VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The cathedral facade, Siena
SienaThe cathedral facade

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Siena by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Luang Prabang or Siena?

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
  • nature and the outdoors

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

Choose Siena for

  • day trips
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Siena’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 and Siena are level on 14.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Siena 62: Siena leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Siena 78: Siena leads by 13 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Siena 27: Siena leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Siena 65: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Siena 94: Siena leads by 59 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang and Siena are level on 38.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Siena 60: Siena leads by 10 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Siena 35: Luang Prabang leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Siena 42: Luang Prabang leads by 38 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Siena 36: Siena leads by 18 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Siena 55: Luang Prabang leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Luang Prabang and Siena.

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.

Siena
Best match
51match

Wins on day trips 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
13 hdaylight a day

Siena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangSiena

Where the figures come from

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena 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). Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangSiena
Official languageLaoItalian
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)Euro (EUR)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190112
Elevation305 m322 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangSiena
City population53,79252,812
People per km²-446
Museums within 10 km030
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km15

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Luang Prabang or Siena 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. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.