Lyon (population 530,000 in the city; 2.3 million in the metropolitan area) is France's second-largest city by economic output and one of the most important cities in European history — at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, 470km southeast of Paris. Lugdunum (the Roman name for Lyon) was founded in 43 BCE by the Roman consul Lucius Munatius Plancus and became the capital of the three Gauls (Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Belgica, and Gallia Aquitania) — the most important Roman city in the western empire outside Rome itself. Lyon's UNESCO World Heritage Site (1998 — the largest urban UNESCO zone in France: 500 hectares encompassing the Roman hill of Fourvière, the medieval Saint-Jean district, the Renaissance Presqu'île, and the silk-weaving Croix-Rousse district) preserves the complete evolution of a European city from Roman to 19th century. Lyon was the centre of the European silk trade for 500 years (the Canuts — the Lyon silk weavers — invented the Jacquard loom in 1804 (Joseph-Marie Jacquard's punched-card controlled loom, invented in Lyon in 1804, was the direct ancestor of the IBM punched card and the computer)). Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France (and therefore, by French consensus, of the world): the birthplace of 'nouvelle cuisine' (Paul Bocuse (1934–2018) — the most decorated chef in French culinary history; three Michelin stars (1965–2018, the longest continuous Michelin three-star run in history) — defined modern French cooking at his restaurant in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, 12km from Lyon) and home to the 'bouchons' (the traditional Lyon bistros serving the authentic Lyonnais cuisine: tête de veau, andouillette, quenelle de brochet, salade lyonnaise). Best months: April–October.
Vieux-Lyon (Old Lyon — Saint-Jean, Saint-Paul, and Saint-Georges quarters: the largest surviving Renaissance urban district in France (and one of the largest in Europe): the Lyon Renaissance townhouses (the 'maisons à traboules' — the buildings of the Italian-influenced Lyon Renaissance (15th–16th century): built by the Italian merchant community (the Lyon Fairs — the 'foires de Lyon' — were the most important international commercial fairs in Europe in the 15th–16th century; Italian, German, Flemish, and Spanish merchants maintained permanent trading houses in Lyon; the Italian merchants brought their architectural tastes: the courtyard buildings with loggia (the open arcaded gallery on the courtyard side, similar to Italian Renaissance palaces), the staircase towers (the round towers visible from the courtyard — the most distinctive feature of Lyon Renaissance architecture), and the distinctive tinted rendering (yellow, pink, and ochre facades)): the traboules (the 'traboule' (from the Latin 'trans ambulare' — 'to walk through') is a passageway through the interior of a building, allowing pedestrians to cross from one street to another through internal courtyards and staircases; Lyon has approximately 230 surviving traboules covering 40km of total pedestrian routes; the traboules were used by the Lyon Resistance during the German occupation (1940–1944) to move people and messages without being observed from the streets)). Free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBasilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière (the dominant monument of Lyon — visible from almost every part of the city: the white neo-Byzantine basilica on the Fourvière Hill (the original Roman hilltop (the 'Fórum Vetus' — the old forum) above the Saône valley)): the basilica (built 1872–1884 in fulfillment of a vow made by the Lyon archdiocese during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871): the city promised to build a basilica if Lyon was spared the Prussian siege (Lyon was indeed not besieged; the basilica was built); the architecture (the neo-Byzantine style — a combination of Byzantine (the central dome over the crossing), Romanesque (the round arches of the nave), and Gothic (the pointed arches of the chapels) elements; the interior (the most elaborate mosaic programme in France (outside the Sacré-Coeur in Paris): 5,000m² of gold mosaic covering the vaults, domes, and apse walls)); the Fourvière esplanade (the viewpoint above the basilica: the finest panoramic view of Lyon — the complete Lyon urban landscape from the Presqu'île to the Croix-Rousse hill, with the Alps visible on clear days (the Mont Blanc, 150km to the east, is