VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds, Sapporo
SapporoThe old Hokkaido Government Office and its flower beds

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sapporo by Feri88, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Sapporo?

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

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

Choose Sapporo for

  • nightlife
  • food and drink
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Sapporo’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, Sapporo 28: Sapporo leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 38 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Sapporo 40: Luang Prabang leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Sapporo 62: Sapporo leads by 54 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Sapporo 86: Sapporo leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Sapporo 64: Sapporo leads by 29 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Sapporo 72: Sapporo leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Sapporo 80: Sapporo leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Sapporo 58: Sapporo leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Sapporo 60: Luang Prabang leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Sapporo 44: Sapporo leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Sapporo 80: Sapporo 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 Sapporo.

Your match

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

Luang Prabang
43match

Wins on culture and sights and prices with your weighting.

Sapporo
Best match
63match

Wins on nightlife and food and drink 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

Sapporo in July

25 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
19 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangSapporo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Sapporo: 1991-2020 normals, Sapporo (2.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangSapporo
Official languageLaoJapanese
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Yen (JPY)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzAB100 V, 50 and 60 Hz depending on the region
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+9
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190Police 110, fire 119
Elevation305 m5 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsNew Chitose Airport (CTS)42 km from centre42 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangSapporo
City population53,7921,959,313
People per km²-1,747
Museums within 10 km033
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

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