Wander through Old Lyon
A UNESCO World Heritage site, Old Lyon lines its pink façades and Renaissance courtyards along Rue Saint-Jean. You meet on Place du Change, push a random door open to discover a traboule, those covered passages that cut through the buildings. Saint-Jean Cathedral, with its astronomical clock timed to perform a short show, provides an ideal backdrop for a first drink together on a nearby terrace.
Climb up to Fourvière
The hill that prays watches over the city. You reach Fourvière Basilica on foot up the Montée des Chazeaux, or by funicular. From the top, the view sweeps across the tiled roofs, the confluence and, on clear days, the Alps. Right next to it, the Roman theatres of Fourvière, still used each summer for the Nuits de Fourvière festival, turn into a romantic picnic spot in fine weather.
Traboules, a confidential treasure
Lyon has more than two hundred traboules, yet only a handful are freely open. The finest run along Rue des Trois-Maries or cross the Maison du Crible, with its pink tower. Walking through them hand in hand feels wonderfully complicit. On Lyad, members from Lyon swap their favourite doorways; it is up to you to find someone to push the right one open with.
Date ideas
- Old Lyon
- Fourvière Basilica
- Traboules
- Saint-Jean Cathedral
- Place du Change
- Rue Saint-Jean
- Roman theatres
- Montée des Chazeaux