2 Days in Lyon – Itinerary and Tips

What to Do in Lyon for 2 Days?

2 days in Lyon itinerary. What to see in Lyon in 2 days.

Lyon is the capital of the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, set between the Saône and Rhône Rivers. The Gauls’ ancient capital and later the capital of silk and printing works, Lyon is one of the most beautiful French cities to visit and one of the most attractive European cities for a weekend getaway.

Lyon is history and also the city of painted walls, bouchons, and pretty cafés. Over the last few years, the city has re-conquered the Saône River banks, now car-free, and a stroll along the River followed by a visit to Parc de la Tête d’Or is one of the musts of any Lyon itinerary.

Overall, Lyon is an excellent city for a cultural and gastronomic weekend – the food scene in Lyon is famous worldwide! So, what to do in Lyon for 2 days? Here’s the ultimate Lyon itinerary 2 days for a perfect weekend in Lyon.

Table of Contents:

• How Many Days in Lyon?
• How to Visit Lyon in 2 Days – A Detailed Lyon Itinerary
  • Lyon 2-Day Itinerary: Day One
  • Lyon 2-Day Itinerary: Day Two
  • Spend 3 Days in Lyon (if you can…)
• Two Days in Lyon: Where to Eat?

How Many Days in Lyon?

I recommend spending at least two days in Lyon, a reasonable amount of time to cover most of the best things to do in Lyon, and for a couple of leisure strolls.

However, Lyon is an excellent base camp to explore other places around on day trips, with accommodation options to suit all budgets. Spend 3 days in Lyon or more to visit the best places near Lyon on day trips or guided tours.

How to Visit Lyon in 2 Days – A Detailed Lyon Itinerary

What to do in Lyon for 2 days? For this Lyon 2 days itinerary, I recommend arriving on Friday night, so you have two full days to visit Lyon.

If you visit Lyon during the coldest months of the year, check out this list of the best things to do in Lyon in winter to adapt the activities to the weather.

TIP: The Lyon City Pass is valid for 1 to 4 days and includes access to the city’s main museums, public transportation tickets, a cruise along the Saône River, and many discounts on shopping and theaters.

Lyon 2-Day Itinerary: Day One

1. Learn about Lugdunum

This 2 days in Lyon itinerary starts traveling back in time at the Lugdunum – Musée et Théatres Romains. This superb underground museum describes life in Lugdunum, one of Gaul’s most important Roman cities during the first centuries AD.

If you are interested in Lyon’s Gaul and Roman history, you can also visit the area with this audio-guided walking tour at your own pace.

To complete the visit, admire the spectacular remains of the Roman Grand Theater and Odéon, next to the museum, which are listed as UNESCO World Heritage.

Address: 17 Rue Cleberg, Lyon. Opens from Saturday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from Wednesday to Friday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

2. Walk up to the Basilique of Notre Dame de Fourvière

From Lugdunum – Musée et Théatres Romains, walk rue Roger Radisson up to the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière for one of Lyon’s top sights and one of the city’s best views.

Built on the top of the hill with the same name, Notre Dame de Fourvière has watched over the Lyonnais since the second half of the 20th century. Because many religious communities settled around the Basilica, the Fourvière Hill is nicknamed “the Praying Hill.”

Like the Sacré Coeur in Montmartre, Notre Dame de Fourvière was built with private funds and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. According to locals, She pushed away a Cholera epidemic in 1832 and prevented the Prussian invasion in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War.

Designed by Pierre Bossan, Fourvière Basilica draws from Romanesque and Byzantine architecture, two non-Gothic models that were unusual choices at the time.

After a quick tour around the basilica, you will realize that not everything was sculpted or decorated due to a lack of funds. But it is an interesting building to explore, with its underground passages, tribunes, secret spaces, and crypt.

Finally, admire the view from the Basilica’s esplanade. When the weather is good, you can see the Mont Blanc in the French Alps!

Address: 8 Place de Fourbière, Lyon. Opens every day, from 7 a.m. to 9 pm (Sunday to Wednesday) and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. (Thursday to Saturday).

