VacationSelector
Surfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach, Gold Coast
Gold CoastSurfers Paradise from Narrowneck Beach
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Gold Coast by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Gold Coast 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 Gold Coast for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Gold Coast’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. Gold Coast 92, Lyon 12: Gold Coast leads by 80 points.
Food & drink. Gold Coast 47, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 37 points.
Culture & sights. Gold Coast 15, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 62 points.
Nightlife. Gold Coast 55, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gold Coast 82, Lyon 64: Gold Coast leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Gold Coast 52, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Gold Coast 89, Lyon 62: Gold Coast leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Gold Coast 45, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Gold Coast 40, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Gold Coast 35, Lyon 42: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gold Coast 30, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 38 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gold Coast 42, Lyon 40: Gold Coast leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gold Coast and Lyon.

Your match

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

Gold Coast
52match

Wins on beaches and families 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.

Gold Coast in July

22 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
59 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
21 °Csea
11 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

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Gold CoastLyon

Where the figures come from

Gold Coast's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Brisbane Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gold Coast: 1991-2020 normals, Gold Coast Seaway (13 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGold CoastLyon
Official languageEnglishFrench
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+10UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number000112
Elevation12 m160 m
Main airportGold Coast Airport (OOL)20 km from centre19 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureGold CoastLyon
City population607,665519,127
People per km²43310,838
Museums within 10 km243
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
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 Gold Coast 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). 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.