Are you planning a visit to Lyon? Are you curious to know what is to do in this town?
I will tell you what we did on our second day in Lyon. You can also read about what we did on the previous day in my post “The best of Lyon – Day 1”
We were travelling independently in France with a car as we are confident travellers and speak a bit of the language. However, if you prefer to be part of a tour and to have everything organised for you, I advise you to book a complete tour with Tourradar.
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Below is a map showing the places we visited on our second day in Lyon:
Our day started with a filling breakfast at Hotelo Lyon Charité. After breakfast, we walked in the direction of the River Saône and followed the river until the Passarelle-du Palais de Justice.
On the way we passed a market/fair on the riverbank selling clothes, domestic articles and other merchandise. We crossed the bridge and arrived in front of the Palais de Justice, a very imposing building.
On the banks of the river and in front of the palace, there is the statue “The Weight of Oneself” – Le Poids de Soi from the Danish artist Michael Elmgren and Ingar Dragset, a Norwegian artist.
This is a masterpiece of art showing a man holding another one, but on a closer look, you can see that both faces are the same. The name of the statue gives a clue, and the meaning is the story of someone trying to save himself.
It is an amazing sculpture and should not be missed when crossing to the old town of Lyon.
From there we walked to the Jean Batiste Cathedral on Place Saint Jean and the Jardin Archéologique just next to the Cathedral.
The Cathedral is a mix of Roman and Gothic styles from the 14th century. It houses an astronomical clock from the 14th century as well as beautiful stained-glass windows and other 14th-century treasures.
The cathedral was closed at the time we went, so we could not go inside to admire the clock or the stained glass, but just looking from the outside we could see that it is a fantastic building and no wonder it was classed as an historical monument by World Heritage in 1998.
By the side of the Cathedral, you will find the Jardin Archéologique. This site used to be the original site of three churches from the Christian era.
The churches were, Saint-Jean, Saint-Etienne and Saint-Croix. You can see the remains of the baptistery of Saint-Etienne and other remains of the churches.
After some photos of the Cathedral and the square, we took Rue Saint-Jean to explore the Vieux Lyon. We first passed la Maison des Avocats, (The Lawyer’s House), a building from the Renaissance period that had been saved from demolition and restored in 1979.
Today it is the Musée Miniature and Cinéma, an interesting museum showing the behind-the-scenes of famous films showing special effects and movie props.
There is also another part of the museum that will take you to a world of miniature restaurants, shops and markets. This museum is not to be missed if you have an interest in the cinema world.
Continuing on Rue Saint-Jean, we reached the “Traboule Lyonnaise” or “La Longue Traboule” as it is also known.
Traboules are historic hidden passages behind buildings joining two streets to each other. The word “traboule” comes from Latin and means “to pass through” in English.
These passages were first created in the 4th century to allow people to get to the river quickly. In the 19th century, these traboules were used by the Canuts silk workers to carry their heavy loads. They also allowed people to transport clothes and textiles through the city safely and protected from the weather.
There are about 400 traboules in Lyon, but only 40 of them are open to the public.
We crossed “La Longue Traboule” on no. 54 Rue Saint-Jean to no. 27 Rue du Boeuf. Once on Rue Du Boeuf, we entered another traboule, “Traboule de la Tour Rose” or “Traboule Maison du Crible” on 16 Rue du Boeuf.
This one is particularly beautiful, with the presence of a pink tower with a spiral staircase in a picturesque courtyard. The staircase is closed to the public.
Maison du Cribe was converted into a hotel, and it will make a nice and interesting stay in the Vieux Lyon.
There are other traboules nearby that can be visited, but on that day, they closed the road for work, and nobody could go any further. So, we decided to go back to Rue Saint-Jean, walk to the “Funiculaire de Lyon” and go to “Fourviére”, the neighbourhood on top of the hill.
“Traboules” are a bit difficult to find as they are behind closed doors, so if you don’t want to waste too much time looking for them you can take a private walking tour of “traboules” in the Old Town. It will take you to the ones I mention on this post as well as hidden gems that we didn’t get to see. Book this tour HERE.
