Lyon shops the way it eats: seriously and locally. Between the silk workshops of the Pentes, the covered passages of the Presqu'île and a flea market with 400 dealers, three days here buy you things the Paris chains never stock.
Nearly a kilometre of stalls down Boulevard de la Croix-Rousse, Tuesday to Sunday 6:00–13:30 — Lyon's largest open-air market. Saint-Marcellin cheese, Bresse poultry, Monts du Lyonnais honey and cardoon in winter.
Around 50 traders under one roof at 102 Cours Lafayette, Tuesday to Saturday 7:00–22:30 and Sunday to 13:00. Mère Richard's Saint-Marcellin, Sibilia charcuterie and Cellerier chocolate all sell to take away.
Ludovic De La Chaise weaves and hand-paints silk in this Vieux-Lyon workshop at 11 rue Mourguet, Tuesday to Saturday 10:00–19:00. Scarves, ties and cushion panels are finished on site while the Jacquard loom runs behind you.
A working silk-screen and velvet burn-out workshop at 33 rue Romarin on the Pentes, with free demonstrations Monday to Saturday until 18:30. Panels are printed in front of you, and the shop sells at workshop prices.
The Presqu'île's luxury spine, running from Place des Cordeliers down to Place Bellecour. Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Longchamp sit alongside French mid-range labels in Haussmann-era buildings. Doors open 10:00, closed Sunday.
Lyon's oldest covered arcade, cut through in 1825 between rue Édouard Herriot and rue de Brest. Under the glass roof sit about twenty small tenants: an umbrella maker, stamp and coin dealers, a jeweller and a hatter.
A fashion and design incubator built into a 1820s staircase courtyard at 19 rue René Leynaud. Roughly fifteen young Lyon labels sell clothing, ceramics, leather and jewellery from their own studios, Tuesday to Saturday 11:00–19:00.
About 100 shops under an inflated-cushion roof at 112 Cours Charlemagne, on the tip of the peninsula where the rivers meet. Open daily 10:00–19:30 including Sunday, which is unusual in France, with the tram T1 running from Bellecour in ten minutes.
France's second-largest flea market, with more than 400 dealers at 1 rue du Canal in Villeurbanne. Open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 7:00 to about 13:00. Old Lyonnais silk panels, bistro glassware and Art Deco furniture.
Green metal boxes strung along the Saône on Quai de la Pêcherie, opening at around 10:00 at weekends and on dry weekdays. Second-hand French paperbacks, old Lyon postcards, Guignol prints and 19th-century maps of the two rivers.
Third-generation chocolatier at 42 Cours Franklin Roosevelt and one of the few houses in France still roasting and grinding its own cocoa beans. Boxes of palets d'or from about €22; the tea room next door serves the Président cake.
Lyon's own confectioner since 1897, flagship at 28 rue de la République. The coussin de Lyon — a green marzipan cushion filled with chocolate ganache — comes boxed from around €12, alongside chocolate quenelles and papillotes.