VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The Dzhumaya Mosque, Plovdiv
PlovdivThe Dzhumaya Mosque

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Plovdiv by Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lyon or Plovdiv?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • shopping

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

Choose Plovdiv for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Plovdiv’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, Plovdiv 7: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Plovdiv 50: Lyon leads by 34 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Plovdiv 66: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Plovdiv 42: Lyon leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Plovdiv 68: Plovdiv leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Plovdiv 70: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Plovdiv 40: Lyon leads by 22 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Plovdiv 65: Lyon leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Plovdiv 33: Lyon leads by 25 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Plovdiv 78: Plovdiv leads by 36 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Plovdiv 42: Lyon leads by 26 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Plovdiv 44: Plovdiv leads by 4 points.
0255075100

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

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Plovdiv
50match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors 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
15 hdaylight a day

Plovdiv in July

31 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
44 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonPlovdiv

Where the figures come from

Plovdiv 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.

Plovdiv's sunshine is measured 75 km from the centre, at Kurdjali.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Plovdiv: 1997-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Plovdiv (1.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonPlovdiv
Official languageFrenchBulgarian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+2, UTC+3 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation160 m172 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsPlovdiv International Airport (PDV)12 km from centre8 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days15 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonPlovdiv
City population519,127333,994
People per km²10,8383,274
Museums within 10 km4318
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

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