VacationSelector
A yellow tram in a narrow street, Lisbon
LisbonA yellow tram in a narrow street
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Lisbon by Riccardo Toso, Pexels License; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Lisbon 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 Lisbon for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • prices

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

Choose Lyon for

  • getting around
  • food and drink
  • live music and the arts

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. Lisbon 50, Lyon 12: Lisbon leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Lisbon 75, Lyon 84: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Lisbon 78, Lyon 77: Lisbon leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Lisbon 75, Lyon 58: Lisbon leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lisbon 75, Lyon 64: Lisbon leads by 11 points.
Day trips. Lisbon 82, Lyon 77: Lisbon leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Lisbon and Lyon are level on 62.
Getting around. Lisbon 66, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Lisbon 60, Lyon 58: Lisbon leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Lisbon 55, Lyon 42: Lisbon leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lisbon 60, Lyon 68: Lyon leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lisbon 36, Lyon 40: Lyon leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lisbon
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and nightlife with your weighting.

Lyon
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.

Lisbon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
3 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
15 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
LisbonLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lisbon: 1991-2020 normals, Lisboa / Geof (1.1 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLisbonLyon
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
Elevation100 m160 m
Main airportLisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS)7 km from centre156 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLisbonLyon
City population545,796519,127
People per km²5,45310,838
Museums within 10 km8043
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km32
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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