VacationSelector
The Forbidden City, Beijing
BeijingThe Forbidden City
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Beijing by BI ravencrow, Pexels License; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Beijing 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 Beijing for

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Lyon for

  • getting around
  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

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. Beijing 6, Lyon 12: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. Beijing 81, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Beijing 93, Lyon 77: Beijing leads by 16 points.
Nightlife. Beijing and Lyon are level on 58.
Nature & outdoors. Beijing 60, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Beijing 85, Lyon 77: Beijing leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Beijing 64, Lyon 62: Beijing leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Beijing 69, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Beijing 72, Lyon 58: Beijing leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Beijing 68, Lyon 42: Beijing leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Beijing and Lyon are level on 68.
Wellness & relaxation. Beijing 55, Lyon 40: Beijing leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Beijing and Lyon.

Your match

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

Beijing
Best match
65match

Wins on prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

Lyon
60match

Wins on getting around and beaches with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Beijing in July

32 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
163 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
15 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

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
BeijingLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Beijing: 1991-2020 normals, Beijing (11.1 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBeijingLyon
Official languagePutonghuaFrench
CurrencyYuan Renminbi (CNY)Euro (EUR)
SocketsACI220 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+8UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 110, ambulance 120, fire 119112
Elevation43 m160 m
Main airportBeijing Capital International Airport (PEK)25 km from centre104 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year6 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBeijingLyon
City population21,893,095519,127
People per km²1,33410,838
Museums within 10 km8343
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km62

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Beijing 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.