Lyon is France’s third-largest city, with about 519,000 people in the city itself and a much larger metropolitan area around it. Set where the Rhône and Saône rivers meet, it was founded by the Romans in the 1st century BC as Lugdunum, the capital of the Three Gauls, and later became one of Europe’s important centres for trade, silk production, printing and banking. The city is best known for its UNESCO-listed historic districts, especially Vieux Lyon, Fourvière, the Presqu’île and Croix-Rousse, where Roman ruins, Renaissance lanes, traboules, classical squares and old silk-workers’ quarters show more than 2,000 years of urban history. Key sights include the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, the Roman theatres, Lyon Cathedral, Place Bellecour, the traboules of Vieux Lyon and the Musée des Confluences. Lyon is also famous for its food culture, from traditional bouchons to major restaurants, and has a strong bar, venue and cultural scene spread across the centre and former industrial districts. Getting in and around is straightforward via Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport, Part-Dieu and Perrache railway stations, the Metro, trams and buses.

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