Lyon, France travel guide | What to see and do in the city of gastronomy, art, and culture

Bonjour and welcome to Lyon, a captivating delicious city where history and culture meet a vibrant culinary story along the Rhône and Saron rivers. I had three wonderful days to explore the city and it all started with a perfect meal at Cave Café Terroir. Lyon is world famous for gastronomy with over 5,300 restaurants including 17 michelin-starred establishments and 23 certified bouchons which I'll get to in a little bit. After that amazing meal and right around the corner is the Celestien Theatre de Lyon. The historic Italian-inspired theater is beautiful and offers dramatic performances throughout the year and it's worth stopping at least to see the architecture. You really get a sense of the layout and the whole feel of the city where the two rivers meet at the edge of La Presqu'île and the peninsula. From here you can see the buildings that will certainly remind you a bit of Paris and the older part of the city, Vieux Lyon. That's been preserved with narrow streets and so much historic charm. It is beautiful and the architecture is amazing here. You'll have to pardon my French here but one thing that you really have to look out for is hidden traboules. These are passageways. They're very distinct to this area. They cut through buildings and courtyards and they are distinctly Lyon. As well another distinctly Lyon thing is the patisseries. You can stop and get a praline brioche, something that is very distinct to this area. When you stop at a restaurant you should look out for some of those bouchons. These are the unique restaurants that actually were created thanks to working-class women and they really shaped the culinary story of Lyon. Bouchons have very specific menu items that you really should try, at least a few of them. Definitely worth trying something different that you can only find here. Lyon is also famous for silk making and in this area you can find a few of the stores that still sell and show you how silk was made which is very cool. Lyon has so many historic charms. There are things around every corner but one of my favorites that we found was the chevret clock. It was built by a watchmaker with local characters and the clock has been ringing for over 160 years now and it still draws a crowd. It is so unique. There are lots of neighborhoods where you can stay. There are lots of hotels throughout the entire city but one in Vue Lyon is Academie Hotel. It's a restored building that honors the past with so many original elements that have been kept including the historic staircase and inside each of the rooms you can even see some of these touches that maintain some of the history of this building. I could have spent the entire day here but it was time for supper and that was when I headed to Palais Grillot. It's an official bouchon and a recognized local classic stop for food. They serve local wines and the food is absolutely amazing and it's a real taste of Lyon's tradition. Everything was just so superb. We went with a little bit of a group and so it's nice to also share a few things and try a lot of things off the menu. It's well worth sharing when you come here. The streets of the city are dotted with restaurants and bars. There is so much to choose from. It is wonderful. You could find almost anything but superb French food. I also have to say I stayed at the Hotel de Verdun 1882. Really charming place with character and the best staff. It was wonderful. To get a taste of the city's culture and style I had a tour of the Musée de Confluences, a museum that blends science, history, and art seamlessly. The building is incredibly unique and it's such a striking architectural style inside and out. The museum hosts permanent and temporary exhibits that explore a wide range of topics but it's the approach that's really special here. You'll see dinosaur fossils and then beside it you can reach out and touch a real fossil. I think that's such a cool thing because so often museums are look but don't touch but here so much of the story is explore and touch and learn and just discover things in different ways than I've seen at most museums. You can see that across all of the exhibits because you'll see thoughtful questions and answers and things that help you understand what makes us tick as humans and then another room you'll touch a meteorite which again is just unbelievable to me. The other spaces throughout the building also approach religion, art, and stories of humanity and animals and creatures. It's wonderful to explore and even headier in the space of a dream gives you a chance to think about how humanity has dreamed over the years and how we've thought about dreams over thousands of years. I love how the exhibit uses art to really dive into the concepts here and the art is really astonishing. My bed, a raft, the room, the sea, and then I laugh some gloom in me. That's the name of this art piece and it is like looking at a dream. It's an astonishing work of art but everything in the museum is so refreshing like this. I love how you can easily bring a whole family here and explore and discover new things for the entire family. Heading across town a guide took me around Croix-Rouge where street art has flourished for years. On the larger scale the street art covers entire walls of buildings with art that ranges from realism to avant-garde and everything between. Even cracks in the street have been filled in places with