VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
Santa MonicaThe Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Santa Monica by Domenico Convertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Lyon or Santa Monica?

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

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

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

Choose Santa Monica for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Santa Monica’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, Santa Monica 66: Santa Monica leads by 54 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Santa Monica 60: Lyon leads by 24 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Santa Monica 35: Lyon leads by 42 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Santa Monica 38: Lyon leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Santa Monica 72: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Santa Monica 64: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Santa Monica 70: Santa Monica leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Santa Monica 52: Lyon leads by 25 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Santa Monica 56: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Santa Monica 14: Lyon leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Santa Monica 38: Lyon leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Santa Monica 45: Santa Monica leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on culture and sights and live music and the arts with your weighting.

Santa Monica
51match

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
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Santa Monica in July

24 °Cdaytime high
18 °Cnight-time low
1 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
LyonSanta Monica

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Santa Monica: 1991-2020 normals, Los Angeles Airport (13.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonSanta Monica
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 m32 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsLos Angeles International Airport (LAX)11 km from centre177 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonSanta Monica
City population519,12793,076
People per km²10,8384,270
Museums within 10 km4319
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 Santa Monica 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.