What to See in Lyon

last edited May 28, 2020

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Location Map of Lyon

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Overview

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Centre historique de Lyon, Lyon, Rhône, France

Old Lyon (1998)
This is the medieval and Renaissance district of Lyon, located along the Saône River. Its remarkable architecture has earned it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Tourist Sites and Areas

Cité internationale
A recent district between the Rhône and the Parc de la Tête d'Or. Around a semi-covered pedestrian street, you’ll find the city’s convention centre, offices, hotels, a casino, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Fourvière
This hill, accessible via steep narrow streets or stairways, is where the Roman city of Lugdunum was born, as evidenced by various archaeological remains. Fourvière is also known for its many religious buildings, starting with the basilica of the same name at the summit.

La Croix-Rousse
This is traditionally the "hill-district" of the Canuts. Like in Fourvière, you reach it via small sloping streets (the "montées") lined with old buildings, sometimes connected to each other—as in Vieux Lyon—by passageways (the "traboules").

Part-Dieu
Originally designed as an alternative to the old city centre, the district is primarily a business hub with its towers, a large shopping area, the Maurice Ravel auditorium, and a TGV station.

Presqu'île
This is the bustling, commercial extension of Vieux-Lyon. The district lies between the Saône and Rhône rivers (hence its name) and is home to numerous townhouses, museums, and well-known landmarks such as Place Bellecour, the opera house, and the City Hall.

Old Lyon
This is the medieval and Renaissance district of Lyon, located along the Saône River. Its remarkable architecture has earned it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Religious Buildings

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
For over a century, it has overlooked the city from the top of Fourvière Hill, offering a lovely panorama from its esplanade. Its original and remarkable architecture is Neo-Byzantine in style, and its interior is richly decorated.

Saint-Jean Cathedral
Or, officially, Primatial Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Saint-Étienne. Built from white limestone starting in the 12th century in what is now Old Lyon, it is an imposing Gothic structure notable for its four towers without spires.

Saint-Bruno-les-Chartreux Church
This is Lyon’s only (neo)Baroque church. It was built in the late 16th century and has a lovely interior.

Museums

Among the twenty or so museums in Lyon:

Centre for the History of the Resistance and Deportation
The former Gestapo headquarters in Lyon has been transformed into a dedicated museum that traces the key events of the Resistance, deportation, and liberation in the Lyon region. You can also visit the National Memorial of Montluc Prison, a former wartime internment site, as a complement.

Lugdunum
This is the (new) name of the archaeological site in the city, where excavations have revealed numerous remnants from the Gallo-Roman era. The site includes a museum section and the Roman theatres of Fourvière hill.

MAC
Or Museum of Contemporary Art. The unique feature of this place is that, thanks to a fully modular interior, a new museum is inaugurated with each of its modern art exhibitions.

House of the Canuts
This site brings to life the traditions of the Lyon silk workers, those artisan-weavers best known for their uprisings in the first half of the 19th century.

Museum of Decorative Arts
Furniture, art objects, tapestries, silverwork, and ceramics make up the collection of this museum, which is linked to the Textile Museum and can be visited at the same time.

Museum of Fine Arts
This is one of France’s leading museums. It houses extensive collections of paintings and sculptures, as well as exhibits dedicated to ancient civilizations and art objects from various origins.

Musée des Confluences
Opened in 2014, this avant-garde architectural site, located between the Rhône and Saône rivers, is dedicated to natural history, anthropology, societies, and civilizations. It tells the story of Earth and the evolution of humanity from their origins.

Lumière Museum
The Lumière brothers are closely tied to the history of cinema. The Villa Lumière recounts their lives and the birth of cinema. Alongside it, a documentation centre and the Lumière Institute, responsible for preserving cinematic heritage, complete the "theme".

Miniature and Cinema Museum
In this beautiful 16th-century building, you can explore collections dedicated to the art of miniatures and the special effects techniques used in film production.

Gadagne Museums
This historic mansion in Vieux-Lyon houses two museums, one dedicated to the city's history and the other to the art of puppetry.

Parks and Gardens

Grand Parc Miribel Jonage
Not quite in Lyon but rather on its outskirts, this vast 2,200-hectare park is a place for relaxation and leisure for locals. You can swim, enjoy various activities (water sports base, golf, hiking, mountain biking...) and observe the local wildlife and flora.

Rosa Mir Garden
In a courtyard of a Croix-Rousse apartment building, this small 400 m² space evokes both Gaudí’s Spain and the work of the Facteur Cheval, featuring a collection of columns and crossbeams adorned with thousands of seashells.

Rhône Riverbanks Park
It's an "urban green space-walk" connecting Parc Henry Chabert to the Rhône quays.

Henry Chabert Park
Formerly Parc de Gerland (until 2020) and also known as Parc du Confluent. It is the city's second-largest green space (currently 18 hectares out of a planned 80) and is dedicated to leisure and sports activities.

Tête d'Or Park
This is one of the largest parks in France, over 150 years old and loved by all. Covering nearly 120 hectares, it features a lake, large greenhouses, rose gardens, a botanical garden, a landscaped garden, and a zoo.

Hauteurs Park
It is located on Fourvière Hill and brings together several sites, including the Rosary Garden and the Peony Garden, the Visitation Park, the Sarra Promenade, the Quatre-Vents Footbridge (with its panoramic view), the ancient odeon, and the Fourvière Esplanade.

Saône Quays
Over about fifteen kilometres starting from the Presqu'île district, these landscaped quays offer an urban stroll to discover the city centre, the Île Barbe, and beyond.