VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The Opera House on the fjord, Oslo
OsloThe Opera House on the fjord

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Oslo by Beata May, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lyon or Oslo?

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
  • prices
  • day trips

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

Choose Oslo for

  • beaches
  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Oslo’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, Oslo 36: Oslo leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Oslo 55: Lyon leads by 29 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Oslo 66: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Oslo 48: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Oslo 82: Oslo leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Oslo 52: Lyon leads by 25 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Oslo 63: Oslo leads by 1 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Oslo 85: Oslo leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Oslo 50: Lyon leads by 8 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Oslo 14: Lyon leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Oslo 62: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Oslo 60: Oslo leads by 20 points.
0255075100

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

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 prices with your weighting.

Oslo
56match

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

Oslo in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
86 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonOslo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Oslo: 1991-2020 normals, Oslo-Blindern (4.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonOslo
Official languageFrenchNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation160 m23 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsOslo-Gardermoen International Airport (OSL)37 km from centre147 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonOslo
City population519,127717,710
People per km²10,838-
Museums within 10 km4360
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 Oslo 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.