TCL fares. A ticket is €2.10 in zones 1 and 2, valid an hour on metro, tram, bus and both funiculars; a 24-hour pass is €7.10. Tap a contactless bank card instead and you pay €2.10 a ride, capped at €6.90 a day. From the airport, the Rhônexpress reaches Part-Dieu in 30 minutes for around €16 online and €17.10 at the machine; TCL bus 47 to Meyzieu ZI and tram T3 take about an hour on an ordinary ticket.
Real bouchons. A small family room serving quenelles, andouillette, tripe, salade lyonnaise and cervelle de canut, with wine in a 46 cl pot. Look for the Les Bouchons Lyonnais label; around twenty hold it. A fake has a laminated menu in four languages, a tout on the sidewalk and a kitchen open at 4 p.m. Real ones serve lunch at noon and dinner from 7:30 p.m., nothing between, and the lunch set menu is often half the evening bill. Many close in August.
The traboules. Passages through the courtyards of Vieux Lyon and the Croix-Rousse slopes. Around fifty are open under a 1990 agreement with residents, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: the longest runs from 54 rue Saint-Jean to 27 rue du Boeuf, with others at 27 rue Saint-Jean and 16 rue du Boeuf, and the Cour des Voraces at 9 place Colbert. Push the door, go quietly, no photographs of people or windows.
The funicular. F2 leaves from the Vieux Lyon metro station for Fourvière on an ordinary TCL ticket. The basilica opens at 7 a.m. and is free; Lugdunum and the Roman theaters are five minutes’ walk, the museum €4 and closed Monday.
Closed days and the card. The Musée des Confluences opens 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, €12, closed Monday except in zone A school holidays. Lugdunum also closes Monday and the Beaux-Arts Tuesday. The Lyon City Card is €32 for 24 hours, €44 for 48 and €56 for 72 with TCL included; it pays only with three paid museums a day, and the three most visitors choose total €24.
Les Halles Paul Bocuse. 102 cours Lafayette, 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, until 1 p.m. on Sunday, mostly shut Monday. Lunch at the counters is 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; only the oyster bars stay open in the evening.
The Fête des Lumières. December 5 to 8, 2026. Hotels sell out months ahead at double the rate, the Presqu’île closes to traffic from late afternoon and the metro runs full. Come for it or avoid the week.
On the day. Match the museums to the closed days, book the bouchon the day before and eat lunch at noon. If a Monday Confluences or a Tuesday Beaux-Arts slips into your plan, Waystop’s hours check will flag it.