Things to do in Lyon

Lyon stands where the Rhone meets the Saone and reads as three cities stacked on each other. The whole historic centre has been on the UNESCO list since 1998. It is walked in layers, not loops.

Three levels of one city

• Vieux Lyon. One of the largest Renaissance quarters in Europe, strung along the Saone under the hill.
• Fourviere. The Roman theatres of Lugdunum, capital of Roman Gaul, with a nineteenth-century basilica standing over them.
• The Presqu'ile. The shopping and eating spine between the two rivers, and where most of the hotels sit.
• Croix-Rousse. The steep quarter of the silk weavers, where the ceilings are high because the looms were tall.
• Traboules. Covered passages cut through buildings so silk could cross town dry; of several hundred only a few dozen are open, marked by a bronze plaque beside the door.

What gets booked here

Lyon is famous for eating and sold for moving. The bouchons and Les Halles Paul Bocuse are why people come, and neither needs a ticket. What is booked is the way around them.

• Pedicabs. Private runs that take the hills for you, built around the silk trade or around Guignol, the puppet invented in this city.
• Bikes. Short guided loops through quarters most visitors never reach on foot.
• Phone routes. Self-guided games across the old town, Croix-Rousse and the wartime resistance history, for less than a coffee costs.
• Long transfers. Lyon is a road hub, and private cars run from here to Geneva, Chambery and the Riviera with stops built in.

The pricing is unusually flat. A guided hour costs roughly what a main course costs, and even a private pedicab stays in two figures. The expensive line is the car out of the region.

Practical

• Climate. Properly continental: cold grey winters, hot summers, and spring and autumn as the comfortable seasons.
• The date to know. The Fete des Lumieres lights the city for four nights in early December, and rooms go months ahead.
• Bouchons. Most shut on Sundays and often Mondays, and the set lunch runs around twenty euros against thirty-five at dinner.
• Airport. The Rhonexpress tram reaches Part-Dieu in under half an hour, but it is a separate ticket near sixteen euros rather than a city fare.
• Hills. The Fourviere funicular belongs to the city network and saves a steep twenty-minute climb.
• Traboules. Private property kept open by agreement, so go quietly, go in daylight, and close the door behind you.