VacationSelector
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles
Los AngelesThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Photos: Los Angeles by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles for

  • beaches
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Lyon for

  • getting around
  • prices
  • 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. Los Angeles 60, Lyon 12: Los Angeles leads by 48 points.
Food & drink. Los Angeles and Lyon are level on 84.
Culture & sights. Los Angeles 66, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Los Angeles 67, Lyon 58: Los Angeles leads by 9 points.
Nature & outdoors. Los Angeles 80, Lyon 64: Los Angeles leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Los Angeles 60, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Los Angeles 84, Lyon 62: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Los Angeles 25, Lyon 77: Lyon leads by 52 points.
Shopping & style. Los Angeles 80, Lyon 58: Los Angeles leads by 22 points.
Affordability. Los Angeles 24, Lyon 42: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Los Angeles 83, Lyon 68: Los Angeles leads by 15 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Los Angeles 60, Lyon 40: Los Angeles leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Los Angeles
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Lyon
60match

Wins on getting around and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Los Angeles in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °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
Los AngelesLyon

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Los Angeles: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (18.5 km from centre). Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLos AngelesLyon
Official language-French
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCE230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-8, UTC-7 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation106 m160 m
Main airportLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)19 km from centre177 non-stop destinationsLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLos AngelesLyon
City population3,898,747519,127
People per km²2,99410,838
Museums within 10 km3943
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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