VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose
San JoseThe Winchester Mystery House

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Jose by Roxanna Salceda, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or San Jose?

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
  • culture and sights

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

Choose San Jose for

  • day trips
  • families
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose’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, San Jose 30: San Jose leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, San Jose 56: San Jose leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, San Jose 36: Luang Prabang leads by 29 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, San Jose 33: San Jose leads by 25 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, San Jose 72: San Jose leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, San Jose 78: San Jose leads by 43 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, San Jose 65: San Jose leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, San Jose 30: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, San Jose 48: San Jose leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, San Jose 20: Luang Prabang leads by 60 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, San Jose 38: San Jose leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, San Jose 30: Luang Prabang leads by 30 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and San Jose.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

San Jose
45match

Wins on day trips and families 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

San Jose in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
14 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangSan Jose

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). San Jose: 1991-2020 normals, San Jose / Santa Clara Trailer Village (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangSan Jose
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 m25 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsMineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)8 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangSan Jose
City population53,7921,013,240
People per km²-2,167
Museums within 10 km019
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 San Jose 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. 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.