VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Flinders Street Station, Melbourne
MelbourneFlinders Street Station

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Melbourne by Medelam, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lyon or Melbourne?

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

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Melbourne for

  • beaches
  • nightlife
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Melbourne’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, Melbourne 50: Melbourne leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Melbourne 75: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Melbourne 57: Lyon leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Melbourne 75: Melbourne leads by 17 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Melbourne 70: Melbourne leads by 6 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Melbourne 62: Lyon leads by 15 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Melbourne 73: Melbourne leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Melbourne 76: Lyon leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Melbourne 70: Melbourne leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Melbourne 31: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Melbourne 72: Melbourne leads by 4 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Melbourne 54: Melbourne leads by 14 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lyon
60match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Melbourne
Best match
64match

Wins on beaches and nightlife 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

Melbourne in July

14 °Cdaytime high
6 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonMelbourne

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Melbourne: 1991-2020 normals, Latrobe University / Kingsbury (13.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonMelbourne
Official languageFrenchEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Australian Dollar (AUD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+10, UTC+11 in summer
Emergency number112000
Elevation160 m31 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsMelbourne Airport (MEL)19 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonMelbourne
City population519,1275,350,705
People per km²10,838535
Museums within 10 km4343
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Melbourne 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.