VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay, Sarasota
SarasotaCa' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion on Sarasota Bay

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Sarasota by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lyon or Sarasota?

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
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Sarasota for

  • beaches
  • families
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarasota’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, Sarasota 86: Sarasota leads by 74 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Sarasota 44: Lyon leads by 40 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Sarasota 45: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Sarasota 28: Lyon leads by 30 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Sarasota 55: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Sarasota 50: Lyon leads by 27 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Sarasota 68: Sarasota leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Sarasota 28: Lyon leads by 49 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Sarasota 40: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Sarasota 30: Lyon leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Sarasota 58: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Sarasota 45: Sarasota leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Sarasota.

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 food and drink with your weighting.

Sarasota
48match

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

Sarasota in July

32 °Cdaytime high
25 °Cnight-time low
195 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
LyonSarasota

Where the figures come from

Sarasota 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.

Sarasota's sunshine is measured 70 km from the centre, at Tampa International Airport.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Sarasota: 2006-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sarasota / Ballentine Manor (6.7 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonSarasota
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation160 m7 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsSarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)7 km from centre70 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonSarasota
City population519,12754,842
People per km²10,838840
Museums within 10 km433
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-8 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lyon or Sarasota 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.