Fouviére is a hill that can be accessed from the Old Town, on foot (a challenging walk), by car or via the funicular.
The neighbourhood has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its vast history and architecture. Fourviére was the original site of the Roman settlement of Lugdunum.
One of the ways to access the hill is via the funicular, which is one of the oldest funiculars in the world. We chose to go up in the funicular and boarded the train to be taken to the top.
Once at the top, we first visited the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviére right in front of the funicular station. The basilica was built between 1872 and 1896 and was the work of the architects Pierre Bossan and Sainte-Marie Perrin.
The style of the building is Byzantine, Gothic and Romanesque, with four towers and 48 metres high. The interior was decorated in Carrara marble, pink granite, blue marble, green onyx, silver and gold. The result was an outstanding building completed with impressive mosaics and stained-glass windows.
The Cathedral stands majestically on top of the hill, looking upon Lyon, and can be seen from everywhere. We found it very beautiful, one of the nicest cathedrals we visited on our trips.
There are panoramic views from the Cathedral grounds of Lyon and we took various photos of the views.
After the visit to the Cathedral, we went to visit the Théâtre Gallo-Romain nearby. As it was a Monday, the museum was closed, but the access to the theatre was open to the public and free of charge, so we were able to enter and explore the ancient monument.
The theatre was built around 15 BC, and in AD 120, it was extended to accommodate 10.000 people. Today, it is a tourist site and a cultural event site. We walked all over the site, imagining all the great performances that took place in this theatre.
When we were happy that we had seen everything we wanted, we left and walked back to the funicular station. There are other things to explore in Fourviére, but we wanted to explore a different part of the city.
There is a small group tour called “Lyon Highlights & Secrets Walking Guided Tour that includes the funicular. I guess they cover the main attraction, the Cathedral and Roman Theatre in Fourviére. Book it HERE.
Back at the Old Town, we took the Metro at Bellecour station and got off at Perrache. At Perrache, we took tram no. 1 which took us to “La Confluence”.
“La Confluence” is the name given to the area where both rivers meet, the Saône River and the Seine River. This is also the modern side of Lyon. This area was re-developed and today is full of contemporary buildings, becoming a stylish area in Lyon.
You will find the best Museum of Lyon, “Musée des Confluences”, a mix of a science centre and an anthropology Museum. The museum building itself is an architectural gem with its modern and unique design.
The museum was closed because it was Monday, so we only explored the outside space that takes you all the way to where the rivers meet. It is a space where people go walking and enjoy the open air near the rivers.
If you are planning to visit a lot of museums and attractions and to use a lot of the public transport, it is worth getting the Lyon City Pass.
It covers entrance to 27 museums and discounts to 25 attractions in Lyon as well as access to free transport, bike tours, river cruises etc. The pass is available for 48, 72 and 96 hours. Buy this pass HERE.
There is a very nice private tour of Lyon in a pedicab that covers many of the places I describe on this post and some others from our next day visit. Book this tour HERE.
We walked around, took various photos, but then took the next tram back. On the way back, we decided to stop to have a look at the shops at the “Confluence Shopping Centre”.
This is a big and nice shopping centre with many famous shops, restaurants, cinemas and entertainment areas. After looking at the shops and parting with some money, we took the tram back to Perrache again and back to the hotel.
Lyon is famous as the world’s gastronomy hotspot and has more than twenty Michelin-starred restaurants. There are also the local restaurants called “bouchons” that serve traditional Lyonnaise cuisine that cannot be missed.
We only had two nights in Lyon, so the chance of having only two dinners in town. On the previous night, we had dinner at Brasserie Georges, a famous old restaurant in Lyon. It was OK, but the food was not great.
On the second night, I booked one of the traditional “bouchons” as we felt we couldn’t leave Lyon without trying their traditional food.
Again, because it was a Monday, most of the restaurants were closed, so we were a bit restricted on choices, but we managed to book a “bouchon” called Daniel & Denise that had very good reviews online.
They have three branches in different places in Lyon, and the only one that opened on Mondays was the one on rue de Créqui. We took the tram to get there from Perrache and it was easy to get there.
