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Lyon – Light, Color And Flavor

Lyon France is a city alive with light, color and flavor.

It’s no coincidence that great advancements in motion pictures were made in Lyon by the Lumiere Brothers and surely no degree of happenstance that the city surrounds you with light and color today.

No less can be said for the city’s food traditions – Lyon is in France after all. Brightly colored treats abound in the patisseries and markets, and the flavors are as vivid as the colors.

Les Halles De Paul Bocus

Colorful Treats at Voisin Lyon France
Colorful Treats at Voisin | Image: ©2foodtrippers

Lyon is a city devoted to food at all levels and there is so much variety of delicious food throughout the city. Renowned chef and restaurateur Paul Bocuse was based in Lyon. The main city market, Les Halles de Lyon – Paul Bocuse, carries the late chef’s name in tribute to his culinary contributions.

Sève Cakes Lyon France
Colorful Sève Cakes | Image: ©2foodtrippers

In addition to fancy restaurants and markets, there are restaurants of every level including bouchons such as Café des Fédérations, which we loved and will write about later. French desserts and pastries are everywhere, and we became partial to Voisin as well as the fantastic Sève.

Lyon At Night

Rhone River - Pont Lafayette Bridge Lyon France
Rhone River – Pont Lafayette Bridge | Image: ©2foodtrippers

The Rhone and Saone rivers sparkle at night. It’s hard to take a bad photo in this city.

Lumiere Museum

Promotional Lumiere Poster Lyon France
Promotional Lumiere Poster

We arrived in Lyon, ready for a city experience and happy to be in one place for several nights. Our first stop was the Lumiere Museum, situated in the former Lumiere home and studio, a grand nouveau art building. Seeing the old film equipment and grainy old movies was a blast to the cinema past.

Lyon B&B

Living Room at the Loft Vintage Hotel Lyon France
Colorful Living Room at the Loft Vintage Hotel | Image: ©2foodtrippers

We then headed to our hotel where our hosts warmly greeted us with local wine, savory olives and city maps.

Walk To Dinner In Lyon

Mindi next to the Rhone Lyon France
Mindi next to the Rhone | Image: ©2foodtrippers

There was no rest for the travel-weary, so we put on our walking shoes and headed to dinner via a long walk along the Rhone and up to the Croix-Rousse neighborhood.

Dinner At Le Canut Et Les Gones

Dining Room at Le Canut & Les Gones Lyon France
Dining Room at Le Canut & Les Gones | Image: ©2foodtrippers

We had good food and a nice bottle of wine at a non-touristy restaurant with kitschy decor – Le Canut et Les Gones. We were happy for the long walk home after indulging in three courses plus the amuse-bouche. We mosied back to the hotel after dinner, happy for the comfortable bed and ready to explore the city further.

Final Thoughts

Tomatoes at Lyon Market
Even the tomatoes are colorful in Lyon. | Image: ©2foodtrippers

After less than a day, we already knew that Lyon was our kind of city. In an odd way, it quite reminded us of our home city, Philadelphia. Both cities live under the shadow of other cities (Paris and New York).

Both are underrated cities, with much to offer culturally, culinarily and historically. Without doubt, Lyon is definitely our kind of city.

Lyon Planning Checklist

Hungry For More In Lyon?

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Coffee Shops
Lyon Restaurants - Social IMG
Food Guide
Radishes at Lyon Market
Living Like Locals
About The Authors

About The Authors

Daryl & Mindi Hirsch

Saveur Magazine’s BEST TRAVEL BLOG award winners Daryl and Mindi Hirsch share their culinary travel experiences and recipes on the 2foodtrippers website. Since launching the site in 2012, they’ve traveled to over 40 countries in their quest to bring readers their unique taste of the world.

Disclosures

Article Updates
We update our articles regularly. Some updates are major while others are minor link changes and spelling corrections. Let us know if you see anything that needs to be updated in this article.

Funding
We self-funded our trip to Lyon.

Original Publication Date: October 29, 2012

Trish Sebastian

Friday 18th of December 2015

Lyon is LOVE. Dying to go back!

Dannielle Lily

Thursday 9th of July 2015

My mouth is watering at all those treat!

Debra Kolkka

Sunday 25th of November 2012

We had one of the best meals we have ever eaten in Lyon, in an unassuming restaurant. The food markets in the square were fabulous too.

dhu78

Wednesday 21st of November 2012

I'm so so glad you liked Lyon! I'm in the city now, until December, and it's starting to feel like home!

flaneriefeminine

Tuesday 30th of October 2012

Very nice post! And I love the colors of the desserts :-)

Daryl and Mindi Hirsch

Tuesday 30th of October 2012

Thank you! We brought a small cake home to a pastry chef friend, and she was impressed by both the colors and the flavors. They really know how to bake in Lyon.

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