Lyon

From the top of the hill with the same name, an outstanding and unique view enables you to understand the topography and the reasons why it has been classified a world heritage town. You might even be able to see Mont Blanc in the distance on a clear day.

This fantastic museum is situated on the border of the Park de la Tête d’Or, adjacent to the newly built Congress Center by Renzo Piano. It regularly beats Paris by gaining sole rights to any Andy Warhol exhibition. Next to the Museum, Renzo Piano’s 3,000 seat amphitheater is worth a visit by itself. One of the most audacious architectural juxtapositions: business, arts and leisure activities, all succeed in mingling together in the same living area.

French fashion was born and flourished from Lyon’s textile industry. The Musée des Tissus provides a unique collection presenting more than 2,000 years of the history of textile around the world, and more specifically, in the Lyon area, highlighting the influence it had on French fashion.

The equivalent of San Marco’s horses in Venice, the Place des Terreaux, with its famous Bartholdi fountain and four horses (France’s four rivers), is magnificently decorated with fibre optics and “luminous” water columns, and represents a focal point for life in the city.

The Institute Lumière is located in Monplasir, the historic district of Lyon. This is where the Lumière brothers invented the Cinématographe and also where they made history by making the first film in 1895. The four-level Lumière Museum allows you to discover the extraordinary inventions of the Lumière brothers, and within the Hangar Prime-Film there are daily movie screenings.

The Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière was built between 1872 and 1884 and has a great position on a hilltop with great views over the city. Today it is a popular attraction for both locals and tourists. The church is decorated with many beautiful details in mosaics, murals and stained glass.

The Musée des Beaux Arts is one of France’s most elegant art museums with everything from ancient statues to contemporary art. It has acquired a painting by Poussin, "The Flee to Egypt", increasing the collection of 17th- and 18th-century paintings to be one of the most prestigious in France.

Lyon housed the core of the Resistance movement, which fought against the occupying German troops during WWII. Many French Jews were deported from here. Everything is explained at the Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportationand, and there are also pictures from the trial of the Butcher of Lyon, Klaus Barbie.

Brasserie “Le Nord” is Monsieur Bocuse’s turn of the century bistro with all of Northern France’s classics dishes on the menu, including onion soup, calf brains, chicken fricassee and other interesting specialities. It also has an outdoor terrace where you can enjoy your food.

This is one of the four restaurants owned by the famous chef Paul Bocus. The menu offers specialties from Mediterranean cuisine, like salad nicoise, osso buco, fish soup, tartars and spit-roasts. The interior decor is inspired in Morocco and the French provinces.

This is another of Monsieur Bocuse’s restaurants, located in an old train station. The chef prepares the best dishes inspired from all around the world. On the menu you will find goose liver in Port, Serrano ham, Crispy Pizza and roasted salmon escalope from Norway.

Brasserie “L’Ouest” is the youngest and most modern restaurant of the Bocuse brasseries, having opened its doors in 2003. The menu provides meat, fish and pasta dishes inspired from French, Italian, Spanish and Asian cooking. With Philippe Starck design on the chairs, candelabras and plasma screens it gives a modern feeling.

Chez les Gones is a classic bouchon, a tiny traditional Lyon restaurant. There is a terrace on the top floor which makes a nice seating area if the weather permits. Discover authentic local cuisine at this restaurant where the staff creates food with passion.

La Brasserie Georges is located opposite the Perrache station. It is a classic brasserie, founded in 1836, with a long history of serving up fabulous French cuisine. It is definitely not to be missed - for its fabulous Art Deco style, if nothing else.

Fried fish and frog legs are the house specialties at this great restaurant, which additionally boasts a great location right by the Saone. It's a bit out of the way, so plan your route accordingly, but locals still make the trip there to enjoy these dishes.

If you like seafood and oysters, then this is the restaurant to visit. However, it is a popular restaurant so it might be packed. While you are waiting for a table you can have a glass of wine by the bar area. The charming service, great menu and nice decor are some of the reasons why people are drawn to restaurant Merle.

Lyon's food hall is located in a concrete quarter erected in the 1970s. Colette and her daughter probably offer the best cured meats and provisions in France. She dispatches them to customers throughout the world. This means that she is used to vacuum packing sausages, quenelles and other delicacies.

If you are a chocolate lover then you have to visit this world-famous “maître chocolatier” – master chocolate maker. Everything on offer is made from scratch, from the delicate truffles and ornate bars to the savoury options that are also available, such as quiche.

Galeries Lafayette the premiere department store in France, with locations found all over the country. Here you can find just about anything you might be looking for, from clothes, shoes and accessories to home decor and design, as well as miscellaneous items of all sorts.

Museum Concept is a design shop offering urban-style clothing for men and women. The store's two floors showcase cutting-edge street wear and Sunday best for the hip-hop crowd, including brands such as Homecore, Bullrot, Double H, All Access, Luka, Lady Soul and Voona.

Book lovers will not want to pass up a visit to La Bourse, one of the city's best places to find new and old books, comic books from all over the world, magazines and other such items. They even have old video games, LPs and films. This is where you can buy or trade for that old Piaf vinyl record, Serge Gainsbourg CD or Enki Bilal comic album you have been looking for.

Blaise Vavro is one of Lyon’s most interesting wine retailers. It belongs to a younger generation that really tries to discover wines smaller and more unknown vineyards at reasonable prices. Wine lovers will doubtlessly make unique finds and discover flavours they've never tasted before.

France can be visited visa-free for up to 90 days by citizens of other EU/Schengen countries, as well as citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Israel, UAE and most countries in America. If you are unsure whether or not you need to apply for a visa, we recommend contacting the embassy or consulate in your country.