VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
A bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay, Montego Bay
Montego BayA bright beach on turquoise water at Montego Bay

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Montego Bay by Dre Dawkcide, Pexels License.

Lyon or Montego Bay?

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

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts

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

Choose Montego Bay for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Montego Bay’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, Montego Bay 84: Montego Bay leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Montego Bay 50: Lyon leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Montego Bay 28: Lyon leads by 49 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Montego Bay 42: Lyon leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Montego Bay 65: Montego Bay leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Montego Bay 50: Lyon leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Montego Bay 48: Lyon leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Montego Bay 20: Lyon leads by 57 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Montego Bay 25: Lyon leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Montego Bay 38: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Montego Bay 32: Lyon leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Montego Bay 45: Montego Bay leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Montego Bay.

Your match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

Montego Bay
44match

Wins on beaches and wellness 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

Montego Bay in July

34 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
LyonMontego Bay

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Montego Bay: 1991-2020 normals, Montego Bay / Sangster (3.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonMontego Bay
Official languageFrenchEnglish, Jamaican Patois
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Jamaican Dollar (JMD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB116 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5
Emergency number112Police 110/112/119/911, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation160 m19 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsSangster International Airport (MBJ)4 km from centre48 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days10 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonMontego Bay
City population519,127123,994
People per km²10,838-
Museums within 10 km430
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lyon or Montego Bay 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. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.