VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The railway viaduct over the canal, Castlefield, Manchester
ManchesterThe railway viaduct over the canal, Castlefield

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Manchester by IIya Kuzhekin, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Lyon or Manchester?

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 Lyon for

  • food and drink
  • culture and sights
  • wellness

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

Choose Manchester for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Manchester’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. Lyon 12, Manchester 9: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Manchester 51: Lyon leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Manchester 50: Lyon leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Manchester 72: Manchester leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon and Manchester are level on 64.
Day trips. Lyon and Manchester are level on 77.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Manchester 58: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Manchester 68: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Manchester 62: Manchester leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Lyon and Manchester are level on 42.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Manchester 74: Manchester leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Manchester 15: Lyon leads by 25 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and culture and sights with your weighting.

Manchester
54match

Wins on nightlife 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.

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

Manchester in July

21 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
60 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
16 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonManchester

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Manchester: 1991-2020 normals, Manchester Airport (14.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonManchester
Official languageFrenchEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation160 m38 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsManchester Airport (MAN)15 km from centre211 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonManchester
City population519,127547,627
People per km²10,8384,737
Museums within 10 km4328
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C-None

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lyon or Manchester 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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.