beautiful eye-catching art and much of it represents everything from prehistoric cave drawings brought to life in urban spaces to complex motifs on life and nature. You'll see little characters peeking out over signs. There's photographs on walls and incredible eco pieces that represent French heroes. It's so amazing. There's a little of every kind of artwork including straight-up spray-painted tags but it's a remarkable scene to explore whether you book a guide who can give you far more context or just explore on your own. Lyon shows off at every turn with hidden gems from architecture to art. A few steps away from the bottom of Croix-Rouge you'll find the city's and historic building with a surprisingly modern twist right across from city hall. From the outside you might expect something else but the inside of the opera house is like nothing I've ever seen before. The black walls are stoic but sleek with a few select spaces that hold on to the classic embellishments. It's a building of contrast and if you plan ahead you can book a tour of the building or look for seats to see a performance here. Tickets start at just 10 euros so you really can't afford to come. Across town in the Mont-Plaisir neighborhood the Musée Lumière and the Institut Lumière honor two of the founders of cinema. The Lumière brothers helped invent the technology that made cinema possible from cameras to film and their first film was shot right here. The annual festival Lumière honors cinema and filmmakers every October and screens classics as well as new films and all year you can visit the Musée Lumière to see the original home where the brothers and their family lived right beside the factories that made their films and cameras. It's a beautiful building as a film lover I definitely geeked out a bit seeing how they helped make cinema popular even if not all their ideas including this camera gun weren't winners. Collected here are samples of hundreds of films that were shot and shown with a peek at cultures around the world. I also love seeing some of the original equipment that they used including the cinematograph Lumière and so many other pieces that are just fascinating to see what was going on at this time when they were basically helping create cinema. You can also see their photography on display with vibrant examples of how they made color photos come to life. I definitely recommend stopping to browse through some of the original films that were shot including London, New York, Venice, and beyond. It is really fascinating to see these snapshots of history I also have to say that some of my favorite moments in the city were just simple walking around moments especially the park spaces and streets that have so much character. It's a very walkable city connected by excellent transit. Heading up to Fourvière I had a chance to see the magnificent Basilica Notre-Dame up close before a special event at Hotel Maya where Christian Tetedois spoke about his career and Leon's gastronomy. The hotel is really stunning with views overlooking the city and it was perfect place to hear the famed chef talk about his really incredible career and even some of the things he's done as a humanitarian. After I went to dinner at his bistro that's across the street, the Bistro Tetedois, where he showed off an amazing menu that was so simple but so sophisticated. It was wonderful. Everything was really delicious and then he came out at one point to chat with me and a few of the other media and travel writers who were there and it was just fascinating to hear him chat about his work in the kitchen and the food that he creates. For my last full day in the city I was at Leon's City International de la Gastronomie for a few meetings and that was followed by a tour of their incredible art gallery. They have just a truly exceptional collection that's modern and so very cool but also the space is just so spectacular. It was a real treat just to walk around here and take in the art in these unique spaces and rooms. It was also fascinating how they blended avant-garde with classic styles of art in so many interesting spaces that you'd sight and sound and smell. It was fantastic and I had one last chance to walk around before dinner which was really gonna treat just to see these beautiful streets and these beautiful buildings but I have to say that dinner was the big event. Leon put together a special meal in their city hall with members of government in one of the most beautiful spaces that I've ever been in among some other travel journalists. The building dates back to 1652 and it's really a work of art from the walls and wallpaper to the chandeliers and vases and artwork everywhere. During the French Revolution this building was even held at one point and it has been part of historic events for many years. I have to say the meal was wonderful and it was the perfect way to finish off this visit to such an incredible city. What a night. Just look at this place. What an amazing night. Very hard to leave Leon after an evening like this in the most opulent city hall. Thank you very much for watching this video. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions about Leon or my trip and I'd be happy to see if I can help. Also coming up I have to say that I'm gonna have a whole video on the rest of my trip through France. There's a trip through Strasbourg, Nancy, Reims and a few hours in Paris as well at the end. It was a fantastic trip and wait until you see all the highlights.