GOOD TO KNOW: Not far from the Basilica, there’s a replica of the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was commissioned by the owners of a restaurant on this site, who wanted to attract guests during the World Exhibition of Lyon in 1894. The Exhibition was concentrated around the Parc de la Tête d’Or, which is far from Fourvière Hill; the Eiffel Tower was the only way to make visitors travel uphill to their restaurant!

4. Visit Saint-Jean Cathedral

This Lyon in 2 days itinerary heads now to Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon). From Fourvière, you can take the funicular to Vieux Lyon – Cathédrale Saint-Jean station or walk down through Parc des Hauteurs. This 2,5 Ha garden, with 1,400m of paths between Fourvière and Saint-Jean, has a design based on the abandoned private gardens that initially occupied this place.

Saint-Jean Baptiste Cathedral is Lyon’s beating heart. The Cathedral’s construction took three centuries to finish, from 1175 to 1490, and the building is a beautiful blend of Romanesque and Gothic styles.

Visit the Cathedral inside and admire its 16th-century astronomical clock and the beautiful stained-glass windows from the beginning of the 12th century.

Located north of Saint-Jean Cathedral, the Archaeological Garden Saint-Jean is worth exploring. Remains from different periods ranging from the first century AD to the sixteenth century have been unearthed and correspond to the primitive episcopal group of Lyon, composed of three churches: Saint-Jean in the south, Saint-Etienne in the center, and Sainte-Croix in the north.

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Cathedral is the starting point of the procession up to the Basilica during Lyon’s Festival of Lights, so you cannot miss this beautiful Cathedral!

Address: Place Saint-Jean, Lyon. Opens from Tuesday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

TIP: This Lyon walking tour is perfect for learning more about Old Lyon and Saint Jean Cathedral.

5. Get Lost in Vieux Lyon

This Lyon itinerary 2 days continues with a stroll around Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) along the Saône River’s right bank. This area is home to the largest Renaissance area in Europe after Venice, with pretty craft shops, restaurants, and bars.

Vieux Lyon is also home to superb mansions – most of them listed as Historical Monuments –, old signs, and traboules. The traboules are Lyon’s unique private passages that allow the connection of two streets through pretty courtyards. The most beautiful traboules are concentrated between the churches of Saint-Georges and Saint-Paul, which we also recommend visiting.

Another fun way to explore Vieux Lyon is through a food tour. Discover some of the secret passageways while sampling the foods of Vieux Lyon. This 4-hour food-tasting tour perfectly combines the city’s history with the food, and it is a good opportunity to learn (and taste) about the local food in Lyon.

Lyon 2-Day Itinerary: Day Two

Day two of these two days in Lyon starts in Lyon’s Presqu’ile, between the Rivers Saône and the Rhône. If the weather is good, this is an excellent place for a stroll.

6. Place Bellecour

Place Bellecour is the third largest square in France (67,120 m2) and the city’s central point. Here, you will find the Km 0 of all the routes in the region.

In 1658, King Louis XIV obtained for the city the final possession of the square – in private hands until then – and ordered the erection of a statue representing him. Considering that the King only visited Lyon once, the statue was a good way for locals to remember the King of France!

The facades bordering the square were rebuilt between 1807 and 1813, and they are all listed as Historical Monuments. From here, you have a beautiful view of Fourvière Hill and the basilica.

Place Bellecour is one of the main sights hosting Lyon’s Fête des Lumières, one of France’s best Christmas events! Because of this festival and more, I listed Lyon as one of the best places to visit in France in winter.

7. Place des Terreaux

From Place Bellecour, walk north to Place des Terreaux, another elegant square in Lyon. Here, you can see the Hôtel de Ville, the Opera Theater, and visit the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

On the north side of this square, there’s a beautiful fountain by Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who designed the Liberty Statue.

8. La Croix Rousse and its Colored Walls

La Croix Rousse was the neighborhood where the canuts (the silk workers) lived. Since the 19th century, this is “the Working Hill,” in opposition to Fourvière’s “Praying Hill.” Today, La Croix Rousse is a trendy bohemian neighborhood and a great place for a stroll.

