VacationSelector
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Chicago 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 Chicago for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Lyon for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Chicago 50, Lyon 12: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Chicago 80, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Chicago 78, Lyon 77: Chicago leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Chicago 77, Lyon 58: Chicago leads by 19 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chicago 48, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Chicago 42, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 35 points.
Good for families. Chicago 78, Lyon 62: Chicago leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Chicago 72, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Chicago 70, Lyon 58: Chicago leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Chicago 33, Lyon 42: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chicago 82, Lyon 68: Chicago leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Chicago 33, Lyon 40: Lyon leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Chicago
62match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Lyon
60match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °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
ChicagoLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChicagoLyon
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
Elevation179 m160 m
Main airportChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChicagoLyon
City population2,746,388519,127
People per km²4,52910,838
Museums within 10 km4443
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °C1 month-

Where else could you go?

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