Lyon
Recommended Tours
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Lyon's diverse sites make it an ideal city to stroll around in. From the charming old streets of Vieux Lyon, to the ultra modern Part-Dieu Mall and train station, Lyon has a wealth of quaint coffee shops, restaurants and attractions to entertain all visitors.
Vieux Lyon
This tour traces a path from Lyon’s highest point down into the nooks and crannies of its old town. The heart of Vieux Lyon is located here, when modern-day Lyon was a Gallo-Roman city known as Lugdunum.
To start your tour, take the Funicular from the Vieux Lyon metro stop (Green Line) to Saint-Just, where you will exit in front of the Basilique de Fourvière. Built in the 19th century, the huge stone edifice is one of Lyon’s most picturesque places and offers a superb panoramic view of the city below. For a real workout, skip the funicular and hike to the top using the stone staircases at the base of Vieux Lyon.
As you follow the path away from the Basilica, your choices are numerous. A visit to the top of the hill wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the ruins of the striking Amphithéâtre Gallo-Romain, which provides plenty of green space in its present-day incarnation as a park. Looking out onto the ruins is the Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine on Rue Cléberg. What appears to be a modest one-story structure from the outside is in fact a vast repository of Roman marble and other archaeological finds descending through five levels.
Before you reach the museum, you’ll come to the Jardins du Rosaire, situated directly under the Basilica. Its quiet, groomed greenways are an alternative to spending an afternoon in the museum.
If you’re hungry or thirsty, there are a few places to take a break scattered around the top of the hill. Restaurant de la Fourvière offers traditional French food, a terrace, and a splendid view, while Restaurant Simplicité’s name reflects the atmosphere of the peaceful terrace situated next to the Jardins du Rosaire.
Although you can take the funicular back down to Vieux Lyon, making the descent on foot is much more feasible than hoofing it up. The main path descending from Rue Cléberg passes a sculpted waterfall and opens onto the Rue du Boeuf, a gateway to the cozy, unique restaurants and boutiques that add to the neighborhood’s mysterious vibe. A slew of restaurants, such as Happy Family Friends and Le Touareg line the street, as well as artisan shops like Vincent Breed’s Glassworks Studio.
Croix Rousse
Up on a plateau overlooking the city, the Croix-Rousse neighborhoods loom over the city center. Its cultural legacy as the location of Lyon’s Renaissance silk trade, which lasted until the 19th century, is part of what made Lyon a UNESCO heritage site in 1998. Its wide boulevards and silk-making houses, which have since been transformed into spacious mezzanine apartments with high windows, are a change from the elaborate, cramped ambience of Lyon’s more traditional neighborhoods.
Croix Rousse is home to a number of funky bars, restaurants, and shops, as well as several museums. On sunny afternoons, it has the feel of a bohemian outpost far removed from greater Lyon’s stately refinement and comme-il-faut.
The best way to appreciate Croix Rousse is on foot, and the easiest way to get there is by metro or bus, as the climb up can be punishing for the uninitiated. From Hôtel de Ville de Lyon, take Bus 19 or transfer to the Yellow Line metro from the Hôtel de Ville metro stop (Red Line). Both deposit you on the Croix-Rousse plateau, where on clear days it’s possible to see the mountains to the south and east. Saturday or Sunday are ideal for a visit, as Marché Forain de la Croix Rousse lining both sides of the central Grand Boulevard de la Croix Rousse is in full swing. The food market is open every day except Monday, while clothing and textiles are sold on the other side of the Boulevard on Tuesdays.
The Boulevard provides signage to various attractions, such as the Maison des Canuts on the east end and the Villa Gillet on the west. The former is a museum commemorating Lyon’s silk legacy; the latter is an active cultural center promoting Francophone-Anglophone literary exchanges, and home to the annual Assises Internationales du Roman, a major French literary event assembling renowned writers from all over the world.
Opportunities to take a break and look around are many: on the Grand Boulevard alone are Le bar du Gros Caillou at the east end, featuring a panoramic view from the plateau and possibly the city’s narrowest staircase. Toward the west end, Café Chantecler and Modern Art Café offer a full menu of indoor and outdoor refreshment. Chantecler is a traditional bustling French café, while Modern Art’s neon ambience is younger and funkier, with an 80s retro touch. From the Grand Boulevard, you’ll enjoy branching off to discover side streets and hidden parks. The eastern slopes lead back down to the Hotel de Ville, while the western ones descend to the Saône River docks and skirt the quiet, slightly overgrown Parc de la Ceriseraie.
