The second largest urban area in France after Paris, the city of Lyon is located in southeastern France and is home to nearly two million people. Capital of the Rhone-Alps region of France, Lyon is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its important historical and architectural sites. Although today Lyon is a center of France’s biotech and software industries, historically it was known as the “silk capital of the world”.

History

Lyon was originally a Roman colony founded by a lieutenant of Julius Caesar, Munatius Plancus, in 43 BC. Later, the Roman statesman and general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa recognized the colony’s location as perfect to make it a communications hub between France and Rome. As such, Lyon became the capital of Gaul under the Romans, and all Gaul’s highways began in Lyon.

Centuries later, Lyon was to play an important role in the French Revolution, and two centuries after that, Lyon became a stronghold of the French Resistance during World War II.

Art & Museums

The Musee des beaux-arts de Lyon is one of Lyon’s most important art museums. Containing statuary by Rodin and Bourdelle, ancient Egyptian relics, far eastern ceramics and stoneware, Islamic art, and Byzantine-era ivories, the museum is a former Benedictine convent that opened as an art school not long after the French Revolution expelled the nuns. Other sites worth seeing in Lyon include the Roman-era theatre located on the Fourviere Hill, the many historical basilicas and churches, and the Tour metallique de Fourviere, a “miniature Eiffel Tower”.

Nightlife

Called France’s “gastronomical capital”, Lyon has the highest concentration of restaurants in all of France. If it’s French food one is seeking, Lyon is the place to be. Lyon is also home to a good number of bars, discothèques, and nightclubs. The Albion is a popular English-style bar that plays jazz and blues; Le First Tendency is a huge discothèque that can hold up to 600 guests; and the Koubalibre is a restaurant and karaoke bar frequently used for special events such as weddings and anniversaries.

How to get there

Lyon has two train stations located near the town center – Part-Dieu and Perrache – and a third train station is located at the airport, Lyon Saint Exupery Airport. The airport connects in both to France’s high speed rail system and the regular train system, making it easy to go from Lyon’s airport to anywhere in Lyon or even anywhere in France. From London, one can also take the Eurostar and be in Lyon in only five hours.