We'll be there for few days in March. A few museums seem to be closed so looking for suggestions!
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
7321 posts
Take a market and cooking class from Lucy Vanel’s Plum Lyon Teaching Kitchen, https://www.plumlyon.com/ .
Do the museums include the Lumiere Brothers and the Musee des Tissus?
Posted by
Freedonia
14927 posts
The Roman Museum and ruins are fascinating.
https://lugdunum.grandlyon.com/fr/
You take a funicular up to them and down. And the base of the funiculur is the old town of Lyon. A fun walk around.
If you are interested in more modern history, the Museum of the Resistance is open:
Posted by
North Georgia, USA
1097 posts
We did a full day tour with ToursByLocals, Sophie Nguyen, which was great. She worked with us on an agreeable itinerary and even though it was a cold and rainy day, we had a great time with her. Highly recommend.
Posted by
OP
20 posts
Cyn, yes it seems like both of those museums are closed temporarily.
Posted by
Washington DC
27041 posts
From notes I prepared for a trip to Lyon in 2017; I haven't verified their status since then:
- Old Town and traboules. Tourist Office runs tours of Old Town.
- Primatiale St-Jean Cathedral
- Musée des Beaux Arts (I recommend)
- Textile Museum (Musée des Tissus; I recommend)
- Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviere: 19C fortress-like church with Byzantine mosaics and frescoes.
- L’Institut & Musée Lumiere
- Parc de la Tete d’Or: Largest public city park in France. Zoo and botanical garden
- Musée Gallo-Romain
- Musée de la Confluence (has been recommended here)
- Jardin des Plantes, rue Lucien Sportisse. Includes Roman amphitheater.
- Magnificent bankers’ mansions on rue Juiverie
- Maison des Canuts (Slk Weaers’ Museum). Sells silk, wool and linen scarves.
- Boat trips around Presqu’ile.
- English-language cooking classes offered at L’Institut Paul Bocuse, 29 place Bellecour
Posted by
Florida
274 posts
Another vote for the Lugdunum Museum. We were there on a Friday afternoon in November 2021 and had the place nearly to ourselves. It was also surprisingly child-friendly (our 4yo had a blast in the dedicated children's play area). We took the funicular up to St. Just and ate lunch at Le Bistrot Nicephore, which I HIGHLY recommend. One caveat - it's extremely small, so make sure to get there early if you go.
We also did a private WWII Resistance Tour with Jean (https://www.toursbylocals.com/Second-World-War-Lyon-Private-Tour) and it was EXCELLENT. We were able to customize it to our particular interests and activity level (we had our 4yo with us, so we took a coffee and pastry break midway through), and Jean was an amazing teacher.
Posted by
Chicago
8030 posts
I would find a private guide to tour traboules since, since COVID many of the most interesting ones are closed to the public. You can find a fair number just walking around but many people who live in the courtyards took advantage of COVID to shut down access to tourists. Private guides often have the ability to enter those places. The visitor center was no offering the tours when we were there in October; if I had to do it again, I'd find a private guide. We spent most of a day exploring traboules and the old town and the hilly area across the river.
Definitely find a some good bouchons and reserve a couple of days ahead. We liked Les lyonnais just across the footbridge from the center to the old town (and funicular)
The Roman amphitheater is magnificent; the funicular to it was out of commission in the fall but if it still is when you are there you can take the funicular up to the Basilica and then stroll down to the Odeon and Amphitheater from there. We then walked down the hill back to the old town.
Posted by
OP
20 posts
This is all great advice and why this Forum is the best
Posted by
OP
20 posts
Has anyone taken this tour or something similar? https://www.toursbylocals.com/vieux-lyon-private-tour I'm looking for something "traboule-specific" and not a whole day commitment. Thanks!
Posted by
Washington DC
27041 posts
I have not, but that is an exorbitant cost for a two-hour walking tour!
I wandered through the traboules myself, pre-COVID, and am not sure there are enough open traboules to fill much over an hour, if that.
Posted by
California
140 posts
I thought Les Halles de Lyon - Paul Boscuse was the best food market I have ever seen. An amazing array of food (cheese, candy, etc.) and wine, fun restaurants too. We were there the New wines released so there were a lot of specials on Beaujolais.