Lyon sits where the Rhone and the Saone meet, between two hills the city describes as the one that prays and the one that works: Fourviere, with its basilica and the Roman theatres, and the Croix-Rousse, where the silk industry was. It was Lugdunum, capital of Roman Gaul, it was the centre of European printing in the sixteenth century, and its entire historic core is UNESCO listed, which is one of the largest such areas in the world.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Roman Trail earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
The particular thing here is the traboules. The silk workers needed to move bolts of cloth between streets without them getting wet, so passageways were cut through the buildings, through courtyards and stairwells, linking parallel streets. There are hundreds, many still private, some signposted and open. During the occupation the Resistance used them to vanish, which is part of why Lyon was called the capital of the Resistance. And the food: this is the city of the bouchon, of Paul Bocuse, and of the mothers, the Meres Lyonnaises, who established the tradition in the first place.
What Makes Lyon Different to Pack For
A continental climate with real extremes
Lyon has no coast and sits in a valley. Summers reach 28°C to 34°C with heat waves past 38°C, winters run 2°C to 8°C with fog and occasional snow, and spring and autumn are the pleasant seasons. The valley traps both heat and cold.
A merino wool base layer for women covers the winter and the sharp temperature drops of an autumn evening by the rivers.
The hills are the whole geography
Vieux Lyon sits at the bottom of Fourviere and the climb up is steep, whether on the stepped montees or the funicular. The Croix-Rousse is a separate climb on the other side. A day in Lyon is a great deal of vertical.
The traboules have rules
Most are in private buildings, opened by agreement with the city. You can walk through the signposted ones during daylight hours, quietly, and people live behind those doors. Close the doors behind you and do not treat a courtyard as a photo studio.
The Fete des Lumieres is one specific week
Around 8 December, the city puts light installations on its buildings for four nights and draws well over a million people. It is genuinely spectacular and it makes the city impossible without a booking made months ahead, in near freezing weather, standing outside for hours.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Lyon Packing List
Footwear
Comfortable flat shoes with grip, because Vieux Lyon is cobbled, the montees are long flights of stone steps, and both get slippery in the frequent damp.
For the Monts d'Or above the city, the Rhone cycle path or a trip out to the Beaujolais hills, waterproof hiking shoes are useful, though this is the gentlest terrain of any destination in this series.
Clothing
Layers with a windproof, because the valley funnels wind along the rivers. Winter needs a proper coat, hat and gloves; summer needs light clothing and a way to cope with 35°C in a city with limited air conditioning.
A packable rain jacket year round. Covered shoulders and knees for the basilica and the cathedral.
Lyon dresses well and quietly, in the manner of a prosperous French city that is not Paris and is slightly pleased about it. The bouchons are informal; the Michelin dining rooms are not.
For sun
A wide brim sun hat and sunscreen for summer, when the Presqu'ile squares and the Roman theatres are fully exposed and the city issues heat warnings.
Practical
A transport card for the metro, funicular, tram and bus, which are one integrated system and the funicular counts. Book bouchon tables, particularly the certified ones, which are small and full. Cash is barely needed. Note that many bouchons close at weekends, which is the reverse of what visitors expect.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Vieux Lyon and the traboules
One of the largest Renaissance quarters in Europe, four streets deep at the foot of Fourviere, with the passageways cutting through it.
Practically: the long traboule at 54 rue Saint-Jean, which comes out at 27 rue du Boeuf, is the famous one and it is free to walk through. The Cour des Voraces on the Croix-Rousse has the monumental staircase. Go quietly, in daylight, and close the doors. The cathedral of Saint-Jean at the bottom has an astronomical clock from the fourteenth century.
Fourviere
The basilica on the hill, built in the 1870s and almost aggressively ornate inside, with a terrace looking over the whole city and, on a clear day, Mont Blanc.
Practically: take the funicular up from Vieux Lyon and walk down through the gardens, which is the sensible order. The basilica is a working church; shoulders and knees. Beside it, the Roman theatres are free to walk into and are still used for concerts in summer.
The Croix-Rousse
The silk workers' hill, with tall windowed apartments built for the looms, a daily market along the boulevard, and the Mur des Canuts, an enormous painted wall that has been updated over decades to show the same street ageing.
Practically: the climb is real; the metro has a rack section to get up it. This is where Lyon feels most lived in rather than visited.