Parc de la Tête d’Or/Berges du Rhône
Although Lyon is France’s third-largest city, its planners have spent considerable effort making the most of its green spaces. The proof is in the Parc de la Tête d'Or and the nearby Berges du Rhône. The park itself was integrated into the Lyonnaise landscape in the 19th century, while the Berges are a more recent project spanning the early years of the 2000s.
The park has something for everyone: jogging trails, bike and roller paths, paddleboats, botanical gardens, and a zoo.
A café at the main entrance on the Boulevard des Belges offers drinks and snacks, although there are other selections at the Cité Internationale , a modern complex bordering the Rhône side of the park. This area, just down the path from Interpol’s international headquarters, features a 16-screen Cineplex with French and foreign films in original versions. Next door is the Lyon Hilton and its subterranean Casino Le Pharaon, and just in front of the complex in a modest white building is the Musée d'Art Contemporain.
If high-wattage entertainment isn’t your thing, there’s plenty of fun to be had on the banks of the Rhône bordering the park’s west side. Re-sculpting them into an espace détente took several years, and the result is worth it: large areas of green lawn for picnics and trails for running or biking on one of the city’s free Velo’v rental bikes.
There are also plenty of peniches, or houseboat bars, as well as a few at the top of the docks. Two of the most inviting are Q-Boat and Baroc.
A little further up the Berges, you’ll see two towers looming over a low building. This is the Centre Nautique du Rhône, which in the summer fills its pool with sanitized water from the Rhône.
Bellecour and the Presqu’Ile
Shopping and pre-1793 architecture are on display at Lyon’s southern end.
From Place Bellecour, take a leisurely stroll down Rue de la République for shopping of all sizes, shapes, and price ranges. Fuel up with a drink and snack at Café Bellecour on the southern end of the Place.
Following Rue de la République will take you to the area around Hôtel de Ville and Opéra National de Lyon. If you’re an opera fan, the offerings at the Lyon opera house are world-renowned and year-round. At night, the building’s red-hued ambience adds a distinctive touch to the neighborhood.
If you just need some freshening up before continuing your promenade, the Peristyle Jazz Café at the Opéra (summers only) as well as the Fournil de l’Opéra, are good choices.
On the nearby Place des Terreaux, the Musée des Beaux-Arts houses an extensive and rich collection, enhanced by the 2008 acquisition of Nicolas Poussin’s Flight Into Egypt.
Clothing shops ranging from very cheap to very expensive, line the streets leading to and away from the Place des Terreaux, as well as a slew of cafés and terraces. If you’re in the mood for salsa dancing, take a left at the entrance to the Place at the end opposite from the Hôtel de Ville. Mi Barrio is a Lyonnaise institution for amateur and accomplished Latin dancers.
Modern Lyon
To get a more modern look at the city, it’s worth making the big triangle covering the area from the Monplaisir-Lumière metro stop (Green Line) up to Part-Dieu, and then down to Guillotière.
Start at Monplaisir-Lumière, where the former Château of the Lumière Brothers has been turned into a museum celebrating their accomplishments, which led to the invention of some of the first movie cameras and the world’s first films.
From Monplaisir, take the subway to Saxe-Gambetta, changing to the Blue Line and descending at Part-Dieu. The subway spits you out at the Centre Commercial de la Part-Dieu, a five-level shopping mall worthy of its American cousins.
For the mall-averse, a quick trip across the street to one of the cafés or sandwich shops, such as O Délices de Marius or La Fée Salade, might be in order for a breath of fresh air.
From Part-Dieu, the T1 tram to Guillotière provides a trip into the heart of the city’s Arab and Chinese neighborhoods, where you can spend hours searching five and dime or textile shops for knickknacks, pricey handwoven tapestries, earthenware tagine cookers, and everything in between. A trip to Bahadurian, Lyon’s purveyor of Middle Eastern, North African, and Eastern European groceries, is a must.
A walk up Cours Garibaldi to the tree-lined banks of the Rhône uncovers quiet cafés and curiosity shops in an atmosphere that seems light years away from the fast-paced hustle of the area around Part-Dieu.
Guided Tours
Walking Tours
Lyon Tourist Office (+33 04 72 77 69 69/ http://www.lyon-france.com)
Bus Tours
City Discovery (+33 870 407 320/ http://www.city-discovery.com)
River Tours
Naviginter(+33 04 78 42 96 81/ http://www.naviginter.fr/)
