VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower, Shanghai
ShanghaiThe Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Tower

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Shanghai by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Lyon or Shanghai?

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

  • nature and the outdoors
  • culture and sights
  • beaches

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

Choose Shanghai for

  • shopping
  • nightlife
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Shanghai’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, Shanghai 10: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Shanghai 88: Shanghai leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Shanghai 72: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Shanghai 25: Lyon leads by 39 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Shanghai 90: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Shanghai 80: Shanghai leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Shanghai 85: Shanghai leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Shanghai 82: Shanghai leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 13 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Shanghai 66: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Shanghai 55: Shanghai leads by 15 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Shanghai.

Your match

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

Lyon
60match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and culture and sights with your weighting.

Shanghai
Best match
66match

Wins on shopping and nightlife 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

Shanghai in July

33 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
151 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
26 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
LyonShanghai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Shanghai: 1991-2020 normals, Shanghai / Hongqiao (8.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonShanghai
Official languageFrenchPutonghua
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation160 m4 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsShanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)33 km from centre207 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonShanghai
City population519,12724,870,895
People per km²10,8383,922
Museums within 10 km4345
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

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