VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
A chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain, Whistler
WhistlerA chairlift and the runs on Whistler Mountain

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Whistler by Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Lyon or Whistler?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Whistler for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Whistler’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, Whistler 30: Whistler leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Whistler 40: Lyon leads by 44 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Whistler 20: Lyon leads by 57 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Whistler 42: Lyon leads by 16 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Whistler 97: Whistler leads by 33 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Whistler 30: Lyon leads by 47 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Whistler 68: Whistler leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Whistler 68: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Whistler 30: Lyon leads by 28 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Whistler 12: Lyon leads by 30 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Whistler 15: Lyon leads by 53 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Whistler 60: Whistler leads by 20 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Whistler.

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

Whistler
43match

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

Whistler in July

25 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
46 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200JFMAMJJASOND
LyonWhistler

Where the figures come from

Whistler 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). Whistler: 1991-2020 normals, Whistler - Nesters (1.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonWhistler
Official languageFrenchFrench, English
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number112911
Elevation160 m670 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsVancouver International Airport (YVR)104 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonWhistler
City population519,12713,982
People per km²10,83858
Museums within 10 km431
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 Whistler 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.