Top Tourist Attractions in Lyon

Best Things To Do in Lyon, France

Are you looking for what to do in Lyon?

PLACES TO SEE

  • Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere: You should make time to visit Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere. The views from the top of Fourviere Hill, where the basilica is perched, and the structure itself are worth checking out. You can reach the hilltop by car or by foot.
  • Traboules in Vieux Lyon: You can also visit the streets and Traboules in Vieux Lyon, the city’s historic section that is packed with “old French” buildings. You can find fascinating walkways in the Traboules in the Croix-Rousse district.
  • Musee Gadagne: If you are in the mood to visit a museum, check out Musee Gadagne. Found in the center of theVieux Lyonin the Saint-Jean quarter, the museum holds 80,000 sculptures and pottery and paintings, tracing the rich history of Lyon. You can also see illustrations and maps showing the development of the city.
  • Musee des Beaux Arts: Another great museum in Lyon is the fine arts museum called Musée des Beaux Arts, which houses France's finest collections of paintings, sculptures, and decorative pieces ranging from the 1500s to the modern days.
  • Parc de la Tete d'Or: After the museum, you can visit the Parc de la Tete d'Or, which is a big park with a beautiful rose garden, lake, zoo, and other attractions to keep you busy for the day. During the summer months, you can enjoy a boat ride on the large lake. The small zoo, located at the top end of the park, features elephants, tigers, and giraffes.

Below we have a list of things to do in Lyon and the places where you want to spend the best moments of your trip. At the same time, the city offers you the best neighborhoods to explore and new foods to try.

This list should help you in deciding and prioritizing what you should plan on your Lyon getaway. Find a mix of must-see tourist spots, underrated local hangouts, and maybe even a few new experiences you can try out.

Make the most of your trip to Lyon with confidence.

Tourist Attractions in Lyon

Here is the list of things to do in Lyon and tourist attractions in city.

  1. Parc De La Tete D'Or

    4.6 (1943 Votes)
    Parc De La Tete D'Or

    Park, Zoo, Walking Area, Picnic Spot

    The park is Lyon’s favourite place. Despite the fact that it’s not as big as some other similar parks in France, it draws a massive crowd because it’s the only worthwhile ones in the city. The most famous of the park’s seven entrances is the Infants du Rhone. It offers a 16 acre lake in which baiting is permitted in the summer from the pier on the south bank. It has mas...Read more

  2. Basilique Notre Dame De Fourviere

    4.7 (1742 Votes)
    Basilique Notre Dame De Fourviere

    Church, Religious Site

    The Basilique Notre Dame De Fourviere is easily one of Lyon’s most spectacular landmark and has a very important place in the hearts of all of people of Lyon. Basilique Notre Dame De Fourviere ticket prices vary for different attractions. You can buy tickets for Basilique Notre Dame De Fourviere from our ticket section and even check out tickets for Basilique Notre Dame De Fourviere tour...Read more

  3. Musee Miniature Et Cinema

    4.7 (1787 Votes)
    Musee Miniature Et Cinema

    Art And Culture, Art Museum, Cinema

    This could easily be one of the world’s best museums! The name might be a bit misleading – this place has nothing to do with Lilliput cinema. Rather, it hosts two kinds of exhibits – one of miniature art and the other of special effects in film. Don’t ask me why that combo works but it does, and it’s amazing, just fascinating. The Miniatures: These are set out in ...Read more

  4. Musee Des Beaux Arts

    4.5 (802 Votes)
    Musee Des Beaux Arts

    Art Museum, Exhibition , Sculpture

    Classic big and posh museum. The building, between the rivers Rhone and Saonne, is impressive enough. It was once an abbey, though the nuns were expelled in the French Revolution – probably for receiving too many aristocrats. It was called the The Palais du commerce et des Arts for a while and gained a lots of artworks, archeological items and natural history exhibits. The Lyon School fo...Read more

  5. Traboules Du Vieux Lyon

    Traboules Du Vieux Lyon

    Walking Area

    Hidden away from the Lyon public are a secret world of covered passageways, alleys that silk merchants would use to safely pass their goods around Lyon. Indeed, the word traboules, in Latin, means to pass through. They were immensely valuable to the city’s main industry, textiles, as they offered an easy way to move about for almost 90000 silk workers. The traboules also played an import...Read more

