VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park, San Diego
San DiegoThe Botanical Building, Balboa Park

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Diego by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped.

Lyon or San Diego?

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

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose San Diego for

  • beaches
  • families
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on San Diego’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, San Diego 72: San Diego leads by 60 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, San Diego 62: Lyon leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, San Diego 50: Lyon leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, San Diego 48: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, San Diego 77: San Diego leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, San Diego 60: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, San Diego 96: San Diego leads by 34 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, San Diego 38: Lyon leads by 39 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, San Diego 44: Lyon leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, San Diego 26: Lyon leads by 16 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, San Diego 56: Lyon leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, San Diego 45: San Diego leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Diego
56match

Wins on beaches and families 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

San Diego in July

24 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
2 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonSan Diego

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). San Diego: 1991-2020 normals, San Diego International Airport (2.8 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonSan Diego
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 m129 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsSan Diego International Airport (SAN)3 km from centre87 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonSan Diego
City population519,1271,386,932
People per km²10,8381,438
Museums within 10 km4326
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-1 month

Where else could you go?

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