Opéra
Presqu'ile
Take a one-hour stroll through the area around Place des Terreaux, to discover culture and landmarks
Short one-hour version
Meet your guide on Place de la Comédie, in front of the Lyon Opera House, before setting off on a guided tour of the ‘Quartier des Terreaux’, on the northern edge of the Presqu'île district.
The tour will take you through Rue Désirée, which runs between the slopes of Croix-Rousse hill on one side and the city centre on the other. Next is Place des Terreaux, a square that is famous for its fountain, where you can take in the magnificent facades of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) and the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Museum of Fine Arts).
Your guide will then take you to Rue Major-Martin, where you will learn about the tradition of the authentic local eateries known as ‘Bouchons Lyonnais’. This is followed by a stop at the ‘Mur de la Bibliothèque’, a famous mural painted by the artist cooperative CitéCréation in 1998.
The tour ends on the banks of the Saône, where you can enjoy a magnificent view of the old part of the city.
Tour provided by ONLYLYON Tourisme et Congrès's tour guides
Worth knowing
Please ensure you arrive 10 minutes before the tour commences.
Booking is necessary
Cancellation free of charge 72 hours before schedule activity
Children and minors remain under the responsibility of their parents during this visit. The participation of an adult is mandatory for each reservation
Duration
1h
Kind
Walking guided tour
Access
Metro A or C > Hôtel de Ville, Louis Pradel
Meeting point
In front of the Opera House, Place de la Comédie, Lyon 1st
Prices
The Bartholdi Fountain
The famous fountain on the Place des Terreaux was made in 1888 for… the city of Bordeaux! It initially represented the Garonne and its four tributaries. Following Bordeaux’s decision to not go ahead with its plan, Lyon bought the fountain in 1890.
Tour guides
Delphine
Hej, hallo, hello, bonjour
I'm Delphine, one of the twenty or so lecturing guides that work for the Guides' Bureau.
Our service is incredibly rich: we all have our own profiles, our own interests, our own areas of study and our own favourite type of public.
And we all have one thing in common: LYON
What I love is the variety of its districts and their architecture, the wealth and diversity of its history and the Men who built it, the beauty of its monuments, particularly the light reflected from the façades that border the Saône early in the morning or at the end of the day; it's a trip in itself!
So after language studies which took me to live in Denmark and Germany, I returned to Lyon to work as a guide to lift the veil on "Myrelingues la Brumeuse"* and to share my enthusiasm with you who have come here to discover it or immerse yourself in it. (*title of a book by Claude le Marguet, set in 1536 in Lyon)
Paa gensyn, bis bald, see you soon, à bientôt !
Anne
I started out by working as a lecturing guide for a travel agency for 7 years. Then I decided to settle permanently and resumed my initial job as a guide in my hometown.
I have a passion for History, and the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in particular, and the history of art, and therefore particularly enjoy being in this city which boasts several centuries of history.
I love good food, and really blossom in this capital of gastronomy, where good food is part of local culture. So I quite naturally took an interest in the history of food and chefs.
So many passions I intend to share with you during your next visit.
Kind regards from Lyon!
Christian
Bringing together the past and present, and knowing that the future is always built on what came before: maybe these are the reasons I decided to become a tour guide… Who knows!
Adopted by the city of Lyon, over time I have become an adequate Lyonnais and I would even venture to say that I am now as passionate about this city as any local!
I spent my childhood between Corsica and Tarare, just to the west of Lyon, which goes to show that anything is possible! I then studied tourism in Nice and Paris and began a career in the travel industry. Later, returning to my roots to settle down was the natural choice for me.
Valentina
De mon Italie natale, je suis arrivée à Lyon pour y passer un weekend et je n’en suis jamais repartie ! Et c’est avec un bel accent qui chante que je vous fais découvrir ma ville d’adoption qui m’a séduite en un clin d’œil pour son histoire et sa gastronomie.
Mon amour pour la France commence il y a vingt ans. Alors jeune étudiante en histoire des arts à Naples, je préparais mon Erasmus à Lille. Le feeling grandissait et, pendant huit ans de Dolce Vita à Rome, mes escapades dans les archives de Paris et de Marseille étaient fréquentes. Enfin c’est Lyon qui m’a retenue, capturée et subjuguée en mêlant mon intérêt pour l’art et la gastronomie.
C’est avec passion que je vous conterai sa fondation par les Romains, avec gourmandise que je vous parlerai de bouchons et de plats typiques, avec mystère que je pousserai les portes des traboules, avec élégance que je vous promènerai le long des grands boulevards du 19ème et enfin c’est avec un peu d’ironie et d’irrévérence que je vous raconterai l’histoire de Guignol.
with the Lyon City Card
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€29