Lyon (France)

...My likely destination is Lyon and as such I decided it would be worth taking a trip to Lyon to explore what the city had to offer and get my bearings a little before I actually attended the university next year.

Lyon is situated in the Rhone- Alpes region of France, which lies in the east close to the Swiss border. It is surrounded, unsurprisingly, by the Alps and is not very far away in fact from Europe's biggest mountain, Mont Blanc. ...
...will also join me in Lyon next year) took a visit to the place.

How to get there

The easiest way to get to Lyon is by plane. There are direct plane services offered by Easyjet from Gatwick airport and British Airways offers direct services, however BA's flights are on the expensive side. Personally, living in Widnes (just outside Liverpool), Gatwick wasn't an option and to be honest I had to fly from Manchester airport. ... more

Introduction

As some of you may or may not know, as part of my degree, I study an element of French language in preparation for the third year I will spend in France next year. My likely destination is Lyon and as such I decided it would be worth taking a trip to Lyon to explore what the city had to offer and get my bearings a little before I actually attended the university next year.

Lyon is situated in the Rhone- Alpes region of France, which lies in the east close to the Swiss border. It is surrounded, unsurprisingly, by the Alps and is not very far away in fact from Europe's biggest mountain, Mont Blanc. It is in fact France's second biggest city residing close to St. Etienne and Geneva (in Switzerland). So I and my fiancée (who will also join me in Lyon next year) took a visit to the place.

How to get there

The easiest way to get to Lyon is by plane. There are direct plane services offered by Easyjet from Gatwick airport and British Airways offers direct services, however BA's flights are on the expensive side. Personally, living in Widnes (just outside Liverpool), Gatwick wasn't an option and to be honest I had to fly from Manchester airport. The best operator I found from here was KLM. The flight I took with them required a change over in Amsterdam Schipol airport. Whilst I was initially a little wary of doing a change over flight, it actually turned out to be very efficient.

When you check in at Manchester airport, you are given the boarding pass not only for your first flight but the second one too. So when you get to Amsterdam you literally locate the gate of your next flight and wait there. They even transfer your bags between planes for you. The flight from Manchester to Amsterdam lasted approximately 50 minutes. Once you arrive in Amsterdam you literally walk to your next gate. KLM give you a map in Manchester of the airport and so it is very easy to find your way around the airport. The second flight from Amsterdam to Lyon St-Exupéry airport lasted about an hour and a half. This was actually operated jointly by Air France and KLM. In actual fact, Air France and KLM have merged in order to operate budget flights across Europe, something I benefited from for my flight!

Upon arriving at Lyon, you collect your baggage and then you can take a taxi or my recommended choice, a bus into Lyon city centre. The bus service is called Satobus and it runs every 20 minutes from the airport into the city centre of Lyon for only 15 Euros return which is really good considering it is a 50 minute journey.

Accommodation

Lyon like any other major city offers a wide range of hotels at different prices. I personally stayed at the very reasonable and very nice Campanile Part-Dieu. This hotel was ideal. The rooms came with en suite bathroom and cable TV. The rooms were clean and the hotel itself modern and very well looked after. The best thing of all about the hotel though was its situation. Part-Dieu is one of the main areas in Lyon. Firstly, it is home to a large SNCF railway station that links Lyon with the rest of France. Secondly, and most significantly for anyone on holiday, the 'Centre Commercial' is here. This is a massive shopping centre with over 260 shops and spanning 4 floors; one of the largest shopping centres in Europe with all big name shops and some really nice places to eat.

If you stay in the Part-Dieu area, or even if not, you will probably spend a decent amount of time here. Other areas in Lyon though are for example, 'Vieux Lyon' or 'Perrache'. Your best bet is to use something like Expedia to research hotels that fit your price range and then see what area they are in then. However, I would recommend staying either around the Perrache area or Part-Dieu.

Duration of stay

I would personally say that a stay of 3 or 4 days would suffice to see the vast majority of Lyon. I went from Tuesday to Friday and I managed to do everything I wanted to in that time. However, you could just as easy spend a good week there; particularly if you plan on taking the train to a couple of places nearby (which I will come to later).

Things to see

Although as would be expected, Lyon doesn't offer beauty on the scale of Paris, nevertheless it is a lovely place to visit. The city does suffer a lot from pollution and it can often be quite murky when you look up at the sky. Even given that, there are some stunning buildings situated in and around the Lyon area. There is the massive Tour Suisse, which gives us a modern element to the city. However, there is also a Cathedral and Basilica.

However, the focal point of Lyon lies at Place Bellecour. The streets that move away from this big square are lined with shops that you could easily spend a day looking around. At the heart of Bellecour stands a statue to one of the former French Kings. It also doubles up as a bit of a park and is always filled with people maybe taking some time out, walking their dog or just generally absorbing the atmosphere. There are in fact 2 rivers that run through Lyon (Rhone and Saone) and Place Bellecour is situated on the land in between these two rivers.

