Does anyone have experience with this card? Seem like a good deal from RS Tour book. I have emailed them with the following question, but have not received a reply. " Arriving by train late on Wednesday. Staying in Lyon until Friday mid morning(leaving by train). Is the 2 day card good for 48 continuous hours, or does it go by 24 hour clock?" You can purchase 1, 2 or 3 day pass. Thanks.
Posted by
Washington DC
28092 posts
I have no personal knowledge about the Lyon Card, but I've never seen a card advertised as 1-day, 2-day, etc. that was based on hours rather than days, so I think the answer is that the card will be usable either Wed-Thu or Thu-Fri.
When estimating how much value you will get from the card, don't forget to allow time to move from sight to sight and for lunch. Lyon is not a small city, and the travel time between sights may not be inconsequential. You can go to Google Maps, find Lyon, and search for "Museum" to see how many are outside the historic center.
I like to take a city tour, and I see that this card includes at least one. However, taking a tour on a day when you have a valid city card can be a bit challenging, because you have to be at the tour meet-up point at just the right time. You'll plan to arrive a bit early to be safe, and who knows how long it will take you to get there? So there's likely to be some wasted time. And in some cases you need to make a preliminary trip to the tourist office to sign up for the tour--more time when the card isn't being used.
This is by way of saying that if the card doesn't work out for you, it's possible you won't spend any extra money on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7810 posts
We went to Lyon for a couple of days and had a wonderful time.
I had planned to purchase the City Card for our two days the morning after we arrived, but for some reason, the museums were all free the weekend we were there, so I can’t tell you exactly how it worked since we didn’t need to buy it. We just bought the individual metro & funicular tickets and found that we enjoyed walking so much that we only needed to buy a few tickets.
If I were you, I would buy an individual metro ticket the evening I arrived to head to your hotel. Buy a 1-day City Card for Thursday, and then buy an individual metro ticket to leave Friday morning.
By the way, this site gives some nice visuals of several things to see. I didn’t care for the textile museum she mentioned, but we really liked the Luminaire museum near it that’s in a beautiful home. And we enjoyed their main art museum, too. The highlight was that Roman-Gallo museum! And don’t miss walking through the traboules. Our apartment was actually in one of them!
https://www.christinascucina.com/lyon-city-card-worth-buying-top-things-see-lyon/
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
I'm pretty sure it's day by day, but you can ask when you buy it. The City Card is one of the best such deals in Europe, including a free cruise and a walking tour, so I would not fret if a portion of a day gets "wasted."
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
The pass can be used for the entire duration of the card (1, 2 , 3 or 4 days), from 5 am to 00:30 am, 7 days per week [no days blocked, except no public transport on May 1st]. The only exception to a regular calendar day is the extra half-hour past midnight that public transport still operates. Nothing that I see indicates that the timing would be different for sightseeing visits.