Eating, which is the point
The bouchon is a specific institution serving offal-heavy Lyonnais cooking: quenelles, andouillette, salade lyonnaise, praline tart. The Halles Paul Bocuse is the covered market. The Meres Lyonnaises, women who cooked for bourgeois households and then opened their own restaurants, effectively created the city's reputation and trained the chefs who made it famous.
Practically: look for the Authentique Bouchon Lyonnais certification if you want the real thing, because many places use the word loosely. Portions are large and the cooking is not light. Vegetarians will find bouchons difficult and the rest of the city easy.
The Confluence and the modern city
Where the two rivers meet, a redeveloped industrial point with the Musee des Confluences, a deconstructivist building in steel and glass holding a genuinely good natural history and anthropology collection.
Practically: a tram ride south. The museum is large and air conditioned, which makes it the right thing to do in a heat wave.
The Resistance museum
The Centre d'Histoire de la Resistance et de la Deportation, in the building the Gestapo used as its Lyon headquarters under Klaus Barbie.
Practically: sober and excellent. Barbie was tried in this city in 1987, the first trial in France for crimes against humanity, and the museum handles that directly.
What Not to Bring
Leave heels for cobbles and stepped montees. Leave the assumption that a bouchon will be open on a Sunday.
Leave a December visit unbooked if the Fete des Lumieres overlaps it. Leave the expectation of a light meal. And leave a loud group mentality in the traboules, which are people's front halls.
Essential Resources for Women in Lyon
Emergency numbers in France: 112 is the European emergency number and works for everything. 15 reaches the SAMU medical service, 17 the police and 18 the fire service.
Tourist support: France has no dedicated tourist police force. A theft requires a plainte filed at a commissariat, which can be pre-registered online at the pre-plainte-en-ligne service, and you need it for insurance and for a replacement passport.
US Consulate: the US Consulate General in Lyon is at 1 quai Jules Courmont, providing consular services for the region, with the embassy in Paris at fr.usembassy.gov. Having a post in the city makes Lyon one of the easier French destinations for consular help. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: the Hospices Civils de Lyon run several hospitals including Edouard Herriot and Lyon Sud, with 24 hour urgences, and the network is one of the largest in France. EU and UK visitors should carry the European Health Insurance Card or the UK Global Health Insurance Card; everyone else needs travel insurance.
Official health authority: the French Ministry of Health at sante.gouv.fr, with Meteo France for the summer heat wave alerts, which Lyon gets regularly because of the valley.
US State Department travel advisory for France: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for France: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, including the national terrorism threat level and the advice on demonstrations, which affect French cities periodically.
Official tourism authority: Atout France at france.fr, with ONLYLYON Tourisme for the Lyon City Card, the traboule map and the Fete des Lumieres programme.
Solo women safety assessment: Lyon is a safe and very pleasant city for a woman travelling alone, and it is easier than Paris in almost every respect: smaller, calmer, less crowded and with a lower level of street harassment. Violent crime against visitors is rare, the centre is walkable, the transport is excellent and runs late, and the large student population keeps the city lively without making it rough. Eating alone is completely normal and a bouchon counter is a comfortable place to do it. Petty theft is the main urban risk and it follows the standard French city pattern: pickpocketing on the metro line D and around Part-Dieu station, in the Saturday market crowds and on the Presqu'ile shopping streets. Keep a bag closed and in front of you and nothing in a back pocket. The Part-Dieu and Guillotiere districts are busy and multicultural by day and rougher late at night, with some drug dealing around Guillotiere in particular, and the area immediately around Perrache station is unlovely after dark; take the metro or a taxi rather than walking those stretches late. The riverbank peniches, the barge bars along the Rhone, are the nightlife concentration and carry the usual cautions about drinks. The genuine physical hazards are mild: cobbles and long stone stair flights cause falls, particularly in the wet, and the montees are poorly lit in places. The traboules are safe but they are enclosed private passages, so use the signposted ones in daylight rather than exploring dark ones alone. Summer heat waves in the valley are severe and the city issues warnings.
Reading On
Lyon is two hours from Paris by TGV and is the best eating city in France, which is a large claim that the city itself makes without embarrassment. The France travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the France packing list for women covers a trip across it. East, the Annecy packing list for women is under two hours away and the Chamonix packing list for women covers Mont Blanc. South, the Marseille packing list for women and the Nice packing list for women cover the Mediterranean, with the Corsica packing list for women offshore. North and west, the Paris packing list for women, the Normandy packing list for women, the Loire Valley packing list for women, the Dordogne packing list for women and the Bordeaux packing list for women cover the rest. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why a thin wool layer handles a valley city that swings from 38°C to freezing, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
