VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The House of the Blackheads at dusk, Riga
RigaThe House of the Blackheads at dusk

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Riga by Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lyon or Riga?

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
  • day trips
  • shopping

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

Choose Riga for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Riga’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, Riga 40: Riga leads by 28 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Riga 52: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Riga 66: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Riga 52: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Riga 55: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Riga 60: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Riga 50: Lyon leads by 12 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Riga 68: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Riga 45: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Riga 62: Riga leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Riga 65: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Riga 50: Riga leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

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 day trips with your weighting.

Riga
55match

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

Riga in July

24 °Cdaytime high
15 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
18 °Csea
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonRiga

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Riga: 1991-2020 normals, Riga (4.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonRiga
Official languageFrenchLatvian
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 m6 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsRiga International Airport (RIX)9 km from centre93 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureLyonRiga
City population519,127588,911
People per km²10,838-
Museums within 10 km4312
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km21
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 Riga 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.