VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The Space Needle behind Pier 70, Seattle
SeattleThe Space Needle behind Pier 70

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Seattle by Caio, Pexels License.

Lyon or Seattle?

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
  • day trips
  • prices

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

Choose Seattle for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Seattle’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, Seattle 30: Seattle leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Seattle 66: Lyon leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Seattle 50: Lyon leads by 27 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Seattle 55: Lyon leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Seattle 87: Seattle leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Seattle 55: Lyon leads by 22 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Seattle 64: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Seattle 60: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Seattle 52: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Seattle 22: Lyon leads by 20 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Seattle 70: Seattle leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon and Seattle are level on 40.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Seattle.

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 day trips with your weighting.

Seattle
54match

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

Seattle in July

25 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
15 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
12 °Csea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
LyonSeattle

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Seattle: 1991-2020 normals, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (17.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonSeattle
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 m40 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsSeattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)18 km from centre135 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonSeattle
City population519,127737,015
People per km²10,8381,996
Museums within 10 km4327
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 Seattle 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.