Lyon
France
Two rivers, Roman ruins on the hill, secret passages through the buildings, and the food capital of France
Photo by Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu on Unsplash
Photos by Jens Freudenau, Mitchell Henderson, Dmitrii E. and snap wander on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
May to June, and September to October (December for the Fête des Lumières)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 105mm in Oct
Where it is
45.76°N, 4.84°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Find the traboules — the long one at 27 rue du Bœuf is the famous one
- Eat lunch in a certified bouchon and skip dinner
- Walk up Fourvière rather than taking the funicular, once
- Go to Les Halles hungry and buy a Saint-Marcellin
- Come in December for the Fête des Lumières, and book early
Lyon travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
Mid-rangeEuro country, cards everywhere including the smallest bouchon. There is no reason to carry much cash.
ATMs & cards
Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, LCL and Société Générale machines are fee-free on their side for most foreign cards. Refuse the conversion offer. The independent machines around Bellecour charge.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the independent machines around Bellecour
Use these instead
- Crédit Agricole
- BNP Paribas
- LCL
- Société Générale
Refuse the conversion. Cards work everywhere here including the smallest bouchon.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
Reasonably safeA big French city with a big French city's problems, concentrated in a few places. Pickpocketing on the metro and around Part-Dieu station is constant; Guillotière and the Place du Pont have an open drug and street-selling scene and are the one central district to cross by tram after dark rather than on foot; phone-snatching on the Presqu'île has risen with the rest of France. Vieux Lyon, the Presqu'île and Croix-Rousse are busy and fine into the evening. The traboules are private buildings — go quietly, and before evening.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Part-Dieu station and the metro at rush hour — for pickpocketing, which is constant
- Guillotière and the Place du Pont after dark — an open drug and street-selling scene; cross it by tram rather than on foot late at night
- phones in hand on the Presqu'île — snatching from bikes and scooters has risen here as everywhere in France
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingA bouchon is a specific thing: small, loud, and serving offal to people who want it — quenelles, andouillette, tablier de sapeur. The ones with the certificate on the door are the real ones. Praline tarts are violently pink and worth it. Beaujolais is half an hour north.
Nightlife
Two rivers, and the city drinks on and beside both — bouchons early, barge clubs moored on the Rhône until dawn.
- Vieux Lyon — the medieval quarter, busy and touristed but genuinely fun
- Rue Sainte-Catherine — the loudest street on the Presqu'île
- Quais du Rhône — the péniches, barges converted into clubs
- Croix-Rousse — neighbourhood bars, no visitors, better prices
Closing: Bars 01:00 to 02:00, the barges until 05:00. Bouchons stop serving food at 22:00 sharp.
A beer in a bar: €4–7
Getting around
Easy and cheap- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of France
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.8× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 1.7× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Religion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Lyon
No Holistay rentals in Lyon yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Lyon on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Saint-Exupéry LYS
30 minfrom the airport· 20 km as the crow flies
Rhônexpress tram to Part-Dieu, 30 min.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
