VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown, Portland
PortlandHawthorne Bridge and downtown

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Portland by Cacophony, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lyon or Portland?

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

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • food and drink

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

Choose Portland for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Portland’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, Portland 20: Portland leads by 8 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Portland 68: Lyon leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Portland 38: Lyon leads by 39 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Portland 52: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Portland 84: Portland leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Portland 58: Lyon leads by 19 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Portland 55: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Portland 62: Lyon leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Portland 52: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Portland 38: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Portland 55: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Portland 42: Portland leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Portland.

Your match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

Portland
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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

Portland in July

27 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
13 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LyonPortland

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Portland: 1991-2020 normals, Portland International Airport (9.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonPortland
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation160 m152 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsPortland International Airport (PDX)10 km from centre88 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonPortland
City population519,127652,503
People per km²10,8381,736
Museums within 10 km4317
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 Portland 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. 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.