Lyon

Lyon does not try to impress you, and that is exactly why it does. France’s third city sits where the Rhone meets the Saone, two rivers framing a peninsula of honey-coloured buildings, and it has spent centuries quietly perfecting one thing above all others: how to eat well. This is the home of the bouchon, the convivial bistro, and of a food culture so serious that the city is widely called the gastronomic capital of France. Come for a weekend, plan your days around meals, and you will leave a convert.

Where to stay

Stay on the Presqu’ile, the peninsula between the rivers, and you are in the middle of everything: the grand squares, the shops, the bouchons and an easy walk to both riverbanks. It is the obvious choice and a good one.

For more character, look across the Saone to Vieux Lyon, the Renaissance old town at the foot of the Fourviere hill, all cobbles, courtyards and hidden passageways. It is touristy by day but beautiful and quiet at night. A third option, the Croix-Rousse hill to the north, is the old silk-weavers’ district, steeper and more bohemian, with a village feel and a famous morning market. Wherever you land, the metro and funicular make the rest of the city easy to reach.

Eat and drink

The bouchon is the heart of it. These are small, warm, family-run dining rooms serving the rich classics of Lyonnais cooking, and a meal in one is the reason to come. Expect quenelles, the airy pike dumplings in a creamy crayfish sauce, hearty pork dishes, and a salad of frisee with bacon and a poached egg to start. Portions are generous and the welcome is gruff in the best way.

Be brave with the menu. Lyon built its cooking on offal and humble cuts, so you will find andouillette sausage, tablier de sapeur and other dishes that reward the curious. Wash it all down with a pot of Beaujolais or Cotes du Rhone, served in the traditional thick-bottomed bottle.

Before dinner, visit Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, the covered market named after the city’s most famous chef, for cheese, charcuterie and the local pink praline tart. It is a shrine to French produce, and even just walking it is a pleasure.

Do not miss

Climb or ride the funicular up to the Fourviere basilica, perched above the city, for the panorama across the rooftops to the Alps on a clear day. Behind it, the Roman theatres are still used for summer concerts.

Down in Vieux Lyon, hunt out the traboules, the covered passageways that thread through buildings and courtyards, once used by silk workers to move cloth out of the rain. They are mostly hidden behind plain doors, and finding them is half the fun. Finish with a slow evening on the riverbanks, where the city strolls and the light catches the water, and you will understand why the Lyonnais are in no hurry to be anywhere else.