VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The Arctic Cathedral, Tromso
TromsoThe Arctic Cathedral

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Tromso by Moyan Brenn, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Lyon or Tromso?

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

  • day trips
  • culture and sights
  • food and drink

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

Choose Tromso for

  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Tromso’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, Tromso 8: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Tromso 36: Lyon leads by 48 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Tromso 27: Lyon leads by 50 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Tromso 38: Lyon leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Tromso 92: Tromso leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Tromso 14: Lyon leads by 63 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Tromso 45: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Tromso 60: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Tromso 15: Lyon leads by 43 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Tromso 11: Lyon leads by 31 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Tromso 32: Lyon leads by 36 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Tromso 38: Lyon leads by 2 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Tromso.

Your match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on day trips and culture and sights with your weighting.

Tromso
35match

Wins on nature and the outdoors 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

Tromso in July

16 °Cdaytime high
9 °Cnight-time low
73 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
10 °Csea
24 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
LyonTromso

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Tromso: 1991-2020 normals, Tromso (0.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonTromso
Official languageFrenchNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Norwegian Krone (NOK)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112Police 112, ambulance 113, fire 110
Elevation160 m20 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsTromsø Airport (TOS)4 km from centre49 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonTromso
City population519,12779,943
People per km²10,83832
Museums within 10 km438
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 Tromso 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.