It is staggering to see how clean the water is in both of these rivers and a walk down the side of them is well worth your time, especially if the weather is extremely hot like it was when I was there. Furthermore, if you stay in the Part-Dieu area, you will need to walk or at best use public transport to get over these rivers in order to visit Lyon's cathedral and Vieux Lyon.

As I hinted also before, you can of course look around the more modernistic Part- Dieu arrondissement. Here you will find as I mentioned before the massive 'Centre Commercial de Part-Dieu'. It is well worth a look round here. Also in Part-Dieu you have plenty of places to eat and like I said before the massive train station.

Speaking of the trains, I shall look now at where you can go to maybe take a little break from Lyon and in turn enable yourself to cheaply visit other parts of the world. One of the most attractive destinations from Lyon is Geneva. It costs around 40 Euros per person for an open day return to Geneva. Remember though that if you do plan on going here, you will need to take your passport and some Swiss Francs as of course the Swiss have not taken the Euro. Geneva is well worth a look; it is a beautiful city, though does lie on the expensive side. The train stops in the hear of Geneva at 'Gare Cornavin'. For more information on Geneva and for maps etc, go to their tourist board's website at www.genevatourism.ch.

Staying within the French borders, St Etienne, Marseille and Bordeaux are not too far away. Further, you could even push the limits and get to Paris on the TGV, though this is quite costly and takes about 2 and a half hour's. I personally only took the train to Geneva but after my experience of that one, I would definitely go to other destinations too.

Finally, I must strongly advise you to visit the 'Parc Tete d'or'. This is situated in the north of Lyon, about 10 minutes by metro then foot from Part-Dieu. The Park is absolutely stunning. It has massive gardens including several rosaries, a massive lake where you can see people fishing and even its own Zoo complete with Lions, Tigers, Elephants and a whole host of other animals. As a bonus, entry to this park is completely free as the City council funds its running and has done for many years.

Getting around Lyon

The public transport system in Lyon is one of the best I have used. Anyone who has visited Paris and used its' system will know what I mean when I say Paris is really easy to get around. Lyon is just the same. Plus, not only is it quick, it is cheap. One journey costs €1,30. Lyon has its own Metro and Tram systems; not to mention an unbelievably efficient bus system. If you buy one ticket, it is in fact valid for all of these modes of transport within the Lyon area. Plus you can do multiple journeys on one given mode, so if in fact you want to change metro lines, you can do so on the same ticket. It is very impressive that you can cover France's second largest city for less than £1! Car rental is of course an option but in all honesty, you should really look at using public transport because the roads are chaotic for a start and it is so convenient.

Places to eat

As we all know, the French love their food and they are great at preparing it too! The 'Centre Commercial' offers numerous places to eat (of particular recommendation are the Tex Mex called 'Salsa Verde' and an Italian called 'Le Bistro Roman'). Although I never personally went there myself, I have been told that Vieux Lyon is home to some lovely small restaurants that are cheap and offer fantastic food. In terms of lunches, you can go to Carrefour (there is one in the 'Centre Commercial') or any other supermarket and get some lovely French bread and make your own. Alternatively (and my favourite choice), there are numerous bakers around, the best and most common of which is called 'Paul'. Here you can get a baguette with ham and cheese for about €2,40. This is well worth a visit as Paul makes the nicest sandwiches around!

When to go

I went in early summer time (end of June) and the sun was cracking the flags each day. France and especially the east side is in the middle of a massive heat wave, which is of course great for holidays but it must be said on a more serious note that for permanent residents in Lyon, it can cause a serious health risk for some people. On the hottest day, the temperature in the sun got up to 38 degrees Celsius, which is nearly or possibly just over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. On average the summer temperatures will lie around the 28 degrees mark though 2 out of the last 3 summers in Lyon have seen heat waves. I would definitely say to go in summer time as it's not unknown for Lyon to see a bit of snow in winter- unless you like snow of course!

Who would like Lyon?

Well if you into city breaks like me then clearly this is the type of holiday for you. There aren't any beaches for miles in Lyon so if sun and sea is your thing then maybe it isn't necessarily the place for you. However, if you want to take in one of Europe's biggest and most thriving cities then Lyon is an ideal destination for you. In terms of age, I think there is something for all age groups, though younger children would clearly struggle with heat if there was a heat wave.

Cost

Flights to Lyon were quite expensive, costing about £135 per person. You can do it cheaper by Easyjet if of course you live near the one airport they actually fly from! Failing that, KLM go from a range on British Airports, the majority I would imagine involving a change in Amsterdam. The hotel worked out at £150 for 2 people for 3 nights, which seems quite cheap. I booked this hotel via Expedia.co.uk and was more than happy with the service received here.

Overall

All in all I spent a few fantastic days in Lyon. It is a wonderful city with fantastic people. I would highly recommend Lyon to anyone who thought they might be interested in going. It is not necessarily the top of everyone's list when they think of European city breaks but I would implore you to have a look at it next time you book a holiday. I don't just speak from my own view of how great the city is, my fiancée loved it too and I have been told by numerous friends that they too loved Lyon. I can honestly say I have never met anyone who didn't like Lyon. I therefore look forward to studying here next year.

Thanks for reading! 

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