VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Erasmus Bridge and the skyline, Rotterdam
RotterdamErasmus Bridge and the skyline

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Rotterdam by Bas Geerlings, Pexels License.

Lyon or Rotterdam?

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
  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Rotterdam for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Rotterdam’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, Rotterdam 27: Rotterdam leads by 15 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Rotterdam 52: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Rotterdam 58: Lyon leads by 19 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Rotterdam 52: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Rotterdam 44: Lyon leads by 20 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Rotterdam 85: Rotterdam leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Rotterdam 66: Rotterdam leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Rotterdam 78: Rotterdam leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Rotterdam 55: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Rotterdam 38: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Rotterdam 58: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Rotterdam 42: Rotterdam leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

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 nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Rotterdam
55match

Wins on beaches and day trips 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

Rotterdam in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonRotterdam

Where the figures come from

Rotterdam 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.

Rotterdam's sunshine is measured 52 km from the centre, at De Bilt.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Rotterdam: 1993-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Rotterdam Airport Zestienhoven (3.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonRotterdam
Official languageFrenchDutch
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation160 m10 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsRotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM)5 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonRotterdam
City population519,127664,311
People per km²10,8382,080
Museums within 10 km4340
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25
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 Rotterdam 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.