Lyon

Lyon is France’s eating city, and that shapes how you should plan a trip here. It sits where the Saône and the Rhône meet, with Renaissance Vieux Lyon and Roman Fourvière on the west bank, the Haussmannian Presqu’île peninsula in the middle, and the silk-weavers’ hill of Croix-Rousse rising to the north. You can see the headline sights in two days, which leaves the real decisions to the table: book a labelled bouchon a day ahead for quenelles and tarte aux pralines, and steer clear of the generic tourist restaurants packed along the main Vieux Lyon strip, where the city’s reputation goes to die.

Two full days is the practical minimum: one for Fourvière, the funicular and the old-town traboules, and one for Presqu’île, Croix-Rousse and a long lunch. A third night turns Lyon into a base — Beaujolais vineyards and the medieval village of Pérouges are both about half an hour out by train, Roman Vienne is the same, and Annecy’s Alpine lake is around two hours away. Below, the structured planning — where to stay, how to get in from Saint-Exupéry on the Rhônexpress, realistic costs in pounds and the best day trips — picks up from here.