280 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsRotorua Regional Airport (ROT)7 km from centre3 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangRotorua
City population53,79258,500
People per km²-22
Museums within 10 km01
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Rotorua 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. Temperature and rainfall for destinations with no weather station are from the NASA POWER 2001-2020 climatology, derived from MERRA-2. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.