Vieux Lyon Cultural & Historical Walking Guided Tour (English)
Recommended by 99% of travelers
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Lyon, France
- 2 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Lyon’s old town is riddled with secret passageways and history. This immersive, guided walking tour begins at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Cathedral and takes you through the traboules (covered passageways used by silk workers to transport fabrics), to present-day silk workshops, and the Museum of Cinema and Miniatures, before finishing up at the Grand Hotel Dieu, formerly the city hospital, now a luxury hotel and shopping complex.
- Learn about Lyon’s silk-weaving history and gastronomic prowess
- Take a journey through history, from the Middle Ages to WW2 Resistance
- Discover secret passageways hidden in plain sight
- All entry fees included
What's Included
- All Fees and Taxes
- Pick-up not included
- Breakfast
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Place Saint-JeanPl. Saint-Jean, 69005 Lyon, France
This tour starts at 10:00 am on Place Saint Jean. I will be standing next to the statue of St. John in the middle of the square with a sign in my hands.
End point
- Place de l'HôpitalPl. de l'Hôpital, 69002 Lyon, France
We will finish inside the lovely Hôtel Dieu
Start time.10:00 am
Itinerary
1
Cathedrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
2
Traboules du Vieux Lyon
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Musee Cinema & Miniature
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Traboule “Maison du Crible – Tour Rose”
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
5
Brochier Soieries Vieux Lyon
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Passerelle du Palais-de-Justice (Pass By)
6
Theatre des Celestins
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Rue de la Republique (Pass By)
7
Grand Hotel Dieu
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 18 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.9
based on 1,034 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
The guide Paul was knowledgeable about Lyon and its history. We covered a lot of area and learned about Lyon’s role in the French resistance, and about its history as a “foodie” town. Fun and informative!
I will 10/10 recommend Paul. He is so well-versed with the ins and outs of Lyon backed with history as well as personal anecdotes. Love his efficient and interesting 2 hours tour. He made me want to extend my Lyon trip! Unfortunately I only scheduled for a day there from Paris.
We have done lots of walking tours in Europe and Paul was an excellent guide. He knew his history and local stories, communicated well and kept the large group moving.
He also provided several recommendations for restaurants etc which we followed up and they were excellent😊
The tour guide was friendly and passionate about telling us about Lyon. Learning the history as we walked through secret passages was a lot of fun
Paul was an excellent guide. He showed us things I wouldn’t have found on my own. He also gave us some great historical information.
Great walking tour! I highly recommend Paul as a guide. Explored many nice and hidden areas of Lyon.
Our guide, Paul, was super informative and when our subway was delayed by 20 mins he let us know where to meet him so that we could still join the tour! Great experience
we had a great guide. This tour was really interesting. information was given in a relaxed friendly way making the history interesting, not stuffy boring . We learnt a lot and would definately do a trip again.
The walking tour was informative, well paced, and very well chosen. The tips for navigating the city's traboules were especially useful/unexpected. I highly recommend this as one of the first things you do on your trip.
Excellent tour. The guide was extremely knowledgeable & made the 2 hours go by very quickly in the Old Town.
Most affordable engaging and friendly and beautiful way ,to learn about old Lyon and historic times.
Paul was friendly and approachable throughout the tour. He was so knowledgeable. The most interesting thing was the hidden passages in the city centre, we won’t know it without Paul. He talked about history, food guides, culture, news and funny stories. My wife and I liked this tour very much, we joined his next tour on Sunday too (different angles in rain to walk around Lyon). Highly recommended, can't miss it and we will come back in the future.
Great tour! The guide was very knowledgeable about the history of Lyon. He also gave local recommendations after the tour was over.
It was very good. Paul was informative and had a very interesting way of presentation. If the visit to church can also be included
This was one of the best city walking tours I’ve experienced. Paul is highly knowledgeable, with a great sense of humour and a clear, engaging way of explaining everything; from culture and architecture to history, food, and local anecdotes.
