Lyon or Nice? Best place to spend 2 days?

From where is it easier for you to fly back home: Lyon, or Nice?
If it does not matter, I would aim for Lyon, because Nice and the surrounding area deserve more than 2 days in my opinion (more like 3-4), whereas 2 days is perfect for Lyon in my view. Also, Lyon will provide more of a contrast with Provence.

Both flights back home are almost identical so it doesn’t really matter. Getting to Lyon from Moustiers-Saint-Marie will take a little bit longer since we have to drop the car off in Avignon and then catch the train up to Lyon.

I guess we would really have 2 1/2 days in Nice since we could check in to our hotel and then have the rest of the day to explore. We aren’t super interested in spending time at museums and would rather relax and take in the atmosphere around us before we head home.

The scenery near Nice is spectacular with the mountains in the background and the lovely Mediterranean views. The villages nearby were the best part for us - Villefranche sur Mer, St. Jean Cap Ferrat, and Eze. We were there a week with a few nights in Nice and a few nights in Villefranche sur Mer which has a charming waterfront area with restaurants and a shale beach. You can take a regional train or bus from Nice to many of the villages. The Nice airport was great for flying home. Two days would be a short time for this area. I have not been to Lyon, so I cannot comment on that. Happy travels!

Both are nice.
What airport do you fly out of?
What will you see on your Provence tour?
Nice is good if you don't go to the Riveria before, you can also visit Monaco, Cannes and St. Paul de Vence.
Lyon is great and other nearby places with Roman history.

We will either fly in and out of Lyon or into Marseille and out of Nice.

While in Provence we will be visiting Avignon, Uzes, Arles, Saint-Remy, Luberon Villages, Aix and Gorges du Verdon.

I think we need to decide if we would rather eat our hearts out in Lyon or enjoy the beautiful views in Nice! Since it will be our last two days we will prefer to take it slow and soak in the final days of our trip.

Just a reminder that some of / much of the “good food” in Lyon is offal-based. That is not my thing, but you may be earthier eaters than I am.

I would opt for Nice in a heartbeat. It fits in better with the vibe of your trip, and it's such a fun small city.

Either city will have excellent patisserie.

I was going to say, like Kim, whether Lyon food is "good food" is really a matter of taste... and as someone who generally dislikes meat, Lyon is not an appealing food destination 😅.
Otherwise, since you mentioned having 2.5 days (so 3 nights) instead of the 2 nights I had assumed, I might be leaning towards Nice now. You'll be there in max 2.5 hours from Moustiers vs. 5+ if you go to Lyon, so you could be in Nice by lunchtime, even.
Or you could take advantage of the car and stop at, say, Saint Paul de Vence or Tourettes sur Loup on the way (as long as you can hide your luggage - theft is less of an issue than further west in Provence / Languedoc but can still happen).

Been to both, just left Lyon.

Since your already spending two weeks in Provence, I would go with Lyon.

Well as of right now we are leaning towards Nice since logistically it makes the most sense.

But after doing some research it seems a lot more people are underwhelmed by Nice compared with Lyon.

Ugh. Decisions!

I guess I should also add that I spent my first 24 years in a place with some of the nicest beach in the world and then lived in Southern California for a couple of years so I’ve had my fix of Mediterranean climate and cliff views.

No one is underwhelmed by Lyon, some just prefer Nice. OTOH, a friend just spent four days in each and definitely preferred Lyon.

Don't expect a lovely sand beach in Nice because it's rocks. It's the town, scenery, and adjoining towns that people have been recommending, not the beach, unless you opt to eat at a beach restaurant.

It just depends on what you want to do with your time and your interests.

Nice is an attractive place. To me its two supreme advantages as a base for visiting the Riviera are its six art museums (which don't seem to interest you) and the ease of traveling to the picturesque smaller places along the coast (via the regional train) and up in the hills (by bus). With just a few days, the logistical benefits of basing in the largest city in the area wouldn't be as great as if you were going to be there longer. You might consider going to the Riviera but staying in one of the smaller places along the coast if they appeal to you more. Villefranche-sur-Mer and Antibes are popular on this forum. You'd want to take a careful look at the departure time of your flight home, to see whether it would be totally safe to stay outside Nice on your last night. (It might be fine; I don't know.)

You can eat well in Nice too!

This month I have spent 4 nights in Lyon and 5 nights in Nice. They are very different places and I enjoyed them both. We spent our entire time in Lyon in the city and in Nice we did day trips 3 of our 4 days. We didn’t run out of things to do in either place. As for food, Lyon has the reputation of being the gastronomic capital of France. As others have mentioned, the food there is largely offal based and definitely not my thing, so I preferred the food in Nice. With only two days I think I would choose whichever place will take the least amount of time to get there. It’s easier/less expensive to get to the airport in Nice than in Lyon if you want to use that as a deciding factor.

Since organ meat has been mentioned twice: the gastronomic and cuisine Lyonnais are related in some ways, perhaps, but not the same.