VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The US Capitol, Washington DC
Washington DCThe US Capitol

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Washington DC by Guohua Song, Pexels License.

Lyon or Washington DC?

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

  • food and drink
  • prices
  • wellness

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

Choose Washington DC for

  • families
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Washington DC’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 and Washington DC are level on 12.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Washington DC 67: Lyon leads by 17 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Washington DC 84: Washington DC leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Washington DC 57: Lyon leads by 1 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon and Washington DC are level on 64.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Washington DC 73: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Washington DC 73: Washington DC leads by 11 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Washington DC 72: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Washington DC 52: Lyon leads by 6 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Washington DC 28: Lyon leads by 14 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Washington DC 67: Lyon leads by 1 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Washington DC 26: Lyon leads by 14 points.
0255075100

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

Your match

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

Lyon
Best match
60match

Wins on food and drink and prices with your weighting.

Washington DC
56match

Wins on families and culture and sights 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

Washington DC in July

32 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
108 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonWashington DC

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Washington DC: 1991-2020 normals, Washington National Airport (5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonWashington DC
Official languageFrench-
CurrencyEuro (EUR)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation160 m72 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsRonald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)5 km from centre105 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonWashington DC
City population519,127689,545
People per km²10,8383,896
Museums within 10 km4398
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C-3 months

Where else could you go?

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