VacationSelector
Yellow colonial houses in the walled city, Cartagena
CartagenaYellow colonial houses in the walled city
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Cartagena by Dr. Thomas Liptak, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cartagena 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 Cartagena for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Lyon for

  • day trips
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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. Cartagena 70, Lyon 12: Cartagena leads by 58 points.
Food & drink. Cartagena 62, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Cartagena 68, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Cartagena 70, Lyon 58: Cartagena leads by 12 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cartagena 46, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Cartagena 33, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Cartagena 40, Lyon 62: Lyon leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Cartagena 54, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 23 points.
Shopping & style. Cartagena 48, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Cartagena 60, Lyon 42: Cartagena leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cartagena 40, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 28 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cartagena and Lyon are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cartagena and Lyon.

Your match

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

Cartagena
53match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cartagena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
124 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CartagenaLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cartagena: 1991-2020 normals, Cartagena / Rafael Nunez (3.1 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCartagenaLyon
Official languageSpanishFrench
CurrencyColombian Peso (COP)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB110 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number123112
Elevation2 m160 m
Main airportRafael Nuñez International Airport (CTG)2 km from centre26 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year19 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCartagenaLyon
City population914,552519,127
People per km²1,59910,838
Museums within 10 km243
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cartagena 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). 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. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.