VacationSelector
The Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower, Johannesburg
JohannesburgThe Johannesburg skyline and the Hillbrow Tower
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Johannesburg by K, Pexels License; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg for

  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Lyon for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • day trips

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. Johannesburg 5, Lyon 12: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Johannesburg 58, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 26 points.
Culture & sights. Johannesburg 56, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 21 points.
Nightlife. Johannesburg 62, Lyon 58: Johannesburg leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. Johannesburg 55, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Johannesburg 52, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Johannesburg 42, Lyon 62: Lyon leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Johannesburg 18, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 59 points.
Shopping & style. Johannesburg and Lyon are level on 58.
Affordability. Johannesburg 72, Lyon 42: Johannesburg leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Johannesburg 55, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Johannesburg 28, Lyon 40: Lyon leads by 12 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Johannesburg and Lyon.

Your match

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

Johannesburg
47match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around 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.

Johannesburg in July

19 °Cdaytime high
4 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
11 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
JohannesburgLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Johannesburg: 2005-2019 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Johannesburg B / Roosevelt Park (7.3 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureJohannesburgLyon
Official languageEnglish, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Venda, Northern Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Sesotho, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign LanguageFrench
CurrencyRand (ZAR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCMN230 V, 50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+2UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation1,753 m160 m
Main airportO.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)22 km from centre84 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureJohannesburgLyon
City population4,803,262519,127
People per km²2,92210,838
Museums within 10 km1443
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22

Where else could you go?

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