Instead of Paris: Lyon, the Gastronomic Capital That Lives for Pleasure, Not Pretence

Paris is Paris, and nothing will ever truly replace it. But if you want the France of good food, historic architecture and cultural life without the queues at the Eiffel Tower, the Parisian surcharge and the attitude tourists have learned to dread, Lyon is your city.

Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France — an unofficial title but universally acknowledged — and here you eat as nowhere else in the world. The bouchons, the typical Lyonnaise trattorias, serve traditional dishes that elsewhere would be Michelin-starred: quenelles de brochet, tablier de sapeur, salade lyonnaise, cervelle de canut. A full dinner in a genuine bouchon costs thirty euros, wine included.

Vieux Lyon — the Renaissance quarter overlooking the Saône — is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest Renaissance ensemble in France after the centre of Paris. But unlike Paris, here you walk through the traboules — covered passageways that cut through the buildings connecting parallel streets — without the feeling of being in a museum. The traboules were used by silk weavers to transport bolts of fabric sheltered from the rain, and today they are secret corridors discovered by pushing open apparently shut doors.

The Basilica of Fourvière dominates the city from its hill and offers a view that takes in both rivers — the Saône and the Rhône — the red-tiled rooftops of Vieux Lyon and, on clear days, the Alps with Mont Blanc. You can walk up or take the funicular, and the basilica itself is a Neo-Gothic extravaganza that divides opinion but leaves no one indifferent.

The Presqu'île — the peninsula between the two rivers — is the commercial and cultural centre: Place Bellecour (one of the largest squares in Europe), the Musée des Beaux-Arts (second only to the Louvre in its collections), and a web of pedestrian streets where you can shop without the pressure of the Champs-Élysées.

Lyon also has a vibrant contemporary scene: the Confluence quarter, at the meeting of the two rivers, is a successful example of urban regeneration with signature architecture, the Musée des Confluences (a sculptural building that looks like a crystal resting on the water) and a riverside promenade that comes alive with bars and restaurants in the evening.

Getting here is easy: the TGV from Paris takes two hours; from Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport a tram brings you to the centre in thirty minutes. Low-cost flights connect Lyon to the rest of Europe.