VacationSelector
The Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest
BudapestThe Fisherman's Bastion
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Budapest by Perituss, CC0; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Budapest 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 Budapest for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • prices

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

Choose Lyon for

  • food and drink
  • day trips
  • 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. Budapest 25, Lyon 12: Budapest leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Budapest 63, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 21 points.
Culture & sights. Budapest 80, Lyon 77: Budapest leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Budapest 78, Lyon 58: Budapest leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Budapest 58, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Budapest 68, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Budapest and Lyon are level on 62.
Getting around. Budapest 78, Lyon 77: Budapest leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Budapest 55, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Budapest 62, Lyon 42: Budapest leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Budapest 76, Lyon 68: Budapest leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Budapest 98, Lyon 40: Budapest leads by 58 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Budapest
Best match
67match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

Lyon
60match

Wins on food and drink and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Budapest in July

27 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
16 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
BudapestLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Budapest: 1991-2020 normals, Budapest Met Center (2.1 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBudapestLyon
Official languageHungarianFrench
CurrencyForint (HUF)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation117 m160 m
Main airportBudapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD)18 km from centre157 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBudapestLyon
City population1,675,777519,127
People per km²3,19110,838
Museums within 10 km8143
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Budapest 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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.