Lyon is France's second city, yet it tends to be overlooked, in favour of the villages of Provence or the seaside allure of the Cote d'Azur and the Atlantic, or the fairy tale charms of the Loire Valley and Alsace.
Yet Lyon is a gem. Impossibly blue skies, pastel-coloured buildings, elegant architecture, hills, old world-class blended with contemporary creativity and a touch of irony, and not one but two rivers crossing the city centre!
Add to that an exciting food scene (the city boasts one of the highest concentrations of Michelin-starred restaurants pro capita in Europe), and a relaxed vibe, with tourist numbers not exceeding residents as is often the case in the most famous European destinations. You can get a good feel for what Lyon can offer on the local tourist board website.
Last but not least, Lyon lends itself fantastically to a train city break. It is very easy to reach by train from London, Brussels, Torino, Milano, and pretty much the whole of Switzerland.
Getting to Lyon by train from Brussels or London
If you are based in Brussels and have never travelled by train beyond BeNeLux, I would say Lyon is the perfect beginner weekend break by long distance train. And I bet it will not be your last one!
The journey to Lyon is pretty straightforward, and the travel times, if you keep into account time wasted in and getting to airports are comparable with flying.
If you leave early enough (6.25AM) on the Friday or Saturday (wouldn't you do that to catch an early flight?) you could make it to Lyon from Brussels by by 10.30. If you prefer a later start, you can take your seat at 8.30 in the morning, and arrive in Lyon by 12.11, courtesy of SNCF. The beauty is that these services are direct!
From London the best connections are actually in the afternoon, so you can either catch an early Eurostar on the Friday and enjoy a morning in Paris, or board an afternoon one and be in Lyon for dinner. I decided to take it easy, and booked myself on a Thursday evening Eurostar, had a late dinner in Paris and then headed to Lyon the next morning.
Both SNCF and Trenitalia run high speed trains on this route. On this occasion, I chose Trenitalia because it had great offers on, and treated myself to business travel for only 5 euros extra!).
My London to Lyon itinerary
Day 1.
Arriving at Part-Dieu, one of the two long distance stations in the city, currently under refurbishment and therefore quite chaotic, I decided I would rather stretch my legs after the two hours high speed train journey .The walk to the city centre (and the first of the two rivers, took about 25 minutes through some very relaxed neighbourhoods, with people going about their business or reading the news in the bright February sunshine.
I soon arrived at the Rhone, the first of the two rivers crossing flowing through the city. I had seen the Rhone before, in Provence, but its glittering water in the midst of the pastel city buildings was truly enchanting. Crossing the bridge, I reached the leafy Place de la République and turned into Rue de la République, with its elegant buildings decorated with artistic details.
My first destination was Place Bellecour, one of the hearts of the city, which claims quite a noble record - and it has nothing to do with the statue of Louis XIV in its centre!
The record I am referring to is that it is the largest pedestrian square in Europe - and the third largest square in France. We took a stroll around it, taking in the buildings and enjoying the sense of space, and the brightness. The trees were still leafless in February, but it must be a magical place to hang out in spring, when the trees are in bloom.
Having worked an appetite with the walk from the station and through the square, it was time for our first experience of the famous Lyon food scene. On the Place Bellecour itself, we found In Cuisine, a bookshop cum restaurant where you can wonder through terracotta ceilinged rooms stocked with cookery books, and then sit down and sample a delicious three-course meal prepared with local produce.
Well-rested and fed, we headed in the direction of the second city river, the Saone, and kept walking along the enbankment to reach area famous for its spectacular murals, some of which cover entire buildings.
After admiring La Fresque des Lyonnais trying to guess the local celebrities captured on its wall, including the Lumière brothers, we crossed the Saone and reached Le Vieux Lyon, the heart of Renaissance town. It is incredibly quaint and well preserved, with a colour palette that I struggled to compare to any other city's. We stopped for coffee before braving the next step - or rather many steps...
Crossing to the opposite bank of the Saone, we began our climb of the Fourvière hill, to reach the Basilique Notre Dame at its top, which had been drawing me like a distant mirage ever since I got out of the train station. But the climb yielded a magnificent surprise.
