VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The cathedral facade, Siena
SienaThe cathedral facade

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Siena by Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Lyon or Siena?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • families

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

Choose Siena for

  • day trips
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Siena’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, Siena 14: Siena leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Siena 62: Lyon leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Siena 78: Siena leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Siena 27: Lyon leads by 31 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Siena 65: Siena leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Siena 94: Siena leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Siena 38: Lyon leads by 24 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Siena 60: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Siena 35: Lyon leads by 23 points.
Affordability. Lyon and Siena are level on 42.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Siena 36: Lyon leads by 32 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Siena 55: Siena leads by 15 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

Siena
51match

Wins on day trips and wellness 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
15 hdaylight a day

Siena in July

31 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LyonSiena

Where the figures come from

Siena's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Arezzo.

Siena 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.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Siena: 2006-2017 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Arezzo (45 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonSiena
Official languageFrenchItalian
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation160 m322 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsFlorence Airport, Peretola (FLR)55 km from centre46 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonSiena
City population519,12752,812
People per km²10,838446
Museums within 10 km4330
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km25

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lyon or Siena 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. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

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.