The ULTIMATE Travel Guide - What To Do In Lyon, France

[@titteryenot4524]

For the traveller from Paris, and that city’s rather monochrome palette of grey to greyer (with splashes of very intermittent colour to relieve the gloom, for Paris knows that it’s a resolutely northern place, and its buildings reflect those often cloudy skies), the first thing that strikes you about Lyon, 250 miles to the south, are the warm colours. Someone described the city’s overall appearance as like a crate of peaches ripening in the sun and this captures it nicely, as the red roofs and sun-bleached, fading stone more than hint of Le Midi, a hop-skip-and-jump down the Rhone Valley (Vienne? Valence? Montelimar?) It’s no accident that Lyon is almost exactly on the same latitude as Milan and Venice, as there is more than a hint of the Italianate in the ochre walls. Lyon is a lovely open city, with significant elevation on one side - reminiscent of Grenoble - looking east over the rivers divided by Presque Ile, across the rest of town. The most charming bit is the oldest bit, as is always the case in most French (and other countries’) cities. I almost gave myself a double hernia trying to romp up Fourviere Hill, but the pain soon eased when I clocked the majestic views from atop. There are also significant Roman ruins up here that are more extensive than I’d expected; a couple of theatres and other sundry bits and bobs. Least said about the Basilica (a sort of Romanesque/Byzantine mess of a mash-up) itself, the better. The reason to be up here are the views. The best church in Lyon is the main cathedral just down the hill. The rest of the time is best spent just aimlessly wandering. The old working-class district of La Croix-Rousse, is a (slightly gentrified) throwback to Lyon’s industrial past; a kind of self-contained village within the city. Place Bellecour, the city’s main square is a big, pompous, unwieldy thing and resembles nothing so much as a military parade ground. You can imagine Napoleon rallying his troops here on his way back from exile, (even if he never did.) But minor quibbles aside, Lyon can easily cope with 3 days of your life. I still can’t quite decide if its ‘northern’ or ‘southern’, though; I have always personally marked the start of Le Midi on this side of France at Montelimar, but on a midsummer’s day in Lyon, with the cicadas’ electric buzzing filling the air: this could well be the ‘true’ south. But where oh, where, are the shutters?!

[@ScottStephenSmith]

I want your video more than the one I'm watching. Great comment.

[@kenross4256]

Thank you very much for your review. It is helpful!

[@vilvile]

Very useful video. “French cuisine can be found all around the city (in France) for all different budgets”. Chat GPT could give less generic advice than this…

[@sandrocravareza3570]

Bro. It IS Chat GPT...

[@TemplarX2]

Lyon is not a Mediterranean city.

[@titteryenot4524]

It’s not, you’re right. But it has more than a hint of the south after rather grey Paris. 👍

[@TemplarX2]

@@titteryenot4524 I love the Mediterranean and their food but Lyon is a Provencal city and has the characteristics of both regions. It looks like Paris, it looks like Eastern France and yet it looks a lot like the south as well. It is a real nice place.

[@titteryenot4524]

@@TemplarX2 Lyon is not a Provençal city. Provence begins a good bit further south. Lyon is an Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes city.

[@TemplarX2]

@@titteryenot4524 Okay I confused the two regions. Provence is south.

[@titteryenot4524]

@@TemplarX2 Yes, you did. Ty for admitting you were wrong.

[@Sam-mq9cj]

I can't wait to visit LEEE-OWN FRAAANCE, otherwise known as: Lyon

[@zebrastripes3786]

I’m going in 4 days,so excited!! Thank you for the video

[@wheretonext-europe3349]

How exciting! It's a pleasure to share with you. Have fun on your trip!

[@vedrath]

How did you find the trip? I'm looking to go next month and would love to hear if you have any recommendations of your own! :)

[@zebrastripes3786]

@@vedrath Trip was great except for the weather. It was in the high 90’s and most places aren’t air conditioned well and the climate change made me sick but since you’re going next month it will probably cool down and won’t be a problem. We took day trips to neighboring cities Montpellier,confluence,Annecy and also to Geneva Switzerland they were all amazing but my favorite was Annecy which borders the Swiss alps.Annecy has the most amazing scenery it’s the cutest old town combined with all the modern stores and restaurants,a must not miss for me. Hope you have a great trip.

[@vedrath]

@@zebrastripes3786 Sounds like a great trip besides the sickness, thank you for the response! Annecy is definitely on my list of future trips :)

[@imachocop1re]

@@zebrastripes3786 ooh i went to Geneva. Did you see the big fountain? And did you see the giant's broken chair and the dancing water? I hope you had a great time also! Geneva is a great place to be in and I hope you enjoyed Frace and Switzerland.

[@RyuHadokenMaster]

Protip: get a narrator that can pronounce Lyon

[@mistersquat5786]

Lioownee, or ly-on

[@ucouldnevah]

that’s how it’s pronounced in English, don’t like it? make your own video in French

[@nickyrankine7321]

​@@ucouldnevahit's not pronounced like that in English.

