VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; San Francisco by Elijah Cobb, Pexels License.

Lyon or San Francisco?

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

  • prices
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

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

Choose San Francisco for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on San Francisco’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 Francisco 25: San Francisco leads by 13 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, San Francisco 82: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, San Francisco 68: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Lyon and San Francisco are level on 58.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, San Francisco 80: San Francisco leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, San Francisco 72: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, San Francisco 66: San Francisco leads by 4 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, San Francisco 70: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon and San Francisco are level on 58.
Affordability. Lyon 42, San Francisco 14: Lyon leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, San Francisco 76: San Francisco leads by 8 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, San Francisco 42: San Francisco leads by 2 points.
0255075100

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

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 prices and culture and sights with your weighting.

San Francisco
59match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches 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 Francisco in July

22 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonSan Francisco

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). San Francisco: 1981-2010 normals, Alameda Naval Air Station (9.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonSan Francisco
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 m16 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsSan Francisco International Airport (SFO)18 km from centre142 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonSan Francisco
City population519,127873,965
People per km²10,8381,455
Museums within 10 km4351
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
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 San Francisco 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.