VacationSelector
The Cloth Hall on the Main Square, Krakow
KrakowThe Cloth Hall on the Main Square
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Krakow by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Krakow 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 Krakow for

  • prices
  • nightlife

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

Choose Lyon for

  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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. Krakow 9, Lyon 12: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Krakow 55, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Krakow and Lyon are level on 77.
Nightlife. Krakow 68, Lyon 58: Krakow leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Krakow 62, Lyon 64: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Krakow 76, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 1 points.
Good for families. Krakow 58, Lyon 62: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Krakow 74, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Krakow 48, Lyon 58: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Krakow 72, Lyon 42: Krakow leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Krakow 55, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Krakow 36, Lyon 40: Lyon leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Krakow
58match

Wins on prices and nightlife with your weighting.

Lyon
60match

Wins on food and drink 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.

Krakow in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
100 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 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

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
KrakowLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Krakow: 1991-2020 normals, Krakow (10.1 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureKrakowLyon
Official languagePolishFrench
CurrencyZloty (PLN)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE50 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation219 m160 m
Main airportKraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)11 km from centre132 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureKrakowLyon
City population804,237519,127
People per km²2,45910,838
Museums within 10 km11343
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km42

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Krakow 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). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. 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. 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.