Where to stay in Lyon: best neighborhoods and hotels

Lyon spreads across two rivers and four useful bases for visitors. Almost everything you came for — Vieux Lyon, the Presqu'île, the Croix-Rousse slopes and the food streets — sits inside a compact centre that the metro, tram and funicular cover well. Pick your base by what you want outside the door: museums and shops, Renaissance lanes, a train station, or a hill with a market.

Distances are short. From Bellecour you can walk to Vieux Lyon in about 15 minutes across the Saône, and ride the funicular up to Fourvière for the Roman theatres and the basilica. Staying anywhere on the Presqu'île or in the 5th keeps most of a two-night trip on foot.

Presqu'île is the safe default. The peninsula between the Rhône and the Saône holds Place Bellecour, the shopping streets around Cordeliers, and the restaurant rows of Rue Mercière and Rue des Marronniers. You are between the two rivers, ten to fifteen minutes on foot from Vieux Lyon, and on metro lines A and D. Rooms cost more here and can be small, but you save time and tram fares.

Vieux Lyon is the postcard quarter: cobbled lanes, Renaissance courtyards and the covered passages known as traboules. It is quieter at night than the Presqu'île and slightly cheaper, with the metro D and the Fourvière funicular on the doorstep. Some ground-floor rooms catch street noise from tour groups by day.

Part-Dieu suits anyone arriving by TGV or leaving early: the station, the Rhônexpress airport tram and a large shopping centre are all here. It is a business district rather than a holiday one, so expect glass towers and fewer cafés, but the metro B reaches the centre in a few stops. Guillotière, just south, is the budget option with the cheapest beds and a lively, mixed neighbourhood.

Croix-Rousse sits on the hill of the old silk weavers. It has a village feel, a daily market on Boulevard de la Croix-Rousse and the metro C up the slope. It is a good pick for a longer stay or a repeat visit, less so if you want to be at Bellecour in five minutes.

Lyon is cheaper than Paris for the same standard of room. Hostel dorm beds and simple budget doubles start around €55–90 in low season. Mid-range three-star doubles run roughly €90–160, and upscale or design hotels €180–350. Prices climb during the Fête des Lumières in early December, school holidays and major trade fairs at Eurexpo.

The city tax (taxe de séjour) is added per person per night on top of the room rate and varies with the hotel class. Breakfast is often extra. Apartments and aparthotels around Part-Dieu and Guillotière can work out cheaper for stays of three nights or more.

Lyon's two-night average from the France guide is realistic: one full day for Vieux Lyon and Fourvière, one for the Presqu'île and a food market, with an evening in a bouchon. Staying central means you spend the time eating rather than riding the metro.

If you arrive at Lyon-Saint Exupéry, the Rhônexpress tram runs to Part-Dieu in about 30 minutes and is the fastest link to the centre; a taxi takes longer in traffic. If you come by TGV from Paris, you may arrive at Part-Dieu or Perrache — check which, because they are on different sides of the centre.

For day trips, Saint-Étienne and Roanne are both reachable by train, and the Beaujolais vineyards are a short drive north. Base yourself centrally and treat the region as day trips rather than moving hotels.