VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Austin or Lyon?

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 Austin for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose Lyon for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Lyon’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. Austin 30, Lyon 12: Austin leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Lyon 58: Austin leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Austin 55, Lyon 62: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Austin 30, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 47 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Lyon 42: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Lyon 68: Austin leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin and Lyon are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Lyon.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Lyon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
AustinLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinLyon
Official language-French
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation149 m160 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureAustinLyon
City population961,855519,127
People per km²1,21710,838
Museums within 10 km2143
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin or Lyon 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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.