VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Lyon or York?

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
  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife

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

Choose York for

  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on York’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, York 14: York leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, York 42: Lyon leads by 42 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, York 70: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, York 36: Lyon leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, York 62: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, York 80: York leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, York 60: Lyon leads by 2 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, York 72: Lyon leads by 5 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, York 46: Lyon leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, York 38: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, York 38: Lyon leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, York 34: Lyon leads by 6 points.
0255075100

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

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 live music and the arts with your weighting.

York
49match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonYork

Where the figures come from

York 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.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonYork
Official languageFrenchEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation160 m25 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonYork
City population519,127208,400
People per km²10,838766
Museums within 10 km4324
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lyon or York 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 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.