VacationSelector
The cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine, Cologne
CologneThe cathedral and Great St. Martin on the Rhine
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Cologne by Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cologne 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 Cologne for

  • wellness
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Lyon for

  • food and drink
  • culture and sights
  • 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. Cologne 14, Lyon 12: Cologne leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Cologne 52, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Cologne 67, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Nightlife. Cologne 66, Lyon 58: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cologne 56, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Cologne 80, Lyon 77: Cologne leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Cologne 70, Lyon 62: Cologne leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Cologne 74, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Cologne 57, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Cologne 46, Lyon 42: Cologne leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cologne and Lyon are level on 68.
Wellness & relaxation. Cologne 50, Lyon 40: Cologne leads by 10 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cologne 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

Cologne
58match

Wins on wellness and nightlife with your weighting.

Lyon
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.

Cologne in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
81 mmrain in the month
7 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
CologneLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cologne: 1991-2020 normals, Köln-Stammheim (5.4 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCologneLyon
Official languageGermanFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)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
Elevation59 m160 m
Main airportCologne Bonn Airport (CGN)15 km from centre115 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCologneLyon
City population1,025,523519,127
People per km²2,53210,838
Museums within 10 km4043
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32

Where else could you go?

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