VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The red cable car above Wellington, Wellington
WellingtonThe red cable car above Wellington

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Wellington by lumoplank, CC0.

Lyon or Wellington?

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 Wellington for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors

What lies behind each score is written up on Wellington’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, Wellington 33: Wellington leads by 21 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Wellington 62: Lyon leads by 22 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Wellington 44: Lyon leads by 33 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Wellington 45: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Wellington 78: Wellington leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Wellington 40: Lyon leads by 37 points.
Good for families. Lyon and Wellington are level on 62.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Wellington 68: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Wellington 42: Lyon leads by 16 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Wellington 33: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Wellington 56: Lyon leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Wellington 30: Lyon leads by 10 points.
0255075100

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

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.

Wellington
49match

Wins on beaches and 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

Wellington in July

12 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
111 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
12 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonWellington

Where the figures come from

Wellington's sunshine is measured 47 km from the centre, at Paraparaumu Aerodrome.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Wellington: 1961-1990 (sunshine 1991-2020) normals, Wellington Aerodrome Aws (5.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonWellington
Official languageFrenchEnglish, New Zealand Sign Language, Māori
CurrencyEuro (EUR)New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzI230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+12, UTC+13 in summer
Emergency number112111
Elevation160 m0 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsWellington International Airport (WLG)5 km from centre20 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonWellington
City population519,127216,200
People per km²10,838487
Museums within 10 km4312
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 Wellington 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 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.