[@Maneki-neko453]

Excellent video and very informative. We plan to visit Lyon this Fall and find this video very helpful.

[@wheretonext-europe3349]

We are very happy this was helpful to you! Please let us know if there are any places in specific you would like to see videos of. Thank you

[@marcouzmark]

it's a compilation of different videos from different sources

[@fintonmainz7845]

Are you arriving by ship?

[@celinepa8246]

LYO(N) - pronaunced with a closed O and without the N.

[@ucouldnevah]

she’s American, she doesn’t need to know or speak with a French accent🙄

[@celinepa8246]

​@@ucouldnevah If they dedicate a full video to a foreign town they should know its correct pronounciation. Has nothing to do with a "french accent".

[@ucouldnevah]

@@celinepa8246 no, if you’re gonna make a video about St. Petersburg (Russia) are you gonna say St. Petersburg or Санкт-Петербург?

[@pomygit]

The pronunciation is appalling. If it’s a travel video isn’t that a basic thing to do right?

[@chlbri]

Excellent video

[@wheretonext-europe3349]

Thank you Charles!

[@billjohnson6300]

Nice video! We are in Lyon right now. Walking tour by the Netherlander guy “Paul” is a great one and a must for finding those little “hallways.” Nice, helpful people. Overall, this is Paris on a smaller, more accessible scale, but very delightful!

[@tonyf166]

Very well shot and narrated. Hopefully the algorithms will pick it up over time.

[@wheretonext-europe3349]

Thank you Tony!

[@Alex-hx5yq]

Great video. Background ‘music’ irritating to the point of unbearable. Turned off part way through.

[@Ale_x99461]

This video is very well done - the camera shots, the narration and the music. Please continue making videos like this :)

[@wheretonext-europe3349]

Thank you very much Alex! Make sure to check out the rest of the destinations!

[@Ale_x99461]

@@wheretonext-europe3349 Will do !

[@SeeMick1]

Her friend pronunciation needs work tho

[@cedriclloyd5571]

Where is the US District near?

[@EdwardSapp]

how many lions are in it is it safe for children (perfect meals for lions)?

[@ramdts2231]

All socessfull!!!

[@kikodasneves1]

I hate these annoying over enthusiastic voice overs

[@tomtucjr]

Terrible pronunciation but thanks for the advice

[@ahadkhannl]

What’s wrong with the pronunciation?

[@tomtucjr]

@@ahadkhannl all the French words were pronounced terribly. They even pronounced Lyon wrong. It’s not “Lee-own”.

[@tomtucjr]

“Notre dame” is not pronounced “Noh-ter daym” either (unless as a reference to the US university)

[@spgdoyle]

Did this person actually visit Lyon???

[@ColleenWiley-j7e]

Alberto Throughway

[@Sreti]

The music is too loud

[@fintonmainz7845]

It's better than the awful narration.

[@communicatingdoors]

It's so painful to listen to a female voice that is constantly doing "vocal fry", meaning producing a creaky sound. It's mostly Amercian women who speak like that. Some people say it's because they want to sound more male. Others say it's rich people who are reluctant to make enough of an effort to produce an acceptable sound.

[@SheridanMeroy-y6d]

Lilly Shoal

[@eltimbola19]

You should learn to pronounce the name of the city correctly

[@rembrandt4th]

The bad pronunciation is distracting.

[@AnthonyFranklin-l5n]

Juanita Loop

[@backpacker5988]

I like your voice bit of husky

[@imachocop1re]

yes, her voice is lovley.

[@communicatingdoors]

No, it's awful. It's creaky.@@imachocop1re

[@HelenaCrawford-q6f]

Hernandez Jennifer Allen Sandra Williams Jose

[@gmbs360]

Informative video! However, the highlight for me is how you brazenly put zero effort into pronouncing anything with a French accent.

[@andiweinbender50415]

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦❤️🙏🌏🦋

[@KiplingGeorgia-e6p]

Perez Gary Jones Carol Martinez Jessica

[@ark__ange1339]

I had to read the subtitles to understand Notre Dame de Fourvière... I am from this city.. Get a narrator that at least tries to pronounce things good.

[@KiplingGeorgia-e6p]

Thomas Jennifer Wilson Christopher Davis Karen

[@ethansmith6333]

You copied this whole video

[@imachocop1re]

No

[@TheEndDay2025]

Je souviens jai visite Lyon avc les nas putas ki super chiennet

[@miekesmit7012]

Please improve your pronunciation! It's not Lyone! It's a short O

[@bdistance]

I hate the way she talks, as if she’s talking while falling simultaneously..

[@Sain065]

Mid

[@kennethwu115]

Excellent video

[@wheretonext-europe3349]

Thank you!