VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The old town below the fortress, Salzburg
SalzburgThe old town below the fortress

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Salzburg by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Pexels License.

Lyon or Salzburg?

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
  • nightlife
  • shopping

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

Choose Salzburg for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Salzburg’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, Salzburg 35: Salzburg leads by 23 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Salzburg 45: Lyon leads by 39 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Salzburg 72: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Salzburg 25: Lyon leads by 33 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Salzburg 86: Salzburg leads by 22 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Salzburg 80: Salzburg leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Salzburg 65: Salzburg leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Salzburg 72: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Salzburg 48: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Salzburg 32: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Salzburg 80: Salzburg leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Salzburg 55: Salzburg leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Lyon
60match

Wins on food and drink and nightlife with your weighting.

Salzburg
58match

Wins on beaches 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

Salzburg in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
LyonSalzburg

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Salzburg: 1991-2020 normals, Salzburg (3.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonSalzburg
Official languageFrenchGerman, Austrian Sign Language
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 m424 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsSalzburg Airport (SZG)3 km from centre64 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days16 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonSalzburg
City population519,127155,021
People per km²10,8382,360
Museums within 10 km4338
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km23

Where else could you go?

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