Nov 15

Nov 15 Lyon

If this is true for any city, Lyon is definitely a city of good food, and you'll get a delicious three-course menu for € 20 - 30. People say all the great chefs have once worked in Lyon. The influence and work of Paul Bocuse, the world's most famous chef, is visible everywhere.

Scallop risotto with mushrooms @ Le Nord

It's fairly easy to blind-pick a restaurant and be positively surprised about the quality of the food. Lyon is also known for Rosette, a famous local sausage made of cured pork (half of your foodie team is very excited about it), tasteful lighting (check out their annual lights festival) and silk production.

Sausage collection at Les Halles de Lyon

But Lyon has much more to offer. From culture to history and fun - if you leave the city disappointed, it's probably not because of what it has to offer. Here are some of the things to see:

Les Halles de Lyon: a food and drink market associated with Paul Bocuse. Get local cheese, wine and sweets and eat in one of the market restaurants. A heaven for foodies.
Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon (MAC Lyon) hosts a nice collection of contemporary art and is positioned next to a huge and beautiful park, Parc de la Tête d'Or (think everything from small lakes to jogging and a zoo)
Musée Gadagne will give you a nice overview of Lyon's history - the adjacent puppet theatre museum is a plus.

From the garden of La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière you can get a nice panoramic view of the city.

For some of that hipster cool feeling, you can take a walk around Croix-Rousse, with its many trendy bars, excellent restaurants and little hipster shops.

But most of all, there is good food. We were very happy eating everywhere, but especially in these restaurants (you'll need to book in advance to get a table):

Le Nord: one of Paul Bocuse's restaurants
Balthaz'art, an excellent restaurant with many Michelin guide stickers
Le Petit Carron is cute and small and invests a lot of creativity in their dishes (pineapple carpaccio ftw!)