Lyon or Paris?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Has no clear advantage with the weighting you have chosen.
Wins on sights concentration and nightlife with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Lyon if you want a city you can cross on foot, with its bars and restaurants clustered near the centre and more park space in the middle of town.
Choose Paris if you want depth rather than compactness: far more museums, far more worth seeing within walking distance of the centre, and a night out with many times the choice.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Lyon and Paris are level on 0.
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 26 | 2 |
| Coast distance | 253 km | 149 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Paris leads by 11 points.11
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 79 | 90 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 1,691 | 4,732 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 40 | 33 |
Museums & heritage. Paris leads by 21 points.21
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 76 |
| Museums within 10 km | 53 | 185 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 25 | 65 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 47 | 35 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 2 | 4 |
Nightlife. Paris leads by 30 points.30
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 88 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 866 | 3,796 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 611 | 1,694 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 71 | 45 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 47 | 201 |
Nature & day trips. Paris leads by 15 points.15
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 33 | 48 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 6 | 28 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 6 | 26 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 120 hectares | 82 hectares |
Good for families. Paris leads by 16 points.16
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 59 | 75 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 25 | 89 |
| Park area within 2 km | 120 hectares | 82 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 2 | 3 |
Sights concentration. Paris leads by 40 points.40
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 54 | 94 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 86 | 865 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Lyon and Paris are level on 62.
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 62 |
| Price level global | 73.7 | 73.7 |
| Daily budget | €160 | €160 |
Year-round weather. Paris leads by 2 points.2
| Lyon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 64 | 66 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7 °C to 28 °C | 7.8 °C to 26 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 43 mm to 101 mm | 38 mm to 75 mm |
| Dry months | 0 | 1 |
Where they differ
Lyon is the more contained trip: its bars and clubs sit almost entirely near the centre, where in Paris only about half do, and its restaurants cover a somewhat wider range of kitchens. It also keeps more park space near the middle.
Paris holds many times more notable places within walking distance of the centre, about three times as many museums, and 4 UNESCO-listed sites within day-trip reach against Lyon's 2. Its drinking venues and clubs outnumber Lyon's many times over.
Where they are alike
Neither works as a swimming trip. Neither has a month of sea at 21°C or more, and although beaches are counted near Lyon, the water is not the reason to go to either city.
Weather is close as well: Lyon runs 7-28°C across the year against Paris's 8-26°C, with the same cold midwinter and warm summer in both. Both also eat well, Paris on sheer number of restaurants, Lyon on breadth of kitchens.
Which traveller are you?
Museum-led traveller: Paris, clearly, with far more museums and 4 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Lyon's 2, and the notable sights packed into a walkable core.
Eating and drinking: either, but differently. Paris offers far more restaurants and many times the bars and clubs; Lyon gives a wider spread of kitchens and keeps its nightlife near the centre, so evenings need less travel.
Families with young children: Paris on breadth, with about three times as many attractions near the centre and 3 theme parks within reach against Lyon's 2. Lyon answers with more park space close in, which matters on a slow afternoon.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information. The figure behind it is a national price level, identical for both by construction, and the €160 daily budget sitting beside it is one countrywide estimate rather than a measurement of either city. Neither is the cheaper trip on this evidence; compare accommodation for your dates instead.
Sunshine hours are missing for Paris: no nearby station records them, so that side of the weather comparison is unmeasured rather than poor, and the month-by-month picture there rests on temperature and rainfall alone. Although 26 beaches are counted near Lyon, neither city has a month of sea at 21°C or more.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre).
Lyon runs warmer at the peak, 28°C in high summer against Paris's 26°C, and it still holds 23°C in September, which is the month to come for warmth without the fullest heat.
Paris is the drier bet either side of summer, at 38-45mm a month through late winter and spring, while Lyon's autumn turns heavy, with 84mm in September and 101mm in October. Paris peaks in August. Midwinter suits neither, with highs near 8°C.
Getting there
| Flying from | Lyon | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 35 m no fares LYS · 20 km | 1 h 5 m €63-103 CDG · 22 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 3 h 0 m €167-217 LYS · 20 km | 3 h 15 m €152-378 1 stop CDG · 22 km |
| LisbonLIS | 2 h 20 m €109-165 LYS · 20 km | 2 h 20 m €138-242 ORY · 14 km |
| MadridMAD | 1 h 45 m no fares LYS · 20 km | 1 h 55 m €107-141 ORY · 14 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 20 m €70-92 LYS · 20 km | 1 h 40 m €110-135 CDG · 22 km |
| PortoOPO | 2 h 5 m no fares LYS · 20 km | 2 h 5 m €113-136 ORY · 14 km |
| RomeFCO, CIA | 1 h 30 m €79-99 LYS · 20 km | 1 h 55 m €118-132 ORY · 14 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 30 m no fares LYS · 20 km | 6 h 50 m €292-389 1 stop CDG · 22 km |
| MontrealYUL, YHU, YMX | 7 h 35 m €446-565 1 stop LYS · 20 km | 7 h 10 m €444-536 CDG · 22 km |
| BeijingPEK, PKX | 10 h 20 m no fares GVA · 111 km | 10 h 20 m no fares CDG · 22 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Lyon | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French | French |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CE230 V, 50 Hz | CE230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 160 m | 27 m |
| Main airport | Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre139 non-stop destinations | Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Lyon | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 519,127 | 2,103,778 |
| People per km² | 10,838 | 19,960 |
| Museums within 10 km | 42 | 251 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 4 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 148 | 169 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lyon or Paris somewhere new.