Where to stay in Lyon?
 

Hi! We are considering a four nights stay in Lyon as part of a trip to France. Can you suggest the best zone to stay? Hotels? Think of 150€ for a double. Any suggestions about day trips via car or train?

Thanks in advance!

We enjoyed the Artistes. Excellent location.

http://www.hotel-des-artistes.fr/?lang=2

Stu Dudley

Forgot about the day trip question.

You realize, of course, that Lyon is the second largest city in France. I would not want to do day trips elsewhere by car.

Here is something I posted this morning about day trips by train

Dijon 1 1/2 hrs by TGV
Beaune 1 3/4 hrs, several RE trains go on to Dijon
Chambery 1 1/2 hrs
Annecy 2 hrs
Grenoble 1 1/2 hrs

These are all interesting destinations to explore.

Make sure you visit the Traboules in Lyon
http://www.francetoday.com/articles/...traboules.html

More are open in the am than pm. Often you'll have to ring the "buzzer" to get in. Pick up a Traboules map at the TI.

Stu Dudley

We liked the Hôtel la Résidence. It's in a pedestrian street just off the Place Bellecour and in a very convenient location for getting around. It should be well within your budget.

http://www.hotel-la-residence.com/uk...e-officiel.php

I also stayed at the Hôtel la Résidence and would definitely stay there again. As MaineGG said, it's a great location. But I wouldn't suggest breakfast there... it's expensive for what you get... find a place down the pedestrian street instead.

Kathy

I go to Saint-Etienne every few years for business but they always book us into hotels in Lyon. I have stayed at a Mercure at Gare Perrache, a boutique hotel in Vieux, and several chains hotels in the 2nd Arr near Place des Jacobins. Since the core of Lyon is very walk-able, anything in the 2 Arr is fine.

For day trips, Vienne to the south is worth a visit.

Ian

Hi!
Thanks to you all Stu Dudley, Maine GG, Kathy Wood, Ian.
Great tips and info to start my searching.

I'd stay in the center, it's most convenient, not too far from a metro stop. I like being able to walk to the area with a lot of great restaurants (I think rue Merciere has a lot, if I recall). I stayed at the Mercure Lyon Beaux Arts which was excellent and very well-located. The hotel des Artistes is also well-located, I think.

Thanks Christina! Hotel des Artistes has only two rooms available, and we need three, but we are planning well in advance and I am sure in the near future we will be able to make a reservation as both you and Stu Dudley reccomend this hotel.
Thanks again....

Don't know much about Lyon but it's always on our France list.

Now that Stu mentioned the Traboules in Lyon it goes further up the list. Looks very interesting.
Thanks for posting Stu.

Lyon is very interesting and worth more than the day and a half we had there. I'd love to go back for more.

We used the "Liberté 1 Jour" unlimited transport ticket and easily moved around the city for a full day using trams, the Métro and the funiculars. More information about the public transportation system here: http://www.tcl.fr/en

If you're interested in the World War II period, there's an excellent museum there - The Center for the History of the Resistance and Deportation. http://www.chrd.lyon.fr/chrd/sections/fr/pied/english_1

And if you're seriously interested, spend a few hours watching the documentary film, Hôtel Terminus, about this period in Lyon and Klaus Barbie.

There are some wonderful trompe l'oeil murals around the city. The largest is the Silkworkers Wall in the Croix Rousse neighborhood: http://minhzie.wordpress.com/2011/04...urals-in-lyon/

We also visited some Roman ruins and I especially liked the statue of St.-Exupéry and his Petit Prince in the Place Bellecour.

Thanks MaineGG! The trompe l'oeil are now on my to do list. And the Liberté 1Jour card is a good tip.

We stayed in a Lyon suburb, Saint Didier au Mont d'Or, for a month last May. While there, we drove to and visited Pérouges, Beaune, Dijon, Annecy, Vienne, St. Etienne, Grenoble, Gap, and some other nearby cities/villages. Of these, I would recommend Pérouges and Annecy, although the latter city is a about a 2-hour drive from Lyon. As for Lyon itself, we used the metro extensively. It's very good. That said, we also walked from Vaise, a Lyon suburb just to the south of Saint Didier, along the Saône River to Lyon's Centre Ville. We would recommend that, wherever you stay in Lyon, you too walk (jog or bike) along the Saône or the other river running through Lyon, the Rhône, to see Lyon from a different perspective. We join the others here who have recommended that you visit the Traboules. Not that you asked for things to do in Lyon, but we would also recommend that you visit the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, if only for the view overlooking Lyon. Around the block from the Basilque is one set of the Roman ruins that you should see (another set is on the other side of the Rhône). Also, less known, there is a neat, walkable tunnel under Croix-Rousse (another Lyon quartier north of Place Bellecour) with moving images on the tunnel walls simulating a boat ride down the rivers running through Lyon. It's about a one mile walk from one end to the other. And, speaking of moving images, we found the restored residence of the Lumière Brothers very interesting. Inside, there are displays depicting the beginnings of the motion picture industry, including the first known moving pictures shot on site in the 1890's (20 years before Cecil DeMille's "Squaw Man" (1914), seen by many as the first full-length motion picture). Finally, if I were planning another trip to Lyon, I would go to the Office du Tourism de Lyon's website and try to reserve one or more of their guided walks. They're excellent. If you wait until you get there, you'll probably find most of the walks, especially those in English, already fully booked.

Thanks Billandcindy! I welcome suggestions of things to do in Lyon. And some of yours suggestions are now in my to do list.
We have been to Annecy in the oast and enjoyed the city inmensely.

Thanks to all and keep suggestions flowing!