Our experience at this restaurant was another disappointment. The menu was very restricted and mainly consisted of offal and strange dishes. We consider ourselves adventurous eaters, but there is a limit on our will to try certain things.
My husband ordered the steak with pepper sauce, and I decided to order an egg dish with onions, bacon, mushrooms and croutons and a side dish of potatoes. I just couldn’t find anything else I fancied on that menu, and this dish had everything I liked, so it could not go wrong.
My husband’s steak was tender, but nothing special about it. My dish was a small, uncooked egg on top of a kind of gravy that tasted very bad.
We were so disappointed with the food that we didn’t even dare to order any desserts. The wine was nice, though.
After dinner, we just took the tram back to Perrache, wishing we had more time in Lyon to try other restaurants to experience the gastronomical fame of Lyon, but unfortunately, we were going to leave early in the morning for Marseille, and other restaurants would have to wait for the next visit to Lyon.
Below is a reel from The Travelling Surveyor Instagram account with more photos of Lyon. Check it out and follow me on Instagram.
I hope this post will give you some idea of what can be done in a day in Lyon and will help you plan your own visit there.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TRIP TO LYON
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Lyon. I classified each place as follows:
BOLD – Visited, tried and recommended
NOT BOLD – Not visited or tried, but planning to visit or try and heard very good reviews
RED – Visited and tried but do not recommend, avoid or be cautious
*** – Excellent
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** – Good
* – OK
£££ – Expensive
££ – Fair and affordable
£ – Cheap
PLEASE NOTE: Every hotel, restaurants and attractions I mention on my blogs are not sponsored reviews and we always paid the full price when visiting. We give our own opinion of the place and detail our experience, good or bad.
WHAT TO SEE IN LYON
ATTRACTIONS
1 – The Weight of Oneself Statue – ***
2 – Jean Batiste Cathedral – ***
3 – Jardin Arquéologique – ***
4 – Vieux Lyon – ***
5 – Maison des Avocads – Museée Miniature and Cinema
6 – Traboule Lyonnaise – ***
7 – Traboule de la Tour Rose – ***
8 – Funiculaire de Lyon – ***
9 – Basilica Notre Dame de Fourviére – ***
10 – Théâtre Gallo-Romain – ***
11 – La Confluence – ***
12 – Musée des Conferences
13 – Musée des Beaux Arts
14 – Les Hales de Lyon – Paul Bocuse
WHERE TO STAY
ACCOMMODATION
1 – Hotelo Lyon Charité – 3* – ££ – ***
2 – Citadines Presqu’île Lyon – 3* – ££
3 – Hotel De Verdum 1882 – 4* – £££
4 – Hotel de l’Abbaye Lyon – 4* – £££
5 – Lyon Hypercentre Les Cordeliers – 4* – £££
6 – InterContinental Lyon – Hotel Dieu – 5* – £££
If you prefer to look for your own accommodation, search and book via the below widget:
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WHERE TO EAT
RESTAURANTS
1 – Bouchon Daniel & Denise – ££
2 – Le Neuvieme Art – Christophe Rour – £££
3 – Mére Brazier – £££
4 – Bouchon Tupin – ££
5 – Le Bouchon des Cordeliers – ££
6 – L’Atelier des Augustins – £££
If you tried any of my recommendations above, please send me a message and tell me about your experience good or bad, so I can update the list accordingly. Thanks!
If you enjoyed reading this post you might also like to read:
On this trip to France:
1 – Lyon – Day 1
2 – Lyon – Day 2
3 – Marseille – Day 1 – Coming Soon
4 – Marseille – Day 2 – Coming Soon
5 – Porquerolles Island – Coming Soon
6 – Saint-Tropez/PortGrimaud/Grimaud – Coming Soon
7 – Cannes – Coming Soon
8 – Monaco – Coming Soon
9 – Aix-en-Provence – Coming Soon
10 – Arles – Coming Soon
11 – Camargue – Coming Soon
12 – Avignon – Coming Soon
13 – Dijon – Coming Soon
14 – Fontainebleau – Coming Soon
15 – Paris – Day 1 – Coming Soon
16 – Paris – Day 2 – Coming Soon
17 – Paris – Day 3 – Coming Soon
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