Help with Lyon itinerary

Looks nice.

I’m assuming the Roman ruins will be included? If not, be sure to add those in when visiting Notre-Dame de Fourviere. There is a nice garden - Le Jardin des Curiosités - not far away with great views of Lyon and on a good day, you can see the Alps.

In Vieux Lyon there is also the lovely Lyon cathedral with some Roman ruins.

What about a Guignol show?

Parc de Tete Or has excellent gardens.

Beaux Arts is nice. Bellecour and Hotel De Ville are worth a walk around in that same vicinity.

As a heads up, the Luminere Museum was closed while there in May. Seemed like a long term temporary closure.

Did not visit but I’ve heard the Resistance Museum is excellent.

It might be worth while to research and make dinner reservations or do dinner on a Rhône Barge. Don’t forget to do a traditional Lyonnaise meal.

Wow thanks SOTL for those wonderful suggestions. I will certainly incorporate them into my itinerary. All of them!!
Btw, I have decided to stay at Hotel Vaubecour since the reviews are good and our room is large. We'll be out and about a lot anyway. :)

My husband and I went to Lyon in March after being in Burgundy for a week. We were in Lyon for 3.5 days and had a lovely time. We went to Les Flaconneurs Bistro for dinner one night and it was awesome; also went to Arvine and it was delicious.

The Paul Bocuse food hall is a great foodie experience and a wonderful place to purchase items for a picnic- we did this and had a very nice, inexpensive picnic for two.

The City Card is definitely worth it. You can also go to the TI and purchase the card directly from there, and the very friendly and helpful folks who work there will book your free tours once you purchase the City Card. We had no lines.

Also, we did a wine tour of Beaujolais through Kanpai Tours if you are interested. It was half a day and very worthwhile for the price.

We wanted to go to the Resistance Museum but it was very far away from every other site we wanted to see as well as our hotel, so unfortunately we missed it. Enjoy!

Thanks School craft.Stephanie for your dining suggestions! I've added them to my list. :)

We stayed at Hotel des Celestins last month and were very disappointed. It is two blocks from Place Bellecour but the room was very small, very limited electrical outlets, and two very small uncomfortable chairs. Reception closed from 2230 to 0630. I recommend a bouchon called Bouchon Tupin not far from Place Bellecour - reservations a must! The veal was excellent. Yes, taxis are difficult to get but we used Metro and trams to get around. Definitely see the traboules. We did go to Resistance Museum, but frankly, were disappointed in exhibits and it was difficult to find using the tram. If you do go, bring picture ID or you will not be able to get the audioguide.

Bonjour JN,
For us the number one experience was the quai St. Antoine farmers market--it is one of the best. I forget whether its Saturday or Sunday. The added-value for that particular weekend market would be that pottery and stamp-collecting markets are also held then, and fairly close by.
Our rental in old Lyon had an outstanding location. It was an affordable apartment which was part of the actual 'La Tour Rose' 'miraboule', a kind of cousin to those traboules. Pretty hard to beat for a special setting, with its iconic pink tower mere metres away.

We found the traboules to be just OK and were glad to not have paid for any specialized tour.
Much is made about the Lyon bouchons. Our experience was that they were fine, but not necessarily that much better than other restaurants across France.
Good Luck.
I am done. the end.

Two rivers go through this city. one is very dirty, the Saône, the other is clear and beautiful, the Rhône.. We spent too much time in old town along the Saone, and should have spent more time along the Rhone. :)

The "Musée des Confluences," is a spectacular modern building. :)

Thanks Francis, I'll certainly try and book a Rhone cruise in that case!

Gregglamarsh, what a pity we're not going to be able to see the markets you mentioned since we're not in Lyon over the weekend. :(

And Darlene, I know what you mean re Celestins and room size. At least we'll be in a large room at Vaubecour even though 2 star. We'll be dining out regardless. I've included the Bouchon Tupin restaurant in my list to try and book in advance. I don't think we'll get time to see the Resistance Museum anyway.

When you get your city card, be sure to ask if the roof top tour for Notra Dame has any openings. We bought two, four day city cards and the roof tour. These were incredibly useful and cover just about anything you can think of. I have a little bit of a 2019 trip report on Lyon here, skip down to the Lyon parts. Be aware at all times of the little electric scooters. Lyon is a college town, and the kids ride these, and EV Skateboards, with wild abandon. :)

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/france-tours-lyon-and-aix-without-a-car-part-1

Thanks again Francis. I loved reading your trip report and I've added some ideas to explore.

And will add this, so others may know, the Lyon Notra Dame Roof tour is advertised as being in French only. It is. We never requested anything to be translated. But the guide figured out we spoke English, and very bad French. So after the usual narrative, the guide gave us the cliff's notes version of what they just said in English. I think the unwritten rule is, don't request anything in English, or any other language. Its up to the tour guide to give an interpretation if they can and want to. :)

Good to know Francis, thank you.

"...what a pity we're not going to be able to see the markets you mentioned since we're not in Lyon over the weekend."

You might reconsider. From the Only Lyon tourism website:

The market is held along the banks of the Saône on Quais des Célestins and Quai Saint-Antoine, with a splendid view of Old Lyon, where stallholders display, in the morning from Tuesday to Sunday, their products: fruit and vegetables, cheese, meat, poultry, roast chicken, cooked meat, fish, bread, cakes, wine and flowers.

This is one of the favourite markets for the people of Lyon, as well
as for chefs, who you may happen to bump into if you’re an early
riser!

A number of excellent producers, pork butchers and cheese-makers, who
have been working here for a very long time, are the iconic figures of
this market. All of the regional produce is sold at competitive
prices, smile included!

People come to this market that is filled with fresh produce,
mouth-watering smells and flavours to discover, to do their food
shopping, of course, but also simply to stroll, chat and seek tips and
advice.

To make the most of the experience, people stop for a drink in one of
the bars or drink stalls along the river bank… More than simply a
market, this is an experience in the fine French art of living!

Emphasis mine.

True, the market is largest on the weekends, but it's still worth a stop on weekdays (except for Monday, when there's no market).

I’ve always stayed in an apartment up in the Croix Rousse, so can’t offer hotel recommendations. But a true treat in Lyon, if you have interest, is a market tour and/or cooking class with Lucy Vanel at Plum Lyon https://www.plumlyon.com/ . She’s not cheap, but the experiences are an exceptional value.

Thanks Sammy about your info on the weekday markets, we'll be sure to visit those one morning in that case.

Cyn, I've looked up PlumLyon and her classes sure look wonderful, thanks for the tip.