VacationSelector
The skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake, Denver
DenverThe skyline and the Rocky Mountains over City Park and Ferril Lake
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Denver by Zenhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Denver 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 Denver for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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

Choose Lyon for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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. Denver 5, Lyon 12: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Denver 54, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 30 points.
Culture & sights. Denver 44, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Denver 47, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Denver 84, Lyon 64: Denver leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Denver 57, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 20 points.
Good for families. Denver 67, Lyon 62: Denver leads by 5 points.
Getting around. Denver 40, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 37 points.
Shopping & style. Denver 44, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Denver 36, Lyon 42: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Live music & performing arts. Denver 66, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Denver and Lyon are level on 40.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Denver
49match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around 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.

Denver in July

32 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
55 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 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°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
DenverLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Denver: 1991-2020 normals, Denver / Stapleton International, Co. (11.2 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureDenverLyon
Official language-French
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-7, UTC-6 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,609 m160 m
Main airportDenver International Airport (DEN)30 km from centre231 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureDenverLyon
City population715,522519,127
People per km²1,78310,838
Museums within 10 km2643
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

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