VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Rabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira, Porto
PortoRabelo boats on the Douro and the Ribeira

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Porto by Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0, cropped.

Lyon or Porto?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • getting around

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

Choose Porto for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • nightlife

What lies behind each score is written up on Porto’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, Porto 40: Porto leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Porto 70: Lyon leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Porto 68: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Porto 65: Porto leads by 7 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon and Porto are level on 64.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Porto 79: Porto leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Porto 52: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Porto 66: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Porto 52: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Porto 62: Porto leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Porto 52: Lyon leads by 16 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Porto 34: Lyon leads by 6 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Porto.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Lyon
60match

Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink with your weighting.

Porto
59match

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

Porto in July

25 °Cdaytime high
16 °Cnight-time low
22 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
17 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
LyonPorto

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Porto: 1991-2020 normals, Porto / Serra Do Pilar (2.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonPorto
Official languageFrenchPortuguese
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation160 m104 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsFrancisco de Sá Carneiro Airport (OPO)12 km from centre134 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days14 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonPorto
City population519,127273,476
People per km²10,8386,606
Museums within 10 km4342
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23
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 Porto 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.