VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo
PalermoPalermo Cathedral

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Palermo by Antonino Giangrasso, Pexels License.

Lyon or Palermo?

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
  • families
  • shopping

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

Choose Palermo for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Palermo’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, Palermo 77: Palermo leads by 65 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Palermo 81: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Palermo 80: Palermo leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Lyon and Palermo are level on 58.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Palermo 72: Palermo leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Palermo 84: Palermo leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Palermo 44: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Palermo 50: Lyon leads by 27 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Palermo 44: Lyon leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Palermo 63: Palermo leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Palermo 62: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Palermo 30: Lyon leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Lyon
60match

Wins on getting around and families with your weighting.

Palermo
62match

Wins on beaches 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.

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

Palermo in July

29 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonPalermo

Where the figures come from

Palermo has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Palermo's sunshine is measured 67 km from the centre, at Ustica.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Palermo: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Palermo / Punta Raisi (24.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonPalermo
Official languageFrenchItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation160 m14 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsFalcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO)25 km from centre106 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonPalermo
City population519,127630,167
People per km²10,8383,924
Museums within 10 km4342
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lyon or Palermo 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. 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.