VacationSelector
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Colombo 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 Colombo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Lyon for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • culture and sights

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. Colombo 55, Lyon 12: Colombo leads by 43 points.
Food & drink. Colombo 66, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Colombo 45, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Colombo 35, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 23 points.
Nature & outdoors. Colombo 32, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Day trips. Colombo 50, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Colombo 35, Lyon 62: Lyon leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Colombo 35, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 42 points.
Shopping & style. Colombo 45, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Colombo 78, Lyon 42: Colombo leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Colombo 30, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Colombo 48, Lyon 40: Colombo leads by 8 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Colombo and Lyon.

Your match

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

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around 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.

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °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

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
ColomboLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureColomboLyon
Official languageTamil, SinhalaFrench
CurrencySri Lanka Rupee (LKR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsGM230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+5:30UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 119, ambulance 110, fire 110112
Elevation1 m160 m
Main airportBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-11 days

By the numbers

MeasureColomboLyon
City population647,557519,127
People per km²17,36110,838
Museums within 10 km1043
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
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 Colombo 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.