VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
Fishermen on the rocks at Playa Santa Teresa at sunset, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Santa Teresa, Costa RicaFishermen on the rocks at Playa Santa Teresa at sunset

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Santa Teresa, Costa Rica by Christopher Crouzet, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Santa Teresa, Costa Rica?

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

  • culture and sights
  • prices
  • getting around

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

Choose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Teresa, Costa Rica’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, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 84: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 70 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 40: Luang Prabang leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 4: Luang Prabang leads by 61 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 30: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 78: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Luang Prabang leads by 23 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 35: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 15: Luang Prabang leads by 35 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 12: Luang Prabang leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 25: Luang Prabang leads by 55 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 8: Luang Prabang leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 70: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 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 Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Your match

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

Luang Prabang
Best match
43match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
34match

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

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
218 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400500JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangSanta Teresa, Costa Rica

Where the figures come from

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica's temperatures are measured 52 km from the centre, at Puntarenas.

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Santa Teresa, Costa Rica: 1961-1990 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Puntarenas (51.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
Official languageLaoSpanish
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Costa Rican Colon (CRC)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190911
Elevation305 m19 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsDaniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)113 km from centre30 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangSanta Teresa, Costa Rica
City population53,792-
Museums within 10 km00
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Santa Teresa, Costa Rica 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.