The pace was well balanced, and despite the size of the group, he was always easy to hear and follow. Impressively, no one was lost while navigating the many traboules along the route.
Paul’s genuine enthusiasm for the city, along with his respect for its residents, really stood out. The two hours passed quickly, and if we had more time, we would have happily booked another of his tours.
Highly recommended. Definitely worth booking.
Paul was a great guide! Learned alot of history, great stories, and he was funny too. A great time!! 100% recommend
Paul was an excellent tour guide. Very knowledgeable and helpful. We saw many sites that one would never know about or fully understand. He was very pleasant and helpful. At the end of our time, he even gave us a list of suggested restaurants. One suggestion is to go up the basilica on the funicular before the tour starts. Give yourself at least 1.5 to 2 hours to see this beautiful area. Then, come down and start the tour with Paul. We did this and it worked out perfectly.
Incredibly knowledgeable and friendly tour guide. Would thoroughly recommend as a way to learn more about Lyon and explore the old city.
Paul was a wonderful tour guide! Good sense of humor, lots of interesting bits of information, showed places we would not have found or been aware of on our own. Highly recommend!
Our tour with Paul was absolutely outstanding—one of the highlights of our time in Lyon. In just two hours, he managed to bring the city vividly to life through an extraordinary depth of knowledge about Lyon’s history, traditions, and culture, as well as the many influences that shaped it into what it is today.
Paul doesn’t simply recite facts; he weaves them into engaging, insightful, and often very funny stories that kept us completely absorbed from start to finish. His passion for Lyon is infectious, and his ability to make complex history feel accessible and entertaining is truly impressive. Every corner we walked through felt richer and more meaningful thanks to his storytelling.
The greatest testament to how fantastic this tour was? We enjoyed it so much that we’re joining Paul again tomorrow—even with freezing weather in the forecast. That says everything.
Thank you, Paul, for such a memorable experience and for bringing the city of Lyon to life for us in such a warm, intelligent, and engaging way. We couldn’t recommend you more highly.
Wow! Our guide was excellent - articulate speaker who spoke clearly and loud enough for all to hear, we were a group of about 25+. He had the most interesting information and stories about Lyon's history and culture. He led us through interesting parts of Lyon. He also gave us recommendations and tips on where to get great coffee, where to eat, and interesting museums to visit. We learned so much in just a couple of hours!
Paul was very friendly and knowledgeable. Tour was relaxed and informative. Helpful suggestions for additional things on your own.
The guide is very tall so he’s easy to find in the gathering spot. This was an outstanding tour. Perfect way to start your Lyon trip.
Fantastic tour with Paul. He knows Lyon very well and took us to all the sights listed. He's easy to spot (very tall) which helped as there were a lot of people and I'm very short. I'd been in lyon a few days already and saw some areas i hadn't yet been to. Highly recommended!!
A very nice & wide variety of places of interest. Our guide, Paul was very knowledgeable & engaging. My only issue was that our group was too big & there were no audio devices, which would have been easier to hear everything our guide was saying as the group got spread out at certain points.
We thought a "free" tour, can it be any good? It was fantastic! So much history and infomration we would never have learned in such a short time. Please make sure you give him a great tip at the end. Most tour guides charge at least $40+ per person for this great of a tour
That they need to look for Free Lyon tour sign held by Guide not Viator!! Frustrating time trying to find our guide. The good news was the guide Paul was knowledge and well informed we enjoyed the experience.
This free tour compares very favorably to some of the ones that we paid for. Our guy hit all the highlights and then some.
Paul gave us an amazing glimpse into Lyon with wonderful suggestions on how to spend our remaining time in the city. He was entertaining, knowledgeable and maneuvered us around brilliantly. His love of Lyon comes through.
Info was good but he needed to reed from prepared script. There was no entry into saint Jean Baptiste as was promised, the church closed on Monday’s and no entrance into the Miniature Museum as the tour description read. I left the tour after the traboules because I was disappointed that museum entrance was not permitted.
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