occasionally visible from the Fourvière viewpoint)). Free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThéâtres Romains de Fourvière (the Roman theatres of Lyon — Lugdunum: the two surviving Roman theatres on the south slope of the Fourvière Hill (below the basilica)): the Grand Théâtre (the oldest Roman theatre in France: built 43 BCE (in the same year as the founding of the city — the theatre was one of the first constructions of the new Roman capital of the Three Gauls); expanded under Emperor Augustus (27 BCE) to seat 10,000 spectators; expanded again under the Emperor Hadrian (117–138 CE) to the final dimensions (the largest Roman theatre in Roman Gaul): 108m diameter, 33 semicircular tiers of stone seating, and the most complete Roman theatre orchestra (the semicircular performance space at the base of the seating tiers) in France); the Odéon (the smaller musical theatre adjacent to the Grand Théâtre: built under Hadrian (c. 130 CE); diameter 73m; used for music and recitation rather than dramatic performance); the Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine (the museum of Gallo-Roman civilisation — built into the Fourvière hill directly adjacent to the theatres; one of the finest Roman provincial art collections in France). Adults €8.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSaône riverside walk (the Quai Fulchiron and Quai Romain Rolland — the right bank of the Saône River at the foot of the Vieux-Lyon and Fourvière hill): the two rivers (the Presqu'île of Lyon ('almost island') is the peninsula of land formed by the Saône on the west and the Rhône on the east; the two rivers merge at the Pointe de la Confluence (the southern tip of the Presqu'île, 4km south of the city centre)): the Saône at sunset (the Saône is the calmer, narrower, and historically older river: the western river that has defined the commercial waterfront of Lyon since the Roman period; the Saône riverside has the finest uninterrupted views of the Vieux-Lyon and Fourvière facades); the Quai Saint-Vincent (the favourite evening stroll of the Lyon bourgeoisie: the north bank of the Saône, with the traboule buildings rising directly from the water on the Vieux-Lyon side, and the cafés and restaurants along the modern quayside). Free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBouchon lyonnais (the traditional Lyon bistro — the most important concept in French gastronomy: the 'bouchon' (the etymology is disputed: possibly from the Old French 'bouchon' (a bunch of straw used as a tavern sign) or from the verb 'boucher' (to stop up) referring to the cork-stopped wine jugs served in the earliest bouchons; the bouchons of Lyon are informal neighbourhood restaurants serving the authentic Lyonnais cuisine at affordable prices with local wines (particularly the Beaujolais wines grown 30km north of Lyon)): Quenelle de Brochet sauce Nantua (the signature dish of Lyon: a fish dumpling (the quenelle: a light, airy oval-shaped dumpling made from pike (brochet — the freshwater fish (Esox lucius): the pike is deboned and minced to a very fine paste (panade), combined with butter, eggs, cream, and the panade (the flour-butter paste that gives the quenelle its structure), then poached in salted water; the quenelle expands dramatically during poaching (the air incorporated during mixing expands with heat) and is served as a pillow-shaped oval 15–20cm long; topped with sauce Nantua (the crayfish bisque sauce of Lyon: the shell, claws, and heads of freshwater crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes — the European crayfish) are roasted and simmered with cream, cognac, and tomato to produce a rich, coral-pink shellfish sauce)). €18–28 per quenelle. Best bouchons: Daniel et Denise, Café des Fédérations, Le Bouchon des Filles.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLes Halles Paul Bocuse (102 Cours Lafayette; the most important covered food market in France (officially: the Paul Bocuse Market — renamed after Paul Bocuse's death in 2018): the market (established 1859; the current purpose-built market hall (1971); 60 permanent stalls covering 4,000m² of the finest food products in Lyon)): the products: (1) Maison Sibilia (the most famous pork butcher in Lyon: the andouillette (the tripe sausage of Lyon — the most controversial sausage in France: 'AAAAA' (association amicale des amateurs d'andouillette authentique) certified (the association rates andouillettes on a 5-A scale; only the finest qualify for 5A certification)); the rosette de Lyon (the large-format dry-cured pork sausage of Lyon: 40cm long, 8cm diameter, cured for 4–8 months (the longer curing produces the most concentrated flavour))); (2) Mère Richard (the most important cheese stall: the Saint-Marcellin (the small round soft cheese of the Lyon region: 80g, 8cm diameter; made from cow's milk in the Vercors and Isère departments south of Lyon; at its prime (5–7 weeks): a completely liquid centre, a wrinkled pale-yellow exterior, and an intensely lactic, mushroom-rich flavour)). Free to browse.