Lyon
Lyon, the capital city in France’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, sits at the junction of the Rhône and Saône rivers. Its centre reflects 2,000 years of history from the Roman Amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules, medieval and Renaissance architecture in Vieux (Old) Lyon, to the modern Confluence district on Presqu’île peninsula.
Details
Before visiting any town or city make sure you know the basics. General details and important information.
- Emergency Services: 112
- Language: French
- Currency: Euro
- Country Code: FR
- Travel Visa: None required
- Population: 720,890
Risk Level
Researching various official sources, we perceive the risk to holiday makers and travellers are as follows;
Travellers Tips
Top travel advice and interesting tip bits of information from experienced travellers.
Emergencies
For the Emergency services just dial 112 from any phone.
Hospitals
Click the text below to visit the website.
Tourist Offices
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Travelling Around
London has four major airports and is connected by one of the most amazing underground train systems in the world. The main access point for the Tube is Kings Cross Station.
Airports
Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport is the main airport serving the city. Click the text below to visit the website.
Train Stations
Lyon Safety
Which areas should I avoid?
Behind the “Place des Terreaux” Rue Ste Catherine, weekend nights are the worst as there are a few pubs and people roaming the streets. The police do patrol the area.
Metro. Part-Dieu station near the main train station. People try to sell you false train tickets. Use the machines they are safer and probably more reliable.
Rue de la République or outside Part-Dieu station, People advertise for Charities and ask people to donate to false charities. Obviously some are real. Homeless people might try and sell you newspapers, only buy from them if they have an ID card issued by the editors.
How can I keep up with the local news?
Lyon has local news media outlets. Click the text below to visit the website.
What are the top safety tips I should know?
Be alert at all times and be aware of your surroundings. Take the usual safety precautions so you do not become a targets for pickpockets. Don’t put your wallet or mobile phone in your back pocket. Put any valuables items in a dark colour shopping bag when going out to avoid attention.
Be more cautious at night and travel in groups rather than alone if and when possible. If alone it is advised to take a taxi.
Credit card fraud, cloning cards can be an issue be careful where you use your cards. Also if you are withdrawing money from cash machines make sure you cover your pin and be discreet about the amount of cash you withdraw.
When withdrawing cash from ATM try to go inside the bank. Beware of withdrawing cash from cash points on pedestrian walkways. Try to withdraw small sums and don’t flash your cash around even in the bank.
What are the common crimes?
Beware of pickpockets as they tend to operate in tourist areas, keep your belongings secure at all times and be careful if strangers try to make conversation or distract you as it could be an attempt to steal your valuables.
Car thieves normally target expensive cars but there are some exceptional situations where rental cars have been broken in to. Park the car in well lit areas and use car park with CCTV. Don’t leave valuables on your car seat as it could attract criminals, drive with the car door locked all times.
Improve Your Personal Safety
Knowledge – the more you have the better equipped you are.
Awareness – the more you see the safer you become.
Response – the right reaction can change a situation.
Annual Events
Annual events allow a city come together for some amazing experiences. If visiting at this time, make sure you have your accommodation booked and are always aware of your surroundings when travelling around.
Events
Festivale des lumieres
The Festival of Lights in Lyon, France expresses gratitude toward Mary, mother of Jesus around December 8 of each year. This unique Lyonnaise tradition dictates that every house place candles along the outsides of all the windows to produce a spectacular effect throughout the streets.
Nuit de Fourvière
The Nuits de Fourvière is a festival with theater, circus, music, dance, and film presentations. The festival has taken place every summer since 1946 in the Théâtre antique de Fourvière, and in the Odéon de Lyon in the 5th arrondissement near the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière.
Festival du Vieux Lyon
Combining popular traditions with technological innovations, the Festival of Lights (Fête des Lumières) is a major event in Lyon!
Each year, in the creative hub that is Lyon, young lighting designers are invited to create their installations, which are then exported around the world.
Lyon Highlights
What are the highlight attractions?
Traboules
In Vieux Lyon and La Croix-Rousse Saône are an architectural feature unique to this city: Traboules are delightful renaissance passageways, some 40 of which are open to the public, running beneath buildings in the direction of the Saône River.
They gave the city’s silk workers direct access to riverbank, making it quick and easy to transport textiles, while also offering shelter from the elements.
Parc de la Tête d’Or
A little way north of the centre is one of the largest urban parks in the country, with a zoo and France’s foremost botanical garden within its boundaries.
If you’re around in spring then the international rose garden should be one of your first ports of call in the city. The botanical attractions are spectacular too, with more than 20,000 plant varieties and the most graceful 19th-century greenhouses you could hope to see, thick with the scent of chlorophyll.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
Housed in a former abbey from the 1600s, the Musée des Beaux-Arts is France’s largest fine art museum after the Louvre in Paris. There are 70 rooms here, with paintings from the 1300s to the 1900s, sculpture and displays of both Egyptian and Oriental art. The Antiquities department is a trove of some 600 Ancient Egyptian artefacts, including reliefs, busts, statuettes and sarcophagi, as well as monumental gates recovered from the Medamud temple.
Which is the best season to travel?
The summer period is when most tourists choose to visit the city, its amazing for evening strolls around sunset.
Spring Average Temperature – 15°C
Summer Average Temperature – 20°C
Autumn Average Temperature – 10°C
Winter Average Temperature – 5°C
Where else is great to visit?
Basilique Notre Dame de Fouviere
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière is a minor basilica in Lyon. It was built with private funds between 1872 and 1884 in a dominant position overlooking the city. The site it occupies was once the Roman forum of Trajan.
Situated in the centre of the city. If you are wanting to see St Peter’s Palace or the Bartholdi fountain, look no further.
The medieval Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste is noted for its ornate astronomical clock, while the Movies & Miniature Museum showcases scale models by miniaturist Dan Ohlmann. The “old Lyon” was constructed around 3 churches. Everything opens late (after 10am).
