VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Lyon for

  • prices
  • food and drink
  • nightlife

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. Boston 35, Lyon 12: Boston leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 20 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Lyon 62: Boston leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Lyon 42: Lyon leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Lyon 68: Boston leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 30, Lyon 40: Lyon leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Boston and Lyon.

Your match

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

Boston
56match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on prices 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.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Lyon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BostonLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonLyon
Official language-French
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation43 m160 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBostonLyon
City population675,647519,127
People per km²2,91010,838
Museums within 10 km5143
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Boston 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.