VacationSelector
A jetty on the lagoon, Faro
FaroA jetty on the lagoon
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Faro by Efrem Efre, Pexels License; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Faro 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 Faro for

  • beaches
  • prices

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

Choose Lyon for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • 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. Faro 74, Lyon 12: Faro leads by 62 points.
Food & drink. Faro 48, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 36 points.
Culture & sights. Faro 35, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Faro 32, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 26 points.
Nature & outdoors. Faro 62, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Faro 64, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Faro 60, Lyon 62: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Faro 60, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Faro 35, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Faro 60, Lyon 42: Faro leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Faro 30, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Faro 33, Lyon 40: Lyon leads by 7 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Faro
49match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Faro in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
14 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
FaroLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Faro: 1991-2020 normals, Faro / Aeroporto (2.8 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFaroLyon
Official languagePortugueseFrench
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC, UTC+1 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation10 m160 m
Main airportFaro - Gago Coutinho International Airport (FAO)3 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFaroLyon
City population64,560519,127
People per km²31910,838
Museums within 10 km243
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months-

Where else could you go?

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