Lyon: Traboules, Fourvière and the Bouchons
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Badge Unlock
Traboule Explorer
Complete this challenge to add this badge to your collection.
275
XP
+100 France
= 375 total
2 days
Lyon: Traboules, Fourvière and the Bouchons
275 + 100 XP
Vieux Lyon, UNESCO-listed with the rest of the historic city in 1998, is threaded with traboules, passages that cut through buildings and courtyards from one street to the next; Lyon has around 500 of them, 215 of those in Vieux Lyon alone, and about forty are open free to walkers under agreements between the city and the owners. Above it the basilica of Fourvière looks down from its hill beside the Roman theatre, and the city's bouchons serve the cooking of Lyon: only about twenty carry the 'Authentiques bouchons lyonnais' label given since 1997, marked by a Gnafron sticker on the door.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Walk through at least three traboules in Vieux Lyon, from their street doors through the courtyards and staircases to the next street
2
of 5
Take the funicular from Vieux Lyon–Cathédrale Saint-Jean up to Notre-Dame de Fourvière, walking the route the city magistrates' procession has climbed from the cathedral to the hill every 8 September since the vow of 1643, and come out on the esplanade for the view back over the two rivers
3
of 5
Climb to the top row of the Roman theatre of Lugdunum, which held 10,000 once a third tier was added and is the second largest in Gaul after Autun, then walk across to the smaller odeon beside it and look for the bare seating where the facing stone was quarried away in the 12th century to build the Saône bridges and the cathedral of Saint-Jean
4
of 5
Eat in a bouchon with the Gnafron sticker of the Authentiques bouchons lyonnais on its door, and order at least two of the four house dishes: tablier de sapeur, quenelles, salade lyonnaise and cervelle de canut, with a pot of beaujolais
5
of 5
Work the stalls of the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse and put together a van lunch of rosette de Lyon, a ripe saint-marcellin or saint-félicien and a pike quenelle to heat up later
Walk through at least three traboules in Vieux Lyon, from their street doors through the courtyards and staircases to the next street
Take the funicular from Vieux Lyon–Cathédrale Saint-Jean up to Notre-Dame de Fourvière, walking the route the city magistrates' procession has climbed from the cathedral to the hill every 8 September since the vow of 1643, and come out on the esplanade for the view back over the two rivers
Climb to the top row of the Roman theatre of Lugdunum, which held 10,000 once a third tier was added and is the second largest in Gaul after Autun, then walk across to the smaller odeon beside it and look for the bare seating where the facing stone was quarried away in the 12th century to build the Saône bridges and the cathedral of Saint-Jean
Eat in a bouchon with the Gnafron sticker of the Authentiques bouchons lyonnais on its door, and order at least two of the four house dishes: tablier de sapeur, quenelles, salade lyonnaise and cervelle de canut, with a pot of beaujolais
Work the stalls of the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse and put together a van lunch of rosette de Lyon, a ripe saint-marcellin or saint-félicien and a pike quenelle to heat up later
Before you go
For four nights around 8 December the Fête des Lumières lights the city. The tradition goes back to 8 December 1852, when a storm forced the cancellation of the ceremony inaugurating Joseph-Hugues Fabisch's statue of the Virgin on the bell tower of the old chapel of Fourvière, and the people of Lyon lit their own candles in their windows instead.
The traboules are entrances to private buildings opened to walkers by agreement with the city; go through quietly, do not photograph into flats, and use only the ones marked on the city's traboule map. Vieux Lyon is a low-emission zone and its streets are not motorhome territory; park outside and use the funiculars and the Métro.
The Fourviere funicular is part of the TCL network and takes repeated maintenance closures of two or three weeks at a time, several times a year — check tcl.fr for the F2 line on the day. When it is down, the F1 to Saint-Just runs at a higher frequency and a relay bus covers the last stretch up to the basilica, so the hill is never cut off.
Finding nearby campsites...
About Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Loading region info…
Explore more about Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes:
Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
275 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
375 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
More challenges nearby
within 100km
Vienne: The Temple of Augustus and Livia, the Roman Theatre and Saint-Romain-en-Gal
France · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
history
easy
1d
26 km away
Oingt and the Pierres Dorées: The Golden-Stone Villages of the Beaujolais
France · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
cultural
easy
1d
28 km away
Dombes: The Parc des Oiseaux, a Thousand Ponds and Pérouges
France · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
wildlife
easy
2d
30 km away
La Balme Caves, Larina and Crémieu: A Wonder of the Dauphiné and the Great Medieval Hall
France · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
cultural
easy
1d
41 km away
Beaujolais: The Ten Crus, the Moulin-à-Vent and the Vineyard Chapels
France · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
food
easy
2d
46 km away
The Pilat: The Crêt de la Perdrix, the Œillon and the Charterhouse Village
France · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
nature
medium
1d
46 km away