VacationSelector
A heritage tram before the Regent building, Christchurch
ChristchurchA heritage tram before the Regent building
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Christchurch by Bernard Spragg. NZ, CC0; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Christchurch 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 Christchurch for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

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

Choose Lyon for

  • food and drink
  • culture and sights
  • day trips

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. Christchurch 38, Lyon 12: Christchurch leads by 26 points.
Food & drink. Christchurch 45, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Christchurch 38, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Christchurch 32, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Christchurch 84, Lyon 64: Christchurch leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Christchurch 45, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Christchurch 66, Lyon 62: Christchurch leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Christchurch 48, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Christchurch 32, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Christchurch 38, Lyon 42: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Christchurch 38, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Christchurch 45, Lyon 40: Christchurch leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Christchurch
46match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Christchurch in July

11 °Cdaytime high
1 °Cnight-time low
68 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
9 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
ChristchurchLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Christchurch: 1991-2020 normals, Christchurch (8.7 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChristchurchLyon
Official languageEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, MāoriFrench
CurrencyNew Zealand Dollar (NZD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+12, UTC+13 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number111112
Elevation20 m160 m
Main airportChristchurch International Airport (CHC)10 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureChristchurchLyon
City population383,200519,127
People per km²1,29810,838
Museums within 10 km1143
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 Christchurch 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.