Lyon, Annecy, Paris Trip Plan Advice
 

We’ve long wanted to visit Lyon and after a three year Covid travel hiatus, this feels like a good place to re-start our travels. We’re planning to travel in early May to Paris, Lyon and Annecy and would appreciate comments and suggestions on our current draft plan. I should note that we’re in our late 60s, quite fit and enjoy exploring at a moderately relaxed pace, hiking/walking, visiting galleries and museums, and while we’re not foodies, do enjoy exploring local cuisine. Our current plan is as follows:

Fly into CDG and train to Lyon Part Dieu possibly staying in or near Place de Celestine’s for five nights. Are there other areas we should consider? What are the don’t miss sights in Lyon and is five nights sufficient? Day trip suggestions (we’re thinking maybe Vienne)?

Train to Annecy for three nights and hopefully cycle along or around the lake on one of the days. Any suggestions on places to stay and things to do? Is three nights enough? Have we left ourselves enough time for a day trip into Geneva?

Train back to Paris (our 6th or 7th trip to Paris) for five nights. In October 2019 we stayed at the Hotel du College de France near the Sorbonne, really liked it, but am dismayed to see that their prices have more than doubled in three years. Accommodation suggestions?

Thanks a lot!

Five nights in Lyon is more than enough. Consider taking the train to nearby Dijon for 2 nights (subtract 2 from Lyon). Dijon (along with Toulouse) are our second favorite cities in France.

I have a write up about Lyon. Also one for the Alps - including Annecy. I have another 10 or so itineraries for other regions in France. I've sent my itineraries to over 6,000 people on Fodors (really - I've been doing this since early this century). A few months ago I could attach them to this post - but I can't do that now due to Fodors errors which they have not fixed. If you want these itineraries, email me at my Fodors name at AOL. Mention which itinerary you want (I get several requests each day).

Stu Dudley

If you like museums and wandering, Lyon has plenty to offer (and yes, Célestins is a good location — anywhere on the Peninsula is good). The one unmissable you may not have heard of is Place des Terreaux after nightfall.

Museums: Tissus (textiles) closed, but that still leaves a fine Beaux Arts gallery, science and culture at Confluence, WW2 Resistance and Deportation, Lumière Brothers early cinema, printing, movie set miniatures, Roman antiquities. Rent an e-bike and pedal the banks of the Saone and Rhone, take the funicular up to the cathedral and walk down through public gardens, relax in the Parc de la Tête d’Or — though if you can understand the Punch and Judy show, your French must be spectacular.

Great local food, not necessarily costing an arm and a leg.

Beaune might be a reach as a day trip (2 hours by train), Vienne much closer and definitely worth it if you are into Roman ruins. Pérouges half an hour, with an extra healthy hike uphill from either bus stop or train station to a restored medieval village. The medieval festival of Bresse will be May 6-7 at Péronnas, reachable in 1.5 - 2 hours by public transport. Tain-l’Hermitage is about an hour by train, and from there you can hike around the vineyards or take a further little train excursion up into the limestone scenery of the Ardèche.

Don't miss the traboules in Lyon.
https://francetoday.com/learn/history/lyon_s_traboules/

- Maison des Canuts. My wife was very interested in the silk history of Lyon. So we visited this museum & took a tour - in French (my wife speaks French - I don't). The visit consumes a lot of time, and many people were bored. My wife enjoyed it.



- Ateliers de Soierie Vivant. There are 2 places that you can visit that still have the silk making machinery set up. People actually lived in the same room/building as their machinery, and the entire family lived there also. It was an "eye opener" for us. We enjoy visiting places where people lived & worked a century or so ago. The second house on Rue Richan was the most interesting - but both were perhaps more enjoyable than the Maison des Canuts if you want to see the machines in action.

https://soierie-vivante.asso.fr/

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu. Appreciate your suggestions and advice. I’ll certainly contact you for your write up on Lyon. We agree with your opinion of Toulouse. We spent several days there in 2014 when they had a community dinner taking up the length of one of the main streets - we’d never seen anything like it and it looked to be a lot of fun.

Thanks FTOttawa. Your suggestions are helpful.

The highlight of our 2019 trip to Lyon was a walking tour with Toni of M&T Tours (I think this is their website: https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/164081). We learned about the traboules, the amphitheater, etc. Toni was amazing. (we’re around your age - the only thing I noted in my trip report, which you can read if you click on my name here on Fodor’s - is that I wish I’d had a walking stick at the amphitheater). I list some great restaurants on the TR as well.

have a wonderful time!

The web site has changed for Soierie Vivante
Index - Bienvenue sur le site de Soierie Vivante, l'association de sauvegarde du patrimoine de la soie

Stu Dudley

We also flew into CDG and took the train to Lyon - last September, before we began a month-long road trip through the south of France. We stayed in Lyon four nights - one of the highlights of our stay was dinner at L'Institut Paul Bocuse. Our apartment was on Rue d'Algerie about one block before the bridge into the old city, and we were able to walk to and from the restaurant. We made reservations about a month in advance.

L'Institut Restaurant / Bistronomic Restaurant / Lyon (linstitut-restaurant.fr)