Gorgeous architecture, centrally located. For those of you unfamiliar with French culture, it's…read morethe City Hall. We had a private tour for our group of students, so I can't speak for how often you'd be able to get a tour in English or how much it would cost. Our tour included a visit to the hall where the famous Lyonnais have portraits (including Jacquard) and to the balcony that overlooks the Place des Terreaux. But one thing that is often overlooked is the official meter stick of Lyon. Back when the official meter length was created (in 1793 according to wikipedia), each town/center of commerce posted an official metal meter stick that was used as the gauge to create all others. The one for Lyon is still on one of the NE walls of the Hotel de Ville. And yes, this is something that the 2 engineers pointed out to the group of 30-something international affairs majors, who couldn't have cared less. Oh well.

From the owner: La mairie Elevé d'après les plans de Simon Maupin, l'Hôtel de ville forme un grand rectangle de…read morebâtiments enserrant une cour d'honneur. Si la construction d'origine affiche une organisation et un style Louis XIII, la rénovation de 1700 lui a conféré une nouvelle ampleur en relevant le corps central d'un attique percé de baies et surmonté d'une balustrade ponctuée de statues. Le Maire de Lyon y réside aujourd'hui de façon permanente. Les salons intérieurs et le carillon peuvent être visités. C'est l'un des monuments de la ville qui a le plus de succès lors des journées du patrimoine.

Such a cool concept. We had to check these out but had no idea what to expect. Fortunately a few…read morelocals pointed Us in the right direction and we were able to check out a bit of the passageway. Unfortunately, we had a stroller so transversing all of those stairs wasn't possible for us.

From the owner: La "colline qui travaille" a été bâtie au début du XIXè siècle sur des terrains qui appartenaient…read moreaux communautés religieuses. Les Canuts (ouvriers en soie) quittent alors leurs locaux insalubres des bords de Saône et s'installent dans les immeubles conçus pour contenir les imposants métiers à bras. Le quartier sera en 1831 et 1834 le théâtre des violentes insurrections des Canuts. Aujourd'hui, le marché alimentaire, la vogue aux marrons, les bistrots authentiques et les places où l'on pointe la boule lyonnaise contribuent à en faire un haut lieu de tradition. S'il compte peu d'édifices majeurs, le circuit de traboules constitue un patrimoine original. Le plateau est plus un quartier de jour, calme, que les pentes de la Croix-Rousse qui vivent plus la nuit, dans des ambiances alternatives, associatives et festives.

Free to enter, but modern updates have made this Roman monument somewhat disappointing…read more You can take the funicular to take you up the hill. It's still used for modern concerts, which would be a fun thing to do. We saw them setting up for an event which was part of the annual Fête de la Musique.

Wonderfully preserved Roman ruins just downhill from the Basilica de Notre Dame de Fourvière. It's…read morea great place to stop off and rest after visiting the basilica! So very peaceful there and I got a kick from resting my tired old butt on the same seats as some Roman citizens did 2000 years ago. I gotta say, those Roman architects knew how to build and design seating that was surprisingly comfortable, bare stone and cement that they are! If Vieux Lyon is old then these ruins - formerly known as Lugdunum - was ancient Lyon. It really is quite awesome thinking about the layered history of this city. The open air theaters' are still used today; there is a museum too but unfortunately wasn't open on the day we visited. I would have loved to learn more about Lugdunum and its evolution into modern-day Lyon.

One of the best things to see in Lyon. These are narrow passage ways between buildings built in the…read moreMiddle Ages and used to transport goods from the river to the buildings along the shores. There are many of these clearly marked with plaques but many that are just behind doors with no signs. Some amazing architecture can be seen comprising of gothic, renaissance and also some classic Italian designs. These old passageways have had a fair bit of Italian influence and many of the buildings along these passageways look like buildings from Venice. We explored a number of these during our walking tour and I loved it :-) would come back here in a heartbeat and explore some more. A photographers paradise :-)

One of our favorite parts of Lyon was the traboules or "secret passageways" in Vieux Lyon. We were…read moreonly in Lyon for a couple of days and no guided tours were available in English so we opted for a walking audio tour which included Vieux Lyon and Croix-Rousse area. We only did the Vieux Lyon walking tour but if we had more time, would def have done Croix-Rousse as well. Traboules are secret passageways that lead you from one street to another....in the old days, this allowed tradesmen to move textiles. Our walking tour took us through a few traboules and it was kind of fun trying to find the entrance to the traboules. From what we gathered, the traboules are in private buildings but since they are tourist attractions, many of the traboules are still open and tourists are allowed to walk through them. Some of the traboules lead past courtyards and allow you to see old Lyon buildings from a completely different perspective. Super awesome. This is the walking tour we took. We had to carry around big audiosets which was pretty cheesy but walking through the traboules made it all worth it. http://www.en.lyon-france.com/Guided-Tours-Excursions/The-100-essentials/Old-Lyon-Renaissance-district-and-its-Traboules