  6. Cathedral Saint Jean Baptiste

    4.5 (1759 Votes)
    Cathedral Saint Jean Baptiste

    Religious Site, Cathedral

    The seat of the Archbishop of Lyon, this Roman Catholic church boasts at least one historically significant wedding – that of King Henry IV to Marie de Medici. Contraction, which finished in 1476, happened on site of three previous churches that stood here, a Church of the Holy Cross, a St. Stephens Church and a baptistery. While most of the church is Gothic (nave with flying buttresses, ...Read more

  7. Museum Of Gallo-roman Civilization Or The Odeon And The Roman Amphitheatre

    4.5 (1129 Votes)
    Museum Of Gallo-roman Civilization Or The Odeon And The Roman Amphitheatre

    Art Gallery, Historical Site, Statue, Leisure

    Fourviere Hill is where the history of Lyon is! If you’ve read the Asterix comics, then you know Lugdunum – Capital of the Gauls, because that’s what they called Lyon all that time ago. On this hill then, which once upon a time used to be the centre of Lyon, are three awesome attractions. The first of these is the museum – an architectural marvel constructed in such a ma...Read more

  8. Place Des Terreaux

    Place Des Terreaux

    Historical Site, Square

    This square has seen quite a bit of Lyon’s history, and it’s more famous moments are as follows: There was once a wall here built to serve various defensive purposes but they crumbled in the 16th century. The nuns of Saint Pierre used bits of the wall to repair theirs convent; that building is nowadays known as the Lyon Fine Arts Museum. In the 17th the famous Hotel de ville de Lyo...Read more

  9. Institut Lumiere

    4.5 (878 Votes)
    Institut Lumiere

    Art And Culture, Museum, Educational Site

    The museum is a tribute of love – Maurice Trarieux-Lumière, the grandson of Louis Lumiere (father of modern cinema), started this place in 1982 in honor of the his grandfather and great uncle (AugusteLumiere). It aims to conserve various cinematic art, and to impart cinematic education through education, publishing and exhibitions. That’s why it’s also known as Cinema&r...Read more

  10. Museum Of Textiles And Decorative Arts Or Musee Des Tissus Et Des Arts Decoratifs

    4.2 (980 Votes)
    Museum Of Textiles And Decorative Arts Or Musee Des Tissus Et Des Arts Decoratifs

    Art And Culture, Art Museum

    Do you have a fetish for different kinds of cloth or ridiculously gold looking and classical interior decor? Come here and salivate at one of the richest textile collections in the world – covering about 4000 years worth of cloth history. The museum functions as two different museums though both are covered with the same ticket. The textile museum’s collection began accumulation in ...Read more

  11. Place Bellecour

    4.4 (1456 Votes)
    Place Bellecour

    Landmark, Statue, Square, Street Market

    Experience the beauty and warmth of Lyon from its largest pedestrian square, which is also the very centre of the beautiful city. Apart from being a spectacular attraction itself, there are a number of concerts, performances and small attractions that attract many visitors. You don’t need a ticket for Place Bellecour as it is free and open for all. You can however get Place Bellecour tick...Read more

  12. Saint Nizier Church

    Saint Nizier Church

    Church, Religious Site

    Churches have a habit of claiming historically religious spots. This location originally held a temple of Attis; when it was torn down, a basilica was erected here in commemoration of the Christian martyrs of Lyon of 177 A.D. Outsiders didn’t like the church very much – it was razed by the Saracens, Charles Martel and even parishioner named Peter Waldo. The current building started ...Read more

  13. African Museum Of Lyon

    4 (395 Votes)
    African Museum Of Lyon

    Museum

    Not exactly the sort of place you’d expect to find this, but hey, let’s roll with it. The museum is actually pretty well done and it’s one of the oldest of its kind in the country. Created in 1861 by the Societe des Missions Africaines, the museum exhibits are divided into Everyday Life (Level 1), Social Life (Level 2), and Religious Life (Level 3). These are mostly focused on...Read more

  14. La Mere Jean

    La Mere Jean

    Restaurant, Fine Dining

    If you have a traditional French restaurant in mind, check out La Mere Jean. The dishes and atmosphere of the restaurant are very authentic French, and the restaurant is situated in the Opera district. Reservations at this restaurant are also suggested.

  15. Musee Gadagne

    Musee Gadagne

    Art Museum, History Museum

    If you are in the mood to visit a museum, check out Musée Gadagne. Found in the center of theVieux Lyonin the Saint-Jean quarter, the museum holds 80,000 sculptures and pottery and paintings, tracing the rich history of Lyon. You can also see illustrations and maps showing the development of the city.