VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Mountain Village under snow, seen from the gondola, Telluride
TellurideMountain Village under snow, seen from the gondola

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Telluride by Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Lyon or Telluride?

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
  • food and drink

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

Choose Telluride for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Telluride’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, Telluride 5: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Telluride 38: Lyon leads by 46 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Telluride 20: Lyon leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Telluride 20: Lyon leads by 38 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Telluride 93: Telluride leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Telluride 30: Lyon leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Telluride 45: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Telluride 66: Lyon leads by 11 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Telluride 25: Lyon leads by 33 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Telluride 7: Lyon leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Telluride 35: Lyon leads by 33 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Telluride 45: Telluride leads by 5 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Telluride
36match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Telluride in July

23 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
58 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonTelluride

Where the figures come from

Telluride 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). Telluride: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Telluride / Lime (8.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonTelluride
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation160 m2,667 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsMontrose Regional Airport (MTJ)64 km from centre11 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonTelluride
City population519,1272,607
People per km²10,8381,372
Museums within 10 km430
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

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