France - Lyon
 

Celebrating my 60th in Lyon mid January. Does anyone have any suggestions for areas to stay, things to see and do, and special places to eat? Many thanks in advance.

Lyon is delightful! I would strongly recommend a visit to the Museum of the Confluence and taking a guided tour of the Old Town with its traboules (I don't usually like joining tours, but there are traboules to which only tour groups have access, and the explanations are priceless). If you haven't already seen it, you might find some useful information (including comments on restaurants) in my trip report; the section on Lyon starts with post # 190
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...669406/page10/

I think the usual wisdom for first-time tourists to stay in a central area is true in Lyon. Somewhere between place Bellecour and Hotel de Ville is good. It's walking distance ot a lot to see, and of course metro and tram stops, and walkable to the area wiht a lot of restaurant (rue de Merciere, for example). I stayed in the Mercure Lyon Beaux Arts and it was a good location and I liked the hotel, although it has redecorated so isn't the same ambience (it used to be very traditional). Still, I like Mercures.

I think you can find out the usual tourist suggestions (museums, etc). Lyon has a lot of good museums for various interests. One you might not notice is the printing museum, which I quite liked. It's in the center and even has some pages from the original Gutenberg Bible. Their textile museum is also one of the best of those in the world IMO, but I have a degree in textiles so am probably more interested in that than a lot of people. Still, it's very good and the beaux arts is right next door. The Resistance and Deportation history museum is good, also

https://www.francetoday.com/learn/hi...n_s_traboules/


See the attached itinerary about Lyon.

Stu Dudley

Ditto to kja's recommendation of a guided tour of the traboules in Vieux Lyon and Christina's rec of the Museum of Textiles, which we also really enjoyed. We also enjoyed the small Musée des Arts Decoratifs.
Another highlight was the walk up, up, up the staircases to the former silk maker's Croix Rousse neighborhood for lunch at the classic (and charming) bouchon, Daniel et Denise, and the strenuous exercise on the walk up helped slightly to mitigate the calories of this gargantuan meal!
https://danieletdenise.fr/en/daniel-...-croix-rousse/.

We enjoyed very much the impressive Musée des Beaux Arts, we took the tram up to the Basilica Note Dame de Fourviére that crowns the hill, and while in that area, we visited the vast Gallo-Roman archaeological museum on the hillside with its beautiful mosaics and Roman theater.

We've stayed twice in the Presqu'lle, both times near the Place Bellecour, which was very convenient for us, as Christina notes.

My dining highlights:
a special celebratory (splurge) lunch with friends at the Les Terrasses de Lyon inside the Hotel Villa Florentina (a Relais Chateaux, Michelin star) with expansive city views, other very good value lunches at L'Ourson qui Boit (Japanese chef), Les Apothicaires (a Michelin Bib Gourmand for value) and le Jean Moulin.

If you're a food lover, I think you'll be swept away by the exquisite and beautiful array of food at the indoor Les Halles de Paul Bocuse. And there are several places in this gorgeous market to have lunch or just a glass of wine and a snack. It's just food heaven.

We want to return to Lyon, a simply wonderful city to visit the museums we missed, especially the Musée des Confluences.

Trip reports are fantastic, and kudos to you and all those that take the time to write down detailed steps of your adventures exploring a city. Thank you also for the tip on using a guide for the traboules.

Thanks a bunch! The notes starting from #190 are particularly helpful and much appreciated!

You're welcome! I'm glad you are finding my report helpful, and appreciate that you've let me know. :)

Go to the 14th of March for the Lyon portion of this old TR:

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...d-lyon-832984/

A wonderful city.