VacationSelector
Wat Xieng Thong temple, Luang Prabang
Luang PrabangWat Xieng Thong temple
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Luang Prabang by Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Luang Prabang or Wellington?

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 Wellington for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 19 points.
Food & drink. Luang Prabang 42, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Luang Prabang 65, Wellington 44: Luang Prabang leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Luang Prabang 8, Wellington 45: Wellington leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Luang Prabang 68, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Luang Prabang 35, Wellington 40: Wellington leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Luang Prabang 38, Wellington 62: Wellington leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Luang Prabang 50, Wellington 68: Wellington leads by 18 points.
Shopping & style. Luang Prabang 38, Wellington 42: Wellington leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Luang Prabang 80, Wellington 33: Luang Prabang leads by 47 points.
Live music & performing arts. Luang Prabang 18, Wellington 56: Wellington leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Luang Prabang 60, Wellington 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 Wellington.

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.

Wellington
Best match
49match

Wins on live music and the arts 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Luang PrabangWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Luang Prabang: 1991-2020 normals, Luang-Prabang (0.8 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLuang PrabangWellington
Official languageLaoEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyLao Kip (LAK)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsABCEF230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 195, fire 190111
Elevation305 m0 m
Main airportLuang Phabang International Airport (LPQ)4 km from centre7 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLuang PrabangWellington
City population53,792216,200
People per km²-487
Museums within 10 km012
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 Wellington 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.