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCroix-Rousse (the 'hill that works' — La Colline qui travaille — in contrast to the Fourvière hill ('la colline qui prie' — the hill that prays)): the silk weaving tradition (the 'Canuts' — the Lyon silk weavers — were the most important artisanal community in French industrial history): the Jacquard loom (invented in Lyon in 1804 by Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752–1834), a Canuts silk weaver; the Jacquard loom used a series of punched cards to control which warp threads were raised during weaving — the first machine programmed by an external data-storage medium; the Jacquard punch-card system directly inspired Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine (1837) and Herman Hollerith's punched card tabulating machine (1890) — the direct ancestor of the IBM punch card and modern computing)): the Croix-Rousse traboules (the industrial traboules — wider and more functional than the Vieux-Lyon traboules: designed to allow the silk weavers to transport their bolts of fabric from the atelier buildings to the warehouse without exposure to rain); the Atelier de Soierie Vivante (the living silk workshop — with working 19th-century Jacquard looms). Free neighbourhood; Atelier €10.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMusée des Confluences (86 quai Perrache, La Confluence — the newest museum in Lyon (opened December 2014) and one of the most dramatic museum buildings in Europe): the building (designed by the Vienna-based architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l)au (Wolf D. Prix and Helmut Swiczinsky): the Musée des Confluences is a 'deconstructivist' building (a stainless-steel-clad structure of crystalline angular forms suspended above a glass base: the building appears to float above the Rhône-Saône confluence; the 'crystal' (the stainless steel exhibition volume) rests on the 'cloud' (the transparent glass entrance and lobby structure that seems to have no weight)): the location (at the Pointe de la Confluence — the exact geographical point where the Saône and the Rhône merge into a single river 4km south of the Lyon city centre): the collection (a natural history, world cultures, and science museum: the Darwin evolution gallery (the complete story of life on earth from the first cells to the present); the world cultures gallery (the extensive ethnographic collections of the Lyon natural history tradition)). Adults €12.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLyon aperitif hour (the 'heure de l'apéro' — the Lyon aperitif tradition: the pre-dinner drink culture of Lyon that is more ritualistic than in any other French city): the Beaujolais (the wine of Lyon: the Beaujolais wine region (35km north of Lyon) produces the most affordable and most drunk wine in Lyon — the Beaujolais Nouveau (released annually on the third Thursday of November — the 'fête du Beaujolais Nouveau' is the biggest party day in Lyon); the crus Beaujolais (the 10 named growing zones of the Beaujolais region: Moulin-à-Vent (the most powerful), Fleurie (the most floral), Morgon (the most age-worthy) — served in the Lyon bouchons and wine bars at €4–8 per glass); the Chartreuse (the herbal liqueur produced by the Carthusian monks at La Grande Chartreuse monastery (40km southeast of Lyon in the Chartreuse mountains): the most complex herbal liqueur in the world (130 plants and herbs in the secret recipe known only to 2 monks at any one time); the 'vert' (green, 55% ABV) and 'jaune' (yellow, 43% ABV) versions)). €4–8 per glass.