VacationSelector
Colourful shopfronts in the city centre, Cork
CorkColourful shopfronts in the city centre
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Cork by Selim Karadayı, Pexels License; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Cork 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 Cork for

  • beaches

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

Choose Lyon for

  • culture and sights
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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. Cork 25, Lyon 12: Cork leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Cork 58, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Cork 40, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 37 points.
Nightlife. Cork 40, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cork 62, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Cork 68, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Good for families. Cork 50, Lyon 62: Lyon leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Cork 58, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 19 points.
Shopping & style. Cork 40, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Cork 33, Lyon 42: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cork 45, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 23 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cork 22, Lyon 40: Lyon leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cork and Lyon.

Your match

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

Cork
45match

Wins on beaches with your weighting.

Lyon
Best match
60match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Cork in July

19 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
16 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

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
CorkLyon

Where the figures come from

Cork's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cork: 1991-2020 normals, Cork Airport (5.6 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCorkLyon
Official languageEnglish, IrishFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsG230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation0 m160 m
Main airportCork International Airport (ORK)7 km from centre47 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureCorkLyon
City population222,333519,127
People per km²5,96110,838
Museums within 10 km543
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 Cork 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). 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.