VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
A cobbled street of painted houses in Old San Juan, San Juan
San JuanA cobbled street of painted houses in Old San Juan

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; San Juan by Mohan Nannapaneni, Pexels License.

Luang Prabang or San Juan?

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
  • getting around

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

Choose San Juan for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on San Juan’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 Juan 84: San Juan leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, San Juan 66: San Juan leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, San Juan 64: Luang Prabang leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, San Juan 70: San Juan leads by 62 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, San Juan 74: San Juan leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, San Juan 52: San Juan leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, San Juan 58: San Juan leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, San Juan 38: Luang Prabang leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, San Juan 50: San Juan leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, San Juan 38: Luang Prabang leads by 42 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, San Juan 55: San Juan leads by 37 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, San Juan 40: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and San Juan.

Your match

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

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

San Juan
Best match
57match

Wins on beaches 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

San Juan in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangSan Juan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). San Juan: 1991-2020 normals, San Juan / Int., Puerto Rico (12.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangSan Juan
Official languageLaoSpanish, English
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-4
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190911
Elevation305 m3 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsLuis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU)12 km from centre59 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-21 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangSan Juan
City population53,792342,259
People per km²-2,847
Museums within 10 km018
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

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