Best time to visit Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is a city of two halves. December scores 90 and May scores 29 — a 61-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. Only 2 months come close to the top, which makes the timing narrow.

April is the warmest month at 36.2 °C and December the coolest at 28.5 °C — a 7.7 °C spread across the year. 283 days a year top 30 °C, more than a third of the calendar, so heat is the baseline here rather than a season.

There is a real wet season here. May to September carry the rain — up to 24 wet days in a month — while January, February, March, November and December drop as low as 1. That 23-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Luang Prabang, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 10.9 hours in winter to 13.3 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are December, January, February. The one to think twice about is May. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Luang Prabang month by month