Lyon Guide for Digital Nomads

Weather in Lyon by month

The warmest month is July, at about 83°F (29°C) in the afternoon, and the coolest is January, at about 45°F (7°C).

The most rain falls in October.

From NOAA's monthly station summaries for Saint Exupery, Fr (19.0 km away), averaged over 2011 to 2025.

Internet in Lyon

In M-Lab's open speed tests within 25 km of Lyon, half came in above 104 Mbps download and 18 Mbps upload, and the fastest quarter of lines above 307 Mbps.

That's 1,347,097 download tests from September 2025 to September 2026.

The typical figure counts every line, cheap and mobile ones too; a fiber line in a good apartment or coworking space is closer to the fastest quarter.

Test yours when you get there with my internet speed test.

Cost of living in Lyon

One person spends about $2,361 a month in Lyon, with a furnished place to stay:

The rent is the lower quarter of Inside Airbnb's 299 studios and one-bedrooms that take stays of a month or more, from its June 2026 listings.

The rest is what a one-person US household spends (the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2024 survey), at France's prices for each (the World Bank's 2021 price comparison).

Coworking, insurance and flights come on top.

Here's what a furnished studio or one-bedroom lists for in the neighborhoods with the most month-long stays:

That's each listing's nightly price times 30, before any monthly discount a host gives, so a booked month often comes in lower.

Air quality in Lyon

The air in Lyon carries about 10 µg/m³ of fine particles (PM2.5) over a year, 2 times the WHO's guideline of 5 µg/m³.

The cleanest month is April, at about 6 µg/m³, and the haziest is December.

From the 3 government monitors nearest Lyon, all within 4 km, through OpenAQ's open air quality data, each month's average since 2023: LYON Centre (EEA, ODC-BY, 1.1 km); GERLAND (EEA, ODC-BY, 2.1 km); A7 SUD LYONNAIS (EEA, ODC-BY, 4 km).

Is Lyon safe?

The US State Department rates France Level 2 ("Exercise increased caution", updated 2025-05-28), the same level it gives Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy.

Levels 1 and 2 are both everyday travel; the US only asks you to reconsider a trip at Level 3.

Some advisories raise the level for parts of a country, so read the full advisory before you book.

Work and stay in Lyon

Where to work and live with other remote workers, from each finder:

See them all on a map, with hours, photos and directions, in the coworking space finder and free Wi-Fi spots.

Visas, taxes and residency in France

Before you plan a long stay, check what your passport allows and what staying does to your taxes:

• Can you stay? – see where your passport goes without a visa on the visa-free countries map, and whether France has a visa for remote workers in the digital nomad visa finder
• The Schengen area – France is in it, so days here count toward your 90 in any 180; count them with the Schengen calculator
• Tax – compare France's income tax with other countries in tax rates by country
• Tax breaks for new residents – France has a regime for people who move there; see it in tax breaks for new residents
• Foreign income – France taxes its tax residents on their income from anywhere; see the rule and its exceptions on the territorial tax map

Each tool reads the official rules, so the answer is for your own passport and income.

Money in Lyon

A card with no foreign fee and an account that holds several currencies make a stay much cheaper:

• Accounts – the best bank accounts for digital nomads, by where you live
• Cards – what a card costs you abroad in the card fees abroad calculator
• Sending money – the cheapest way to move money there in the money transfer comparison

The finders show only accounts and cards you can open from where you live.

Time zone

Lyon runs on Paris time (Europe/Paris).

See how many working hours you'd share with your clients or team in the time zone overlap calculator.