Thanks to La Croix Rousse’s 30,000 canuts or so, Lyon became a major hub for textiles in Europe. You can learn more about this trade so important for Lyon at the Maison des Canuts (10 Rue d’Ivry, Lyon), with three exhibition rooms and a workshop, or at Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs (34 Rue de la Charité, Lyon) located south of Place Bellecour.

Get lost in this interesting neighborhood, with many buildings specially built to house the weaving looms amid a maze of traboules and stairwells. Don’t miss the painted walls (street art is another Lyon specialty) like the Fresque des Canuts or the one at Cour des Voraces. This top-rated guided walking tour covers all these spots, and it is a good way to learn more about the canuts and the silk business in Lyon.

9. Afternoon at Parc de la Tête d’Or

A stroll around this park is one of the best things to do in Lyon. The Parc de la Tete d’Or is the largest urban park in France and an excellent place for a relaxing afternoon.

The park includes dozens of trails for walking, jogging, bicycling and numerous attractions for all the family.

This park is far from the other places to visit in Lyon in 2 days. I could visit the park with this fun e-bike guided tour that allowed us to see the main sights (Fourbière Hill included) in only 3 hours.

Address: Boulevard des Belges, Lyon. Opens every day from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Spend 3 Days in Lyon (if you can…)

If you visit Lyon in 2 days, you will get a good overview of the city and its main sights. If you can make your weekend in Lyon longer, then use your extra day to visit something else.

There are lovely places around Lyon, easy to reach with your car, by train, or with a guided tour. Check out this list of the best day trips from Lyon with proposals for all kinds of travelers.

During your 3 days in Lyon, you can also consider a day tour to visit the Beaujolais wine region or the world-famous Côte du Rhône wine region. If you have a car, check out this list of wineries around Lyon that propose wine tours and tastings (in French and English) for individual travelers.

If you prefer to spend one more day in Lyon, that’s fine too! Unfortunately, I couldn’t include all the interesting museums in this list of what to do in Lyon for 2 days. With one more day in Lyon, you can add one or two more museums to your Lyon itinerary.

• MAM – Musée des Arts de la Marionette (1 Place du Petit Collège, in Lyon 6)
• Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs (34 Rue de la Charité, in Lyon 2), which was suggested as an option in this 2 days in Lyon itinerary
• Institut Lumière (Rue du Premier Film, in Lyon 8)
• La Maison des Canuts (10 Rue d’Ivry, in Lyon 4), which was suggested as an option in this Lyon 2-day itinerary
• Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation (14 Avenue Berthelot, in Lyon 7)
• Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (20 Place des Terraux, in Lyon 1).

Two Days in Lyon: Where to Eat?

In Lyon, locals say the city is watered by three rivers: Saône, Rhône, and Beaujolais! Therefore, you don’t need to walk much in Vieux Lyon to find a cool bar for a couple of glasses of Beaujolais wine.

You may want to try a bouchon, Lyon’s typical restaurant serving traditional Lyon dishes in a popular atmosphere. You will find typical Lyon food and dishes like sausages, salade lyonnaise, quenelles, duck pâté, or roast pork. There are many bouchons Lyonnais north of Place Saint-Jean, along rue Saint-Jean; it will be hard to pick just one!

If you don’t know what to eat in the capital of French Gastronomy, here’s the ultimate Lyon food guide.

LES LYONNAIS BOUCHON: This is a good restaurant in the heart of the Old Town (1, Rue Tramassac, Lyon). Get a taste of Lyon’s culinary specialties in the typical atmosphere of bouchons.

VICTOIRE ET THOMAS: Located in the Presqu’Ile (27, Rue de l’Arbre Sec), this is a good restaurant offering delicious and inventive cuisine made only with local, seasonal produce.

I have included more good places to eat in Lyon in my Lyon city guide. You can find this guide here.

And there you have it, what to see in Lyon in 2 days with some extra options to adapt this Lyon itinerary. Bon voyage!

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