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMaison des Canuts (10-12 rue d'Ivry, Croix-Rousse; the silk heritage museum of Lyon in the Croix-Rousse weaving district): the collection (the Maison des Canuts preserves and demonstrates the full history of the Lyon silk industry (the most important industrial craft in French history)): the highlights: (1) the demonstration of the Jacquard loom (the working 19th-century Jacquard looms: each machine requires the setting of up to 20,000 punched cards for a complex pattern; a skilled weaver can produce approximately 3cm of complex brocade silk per hour on a hand-powered Jacquard (the finest Lyon brocades require 1 to 6 months of weaving for a single bolt of fabric (600cm))); (2) the historical textiles (the Musée des Tissus (Textile Museum) on the Presqu'île has the finest collection of historical Lyon silks — brocades, velvets, and painted taffetas — from the 16th–19th century): the history (the Canut uprising of 1831 (the 'Révolte des Canuts': the most significant labour uprising in pre-1848 France: the Lyon silk weavers (20,000 Canuts) revolted against the lowering of the piece rate for silk weaving; they occupied the city of Lyon for 10 days before being suppressed by 40,000 army troops under Marshal Soult; the uprising produced the first workers' slogan: 'Vivre en travaillant ou mourir en combattant' ('Live working or die fighting'))). Adults €7.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMusée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (20 place des Terreaux; the finest art museum in France outside Paris (and debatable for some periods of art even in comparison with Paris)): the building (the former Benedictine convent (17th–18th century) of the Abbaye des Dames de Saint-Pierre — the most beautiful building in the Lyon Presqu'île: a three-wing baroque monastery built around a cloister garden (now the sculpture garden of the museum)); the collection: (1) Antiquities (Egyptian, Greek, and Roman collections — the Lyon museum has significant ancient Egyptian objects collected by the Lyon Egyptologist Auguste Mariette (1821–1881) who founded the Egyptian Museum in Cairo); (2) the French painting collection (the finest collection of French painting from the 14th to the 19th century outside the Louvre: particularly strong in 15th–16th century Italian primitives and 17th–18th century French painting); (3) the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection (strong Monet, Renoir, and Picasso holdings). Adults €8 (free Sundays 10:00–12:00).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePlace des Terreaux (the most important civic square in Lyon — the 'Piazza Navona' of Lyon: a large rectangular square (100m × 75m) in the heart of the Presqu'île, flanked by the Lyon City Hall (Hôtel de Ville — built 1646–1672: the most important civic building in Lyon; the most architecturally ambitious city hall in France after Paris; designed by Simon Maupin in the French baroque style) and the Musée des Beaux-Arts): the Fontaine Bartholdi (the monumental fountain at the western end of the square — designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834–1904): the same sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty in New York (1886) and the Lion of Belfort (1880); the Lyon fountain (1892) depicts a woman (representing France or the city of Lyon) in a chariot drawn by four horses, representing the four rivers of France flowing towards the sea; the fountain was originally designed and cast for the city of Bordeaux but was purchased by Lyon in 1892; it weighs 21 tonnes of bronze). Free.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePaul Bocuse (the most important name in French gastronomy — but not the three-Michelin-star restaurant at Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or (the restaurant founded by Paul Bocuse in 1961; 3 Michelin stars 1965–2018; now continued by the Bocuse Institute); instead, the four brasseries of the Bocuse group in Lyon (the affordable Bocuse experience in the city centre): the Brasserie Le Nord (17 rue Neuve — the most traditional of the Bocuse group brasseries: a Belle Époque brasserie (1890s interior: zinc bar, leatherette banquettes, art nouveau tiles) serving the classic Lyon brasserie menu — pot-au-feu, sole meunière, andouillette, and the Bocuse version of the quenelle de brochet)): the Lyon 'mères' tradition (the 'Mères Lyonnaises' — the 'Lyon Mothers': the female cooks who established the Lyon bouchon tradition in the early 20th century (Mère Fillioux, Mère Brazier — the first woman to earn 3 Michelin stars (1933): Eugénie Brazier (1895–1977) who earned 6 Michelin stars simultaneously across two restaurants in 1933 (the first person ever (of any gender) to hold 6 stars simultaneously)). €25–45 at Bocuse brasseries.
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