Lyon had begun its life as a Roman city called Lugdunum, and I had not realised that some very well preserved ruins are scattered along the side of the hill. They include a theatre, which it turns out is still used for music festivals, and a paved Roman road which could give Pompei or the Via Appia a run for their money.
After admiring the inside of the Basilique and the view from the top, which on a sunny day reaches as far as Mont Blanc, we climbed down and headed back to the Rhone, for an apero dinner on one of the barges moored by the river Rhone that turn into bars/eateries/concert places in the evenings. We chose La Barge, to feed my cheese addiction, and were not disappointed!
Day 2.
Day 2, being a Saturday, was a bit slower (and admittedly we needed to recover from the 30,000 steps recorded on my fitness watch the previous day.
After breakfast we walked along the bank of the Rhone from Pont Wilson to Pont Bonaparte, then retraced our steps to Place Bellecour and Le Vieux Lyon, to visit the cathedral of Saint Jean, a limestone gothic structure built on the site of a 6th-century church.
We also took our time to visit one of Lyons' great attractions, the traboules, a unique Lyonnais architectural feature, to be found between View Lyon and the adjoining Croix Rousse area. They are covered passageways, and at at the moment there are about 40 open to the public, although we did not find them all.
Each traboule is unique, has its own pastel colour, and a distinctive staircase, vaulted ceilings or arches. Apparently they started to be developed in Roman times, to allow the townspeople of Lugdunum to get to the Saone quickly, to get fresh water for their houses when the aqueducts were not functioning properly.
They continued to be used, but in the 19th century, when Lyon became a silk trade capital, they became the passageway through which workers were carrying their silk loads from the workshops to the merchants' warehouses. These days some of the traboules' courtyards host boutiques and eating places, and other still have the still charm of quietness.
The traboules hunt made us hungry. For lunch we stopped at a place on Place Terreux, another monumental example of Lyonnais elegance, framed by the Hotel de Ville, the bronze fontaine Bartholdi, and the Musée des Beaux Arts on the opposite side.
I was intrigued by the history of the Musée des Beaux Arts, which had started life as a royal abbey and somewhat survived the anti-religious frenzy of the French revolution thanks to its proximity to the Hotel de Ville and became instead a museum. The collection is rich and varied, ranging from ancient Egyptian and Graeco-Roman statuary and object to a very respectable Renaissance and Baroque masters selection, ranging from Cranach to Veronese to Rembrandt. It is a large building, with its own charming baroque architecture, and the visit took most of the afternoon.
To finish our time in Lyon in style, we went back to the riverbanks, took the customary picture with the statue of the 'Weight of One's Self' and then went for our aperitif. We chose what had been recommended to me as one of the loveliest settings in the city.
The Hotel Dieu is a former hospital complex converted into a high end hotel (Hotel-Dieu) and shopping centre, sipping cocktails under its magnificent baroque dome.
The elegant but relaxed setting was Lyon through and through. After a lovely dinner at the lively bistrot À la Maison, it was bedtime!
Day 3.
The next morning, after a brisk walk to saying goodbye to the rivers and terracotta hues of Lyon, we took the 11.30 Frecciarossa back to Paris, which gets you at Gare the Lyon at 13.2o. We only had hand luggage so after a final lunch by the Bastille, we walked all the way back to Gare du Nord with a few detours along the way, well in time for our 6pm Eurostar back to London.
From Brussels the connections are even better so you can enjoy a full morning in Lyon and head back on a direct SNCF train at a very civilised 13.57, after enjoying another half day in Lyon!
Would I do it again?
Absolutely! I loved the city, and wish I had had the time to see more of its museums and spend some time exploring the rivers by bicycle. Travelling by train meant I was already relax and in holiday mood when I arrived, rather than stressed by airport formalities and making my way to the city centre.
I also realised how central Lyon is, and how many beautiful parts of France I could combine with a visit to Lyon. The Beaujolais, the Ardeche, the Alps, Annecy, are all easy to get to by train once you are in Lyon.
For more train travel inspiration, visit the rest of my my blog.
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