august-2011

†PER COUNTRY PER CAPITA
*PRICES QUOTED ARE FOR A RETURN TICKET IN B.LIGHT ECONOMY FROM OR TO BRUSSELS, ALL TAXES AND FEES INCLUDED, IF BOOKED ON BRUSSELSAIRLINES.COM. TICKETS ARE NOT CHANGEABLE, NOR REFUNDABLE. PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE
FRANCE Population 62,814,233 Currency Euro GDP
LYON
† €23,390 Dialling code +33
Airport code LYS Flight frequency Four times daily Average temp (Aug) 20°C
Lion-hearted Lyon roars
with energy during the
summer months. A hip
cultural centre since the
Lumière brothers invented
cinema here, this month
the Tout l’Monde Dehors
festival (tlmd.lyon.fr)
ensures the city is packed
with music, comedy, fi lms
and fêtes. Heidi Fullerlove
is our city guide
PRESQU’ÎLE
Sandwiched between the Rhône
and the Saône, the Presqu’ile is
where to head if you want to be
at the heart of the action.
EAT Restaurant Nicolas Le Bec (14
Rue Grolée, tel. (0)4 7842 1535) serves
Nicolas Le Bec’s creative combinations
of classic French dishes with exotic
fruits and spices. Gourmet-loving Lyon
is packed with great eateries, but this
stylish place is one of the best.
CULTURE Opéra de Lyon (Place de la
Comédie) has been hailed as one of
the top cultural venues in France. Its
state-of-the-art auditorium is the
magnificent setting for a spectacular
programme of opera, ballet and
concerts throughout August.
SHOP Quartier Auguste Comte (14
Rue Auguste Comte) sits between the
Place Bellecour and Place Carnot and
is a shoppers paradise of undercover
stalls selling everything from antique
rugs and ancient heirlooms to designer
jewellery and fashionable clothing.
LATER Le Voxx (1 Rue d’Algérie) is
where Lyon’s beautiful people flock to
see and be seen. Head to this laid-back
riverside café to loll on sofas, sip
cocktails or dance to acid jazz and funk.
VIEUX LYON
Jumbled along a narrow strip of
land hedging the right bank of the
Saône, the UNESCO world heritage
IMAGE GUILLAUME PERRET
INFO
Saint Exupéry
Airport is 25km
east of the centre.
Tram The
Rhônexpress tram
links the airport
and Lyon Part Dieu
train station in less
than 30 minutes.
Located in the TGV
station, tickets cost
€13 for a single and
€23 for a return
and can be bought
on board, by ticket
machine or online
(rhonexpress.fr).
Allow 10 minutes
from terminal 3.
Taxi A taxi to the
centre costs about
€55 during the day
and €70 at night,
and takes about
30 minutes.
Tourist offi ce
The main offi ce is
at Place Bellecour
(tel. (0)4 7277 6969,
lyon-france.com).
Become part of local life with
a range of free events as part of
the Tout l’Monde Dehors festival
site of old Lyon is endlessly
charming. Make time to explore
its narrow corridor-like traboules
and medieval architectural gems.
SLEEP At the Collège Hotel (5 Place
Saint-Paul, tel. (0)4 7210 0505, collegehotel.com,
rooms from €125), owner
Laurent Phelps whisks guests back
to his childhood. This school-themed,
fun-loving hotel with superb views over
the city is decked out with antique
wooden desks, inkwells and other
scholarly paraphernalia.
EAT Café Comptoir Abel (25 Rue
Guynemer, tel. (0)4 7837 4618) is the
pick of the crop of Lyon’s bistros, known
as bouchons, and one the city’s oldest
such establishments. They’re the best
place to sample the city’s cuisine, and
Abel serves local specialities such as
saucisson (sausage) with a thick lentil
purée and creamy pike dumplings,
quenelles de brochet.
CULTURE The Théâtre Le Guignol
(2 Rue Louis Carrand, guignol-lyon.com)
offers suitable entertainment for
both children and parents, where the
Lyonnais – rumoured to be rebellious
and inordinately fond of their drink –
are lampooned in easy-to-understand
satirical puppet shows.
LATER Alibi (13 Quai Romain Rolland)
boasts celebrity DJs, themed events,
several bars and comfy sofa-style
seating, making this vast club popular
with the city’s movers and groovers.
If you’re seeking something more laidback,
Furib’ Arts (60 Rue St-Georges) is
a cosy, bric-a-brac-stuffed bar showing
the work of local artists, where you
can listen to local bands as you sip
organic wine and locally brewed beer.
CROIX-ROUSSE
For a heady fill of culture try this
atmospheric quarter, formerly
populated by silk workers. The
high-ceilinged canut houses and
narrow covered traboules are
now home to many of the
conurbation’s arty crowd.
EAT A food market (Boulevard de la
Croix-Rousse) is held on the boulevard
every morning except Monday. This
is the best place in town to sample
Lyon’s grilled sausage andouille, flourand-egg
quenelle dumplings and other
traditional gourmet delights.
CULTURE Join a traboule walking tour
(lyontraboules.net) to learn more about
the area’s traboules, those emblematic
covered passages that provided a
shortcut between streets – via houses
and courtyards – for the silk workers
(and were later used as escape routes
by members of the French Resistance).
A tour, leaving from Place de la Croix-
Rousse, makes a fascinating way to
delve into the city’s culture.
SHOP Soierie Vivante (21 Rue Richan)
offers the chance to watch silk screening
and velvet painting, then buy scarves and
other goodies in this silk workshop –
complete with working worms – at the
heart of the canut-house district.
€99 *
FROM JUST
RETURN,
TAXES INCLUDED
Fly to Lyon from just
€99* return, taxes included.
brusselsairlines.com
Brussels Airlines b.there! magazine August 2011 79