Ask the French where to eat and many will say Lyon before Paris. The city sits at the meeting of two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone, with a Renaissance old town on one bank and a Roman hill above it, and it has built its identity around the table. This is the home of the bouchon, the small traditional restaurant, and of a way of eating that is hearty, unfussy and deeply satisfying.
The food
Lyonnais cooking is not delicate. It is sausages, offal, rich sauces, pike quenelles and creamy gratins, the food of a city that takes its lunch seriously. The bouchons serve it in cramped, friendly rooms with checked cloths and chalkboard menus; eat in one at least once, ideally with a jug of the local Beaujolais or Cotes du Rhone.
Beyond eating
- Wander the old town and the traboules, the covered passageways that cut between streets and through courtyards.
- Climb or take the funicular up Fourviere hill for the Roman theatres and the view over the rooftops.
- Browse the covered food market, Les Halles, named after the city's most famous chef, for cheese, charcuterie and oysters.
Getting there
Lyon is a couple of hours from Paris by fast train and has its own airport with direct flights from the UK, so it is easy to reach for a long weekend. The centre is walkable and the metro covers the rest cheaply.
Go hungry and pace yourself, because the portions are generous and the temptation constant. Lyon does not have the showpiece monuments of Paris, and it is the better for it; this is a city that gets on with living well rather than performing for visitors. For anyone who travels to eat, it belongs near the top of the list.