Lyon

France's third-largest city, Lyon has a habit of surprising visitors who expect it to play second fiddle to Paris. It doesn't. This is the country's gastronomic capital — a title earned not through marketing, but through centuries of feeding people extraordinarily well. The old city climbs hills above two rivers, a UNESCO-listed Renaissance quarter hides secret passageways behind its stone façades, and the food markets alone justify the train journey. And at two hours from Paris on the TGV, there's really no excuse not to go.

What to see in Lyon

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Built in 1870 in a striking blend of Byzantine, Gothic and Romanesque styles, this basilica has become the defining symbol of Lyon. More than 2.5 million people visit each year — and on a clear day, the views from the hill stretch all the way to the Alps and Mont Blanc.

Fourvière Hill

Known locally as "the hill that prays," Fourvière is accessible by footpath or funicular. At the top, the panorama over Lyon is genuinely spectacular — the two rivers, the old city rooftops, and on fine days, a distant ridge of snow-capped peaks. Worth every step of the climb.

Gallo-Roman Theatres

Two Roman theatres cut into the hillside — the Grand Théâtre dating from 15 BC with room for 10,000 spectators, and the smaller Odéon for 3,000. Still very much in use, they host the Nuits de Fourvière festival every summer. Two thousand years old and still booking acts.

Gadagne Museums

Set inside a fine Renaissance building in Vieux Lyon, this museum complex houses both the Lyon History Museum — covering the city from antiquity onwards — and the Museum of Puppet Arts. The building itself, with its courtyard and carved stonework, is part of the experience.

Halles Paul Bocuse

The covered market on Rue de la Part-Dieu brings together 56 specialist traders — cheesemongers, chocolatiers, bakers, charcutiers — under one roof. It is the clearest expression of what Lyon considers important. Come hungry, ideally mid-morning, and plan to linger considerably longer than intended.

Musée Lumière

The Lumière brothers invented cinema here, in this very villa. The museum presents their original cameras and the first ten films ever made. It's a modest building for what it represents — the beginning of an entire art form, in a quiet residential street in the 8th arrondissement.

Mural des Canuts

Created in 1987 in the Croix-Rousse district, this is the largest mural in Europe — a trompe-l'œil depiction of everyday life in the neighbourhood, updated periodically to reflect the changing city. It's the sort of thing you walk past, do a double-take, then spend ten minutes looking at properly.

Place des Terreaux

The centrepiece of the Presqu'île peninsula, this square brings together the Hôtel de Ville, the Bartholdi Fountain and the Museum of Fine Arts. During the Fête des Lumières each December, the entire space transforms into something quite extraordinary — though it's well worth visiting at any time of year.

Audio guide for Lyon with Guipock

Exploring Lyon on your own terms is straightforward enough — but having the right context at the right moment makes a significant difference. The Guipock audio guide for Lyon is built around that idea: high-quality information delivered precisely when you need it, without fuss.

The GPS-guided map tracks your position as you move through the city. When you arrive at a point of interest, Guipock alerts you so you can open the audio guide for that stop. No hunting through menus mid-walk — you get a notification, tap to listen, and carry on. The high-quality generated audio is available in a wide range of languages and regional accents, including en-GB, en-US, en-AU, fr-FR, de-DE, es-ES, es-MX and others — genuinely useful if you're travelling with people who prefer different languages.

One practical feature that seasoned travellers tend to appreciate: offline download. Before you leave your hotel, download the entire Lyon tour over Wi-Fi. After that, the app works without any mobile data at all. No roaming charges, no patchy signal in the old city's narrow traboules — it simply works.

Travelling with family? The family code means a single purchase covers everyone. Each person uses the app on their own device, in their own preferred language. No sharing screens, no passing a phone around at the top of a hill. The kids' mode offers the same itinerary with shorter commentary, adapted language and a pace that keeps younger visitors genuinely engaged rather than drifting off towards the nearest crêpe stand.

For a city as layered as Lyon — Roman ruins beneath a Renaissance quarter beside a futurist science museum — having a well-structured Lyon audio guide app to hand means you spend less time reading information boards in the cold and more time actually looking at things.

How to make the most of your visit to Lyon

Two full days is the realistic minimum for Lyon — three is more comfortable. The city divides naturally into distinct areas, and trying to cover everything in a single day means rushing through a place that rewards a slower pace.

Vieux Lyon, on the western bank of the Saône, is the obvious starting point. The Renaissance streets and the traboules — those covered passageways cutting through building blocks — are best explored on foot in the morning before the tour groups arrive. From there, the funicular climbs to Fourvière in a matter of minutes, saving the legs for the walk back down.

The Presqu'île — the peninsula between the two rivers — is where the city does its day-to-day business. Place des Terreaux, the covered market, the Opera House and the main shopping streets are all here. Allow half a day at least.

Croix-Rousse, uphill to the north, has a noticeably different character: bohemian, slightly scruffy in the best possible sense, with a morning market, the Mural des Canuts, and long views south over the city. It repays an afternoon wander.

For food, the traditional bouchons are where Lyon makes its case most forcefully. Look for dishes such as quenelles de brochet — pike dumplings in a rich Nantua sauce — or cervelle de canut, a fresh cheese seasoned with herbs and shallots. A glass of Beaujolais alongside is not optional.

Getting around is easy. Lyon has four metro lines, five tram routes and two funiculars. The city also introduced France's first self-service bicycle scheme, and the cycling infrastructure is genuinely usable. From Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport, the Rhônexpress tram reaches Part-Dieu station in under 30 minutes — considerably less hassle than navigating a taxi queue after a long flight.

The best time to visit depends on your priorities. Summer brings the Nuits de Fourvière festival in the Roman theatres. December means the Fête des Lumières, when the entire city becomes an open-air light installation for four nights. Both are worth planning around, though both also bring considerably larger crowds.