Lyon : a city on a human scale

Lyon, France’s second city, ideally situated in the heart of Europe, stands at the point where the Rhône River meets the Saône River. This conurbation of a million inhabitants has a fascinating history. Since its official founding in 43 BCE by Julius Caesar, Lugdunum (the hill of the god Lug, the god of the sun, light, arts and crafts), later to become known as Lyon, retained the title of Capital of the Gauls. The city has been shaped by its history. The city’s old districts, Vieux Lyon, Fourvière Hill, the Slopes of Croix Rousse and the Presqu’île (almost 500 hectares) have been classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 1998.

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Lyon offers an exceptional quality of life, “l’Art de vivre”, with user-friendly, clean and safe public transport and low pollution levels, renovated river banks that revealed beautiful views of the city over a 5-kilometre stretch of modern and delightful walkways, and is in a pleasant location in France just two hours from the Alps and one and a half hours from the French Riviera.

Lyon is city of culture: from the Biennial Festival of Dance in September to the Nuits de Fourvière in the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre, in summer Lyon offers a host of cultural events. You will love the city’s many museums (Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Fine Art, Gallo-Roman Museum at Fourvière, etc.).

Lyon is also the ‘gastronomic’ capital of France: from the city’s bouchon bistros to the celebrity chef Paul Bocuse and his restaurants and cafés, from the Brasserie Saint-Georges to the new talents of Matthieu Vianney, Nicolas Le Bec, Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex, Lyon offers you sophisticated cuisine for every budget.

It is also easy to get around the city, since it is 7 kilometres from north to south and also 7 kilometres from east to west. Lyon, a beautiful, proud and welcoming city.

Lyon Convention Centre

Designed by Renzo Piano, one of the world’s leading contemporary architects, the Cité internationale boasts almost a kilometre of bold facades in the northeast of Lyon, covering a surface area of almost 50 acres.

Despite its modern look and its clean lines, the Cité internationale’s identity is strongly influenced by nature. Nestling between the Parc de la Tête d’Or and the Rhône, the site was designed and completed with an approach geared towards sustainable development and with special attention being paid to public areas and reduced energy consumption.

Here the Lyon Convention Centre has found its home base. Offering customers a real all in one event complex, it has gradually become one of the spearheads of business tourism in Lyon.