Formulating an itinerary that includes Lyon

Are you looking for ideas outside of the Lyon area?

You can easily travel by train to Dijon in Burgundy and explore for several days.

From there you can take the train to Colmar or Strasbourg in Alsace.

Both areas can be explored by a combination of buses, trains walking, biking and, maybe, small group tour.

My wife and I are planning a 10-day trip to France in early June.
Our current itinerary involves staying in Nice for five nights, followed by four nights in Lyon, where we will depart. While we initially considered adding a two-night stay in Avignon between Nice and Lyon, we have decided to skip it to maintain a slower pace. We feel there are more than enough restaurants and activities to explore within the Côte d'Azur and Lyon regions without overpacking our schedule.

@jeanm, thanks for the reply! Yes, we want to spend other nights outside of Lyon. If we fly in and out of Lyon, we will need to begin and end our journey there. In these sorts of situations, we try to make a loop. For this trip we would probably stay in two different cities beside Lyon. Dijon looks like a good base for a few days. What would you recommend in that area? Would the Alsace be too far afield?

LaurieC, you fly into one city and back from another. It's called open jaw or multi city.

The deciding factors of which airports would be price and convenience.

If you want to minimize layovers, fly into Paris CDG. There are TGV trains directly from the airport to Lyon in about 2 hours. From Lyon to Dijon is about 1½-2 hours. And Dijon to Colmar is about 2 hours, add about 30 minutes to Strasbourg. Then return to Paris for your flight home. While there are TGV trains from Strasbourg to Paris CDG in about 2 hours, I would recommend taking the train into Paris the day before your flight home. It's France. You never know when a strike or something else will disrupt service.

If you do want to fly in and out of Lyon. After your time in Lyon you could head straight to Alsace. The morning train to Colmar is about 3¼ hours and continues on to Strasbourg arriving about a half hour later. Then move on to your stay in Burgundy before going back to Lyon to fly home.

Dijon city center is a UNESCO world heritage site. Besides the museums and cathedral there is the Ducal Palace, the Covered Market and don't forget a mustard tasting. In addition you could book a small group day tour to the vineyards and wineries and, another day, head to Beaune, only 25 minutes by train another day.

Look at a day trip to St Etienne

We did a trip a few years ago catching the Eurostar in Paris after time in London. We too have been to Paris and London many times, but how can you not go back?

We caught the train to Lyon, stayed three nights, then onto Avignon for another three and finally ended with a train ride to Barcelona for six nights before flying home.

I could happily have had an extra night in either Lyon or Avignon, both were terrific.

Do not miss the Paul Bucuse (sp?) market in Lyon, probably one of the best food markets I've been to.

Thank you for all the replies! Right now, the biggest decision is whether to fly in and out of Lyon or fly in and out of Paris and use the train. I'll have to do some price comparison to see which makes the most sense.

Dijon looks a good spot. Are there any other good base towns that are a less than 2 hour train ride from Lyon? We've spent a few nights in both Avignon and Nice, so we'd like to explore another area.

Without knowing your home airport it is hard to give meaningful advice. If Air France is a possibility, look at their Combined Plane and Train Tickets. I'm not sure why you can only fly in and out of Lyon or in and out of Paris. By flying into one airport and home from another opens up more possibilities.

Anyway, excluding the areas you have already visited, you could be in the following places in under 2 hours from Lyon by train:

• Aix-les-Bains
• Annecy
• Grenoble
• Geneva, Switzerland

Have multiple times done trip on United, sometimes in combination with Lufthansa, from home airport in US to hub (Denver / SFO / Chicago etc.) to Frankfurt or Munich to Lyon. Long but reasonable connection options. I like arriving at LyonLYS because it’s smaller, shorter distances to walk, easy access to city center, compared to CDG.
From Lyon the train connections are very good. A personal favorite is down the Rhône valley.Several towns on the train line are worth a visit, like Vienne, and there’s notable wine areas if you want that. In other directions you could go towards the Alps to Grenoble, for example. The train ride from Lyon to Geneva is beautiful - you could stop partway depending on what you want. I’m talking places that are closer to Lyon than Dijon is, for example, but there are many options as Lyon is really a train hub.

Have twice taken the train direct from CDG to Lyon, piece of cake. We have always taken the train around noon in case our flight was delayed. If you buy tickets well in advance they are very reasonable. I do recommend the Confluence Museum, quite remarkable. We were disappointed in the Resistance Museum. Also, Lyon offers a City Card which we used on our first trip. They offer a free walking tour with the card, which I wrongly thought it would not be particularly good, it was excellent! I love Lyon.