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Golden-hour panorama of Lyon from Fourvière — the old town, cathedral and rivers
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Lyon & the Rhône

The capital of French gastronomy, hidden in plain sight — and the gateway to the Rhône's greatest wines.

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The city on two rivers

Everyone drives past. The few who stop never forget it.

Travellers rush to Paris or Provence and pass Lyon by. Their loss. Two thousand years of history sit between the Rhône and the Saône — Roman ruins, one of Europe's largest Renaissance quarters, silk-weavers' passages, and more great cooking per street than anywhere in France. Beyond the city, the vineyards begin.

18 Michelin stars4 UNESCO neighbourhoods2,000 years of historyCapital of French gastronomy
A cobbled Renaissance street in Vieux Lyon at golden hour
Roman, Renaissance, and silk

A city with hidden doors.

Vieux Lyon is one of Europe's largest Renaissance quarters, and its secret is the traboules — covered passages the silk-weavers cut through the buildings to carry their bolts dry to the river. Above it all, Fourvière and the Roman theatre where the city began, two thousand years ago, as Lugdunum.

We open the doors marked private — a traboule and its spiral staircase with a Croix-Rousse silk-weaver, the old town before the crowds, a rooftop where the two rivers meet below you.

The storefront of a traditional Lyonnais bouchon
Where France goes to eat

The Lyonnais table.

This is the city Paul Bocuse built into the capital of French cooking. From the humblest bouchon to eighteen Michelin stars.

Sliced rosette de Lyon and charcuterie on a board

The bouchon

Rosette & saucisson
The charcuterie that built the city's reputation — and its appetite.
Quenelles de brochet
Pike dumplings in a velvet sauce, lighter than they look.
Mâchon lyonnais
The silk-workers' late breakfast — charcuterie and a pot of Beaujolais.
A small round soft cheese with a bowl of honey

The sweet & the cheese

Saint-Marcellin
The small, molten Dauphiné cheese — eaten with a spoon when it's ready.
Tarte aux pralines
The shocking-pink praline tart you'll see in every window.
Halles Paul Bocuse
The city's temple of produce — cheese, chocolate, and gossip.
Steak tartare with egg yolk and grilled sourdough

The high table

Bocuse's legacy
Auberge du Pont de Collonges — where modern French cuisine was born.
Eighteen stars
From tradition to Takano's avant-garde — a constellation in one city.
A class of your own
A private lesson with a chef, then dinner you cooked.
A glass of deep red wine held in a vineyard

The Rhône beyond

Côte-Rôtie & Hermitage
Syrah from terraces so steep they're worked by hand — blackberry, violet, decades of life.
Condrieu
Viognier of apricot and honey, from a handful of hectares.
Beaujolais & Châteauneuf
Ten golden-stone crus north; thirteen grapes under the southern sun.
The Hôtel de Ville on the Place des Terreaux in Lyon
Every Lyon we design is different

No two of our journeys are the same. Tell us yours.

Speak to Marie
The Fourvière basilica above Lyon and its two rivers
Fourvière, the hill of prayer

The city that began as Rome.

From Fourvière the whole of Lyon opens below you — the white basilica at your back, the Roman theatre carved into the hill, the red roofs of the old town, and the two rivers threading it all together on their way to the vineyards of the south.

A sketch of what we\'d build you

Journeys we've made here.

Six we've designed here. Open one to see how it goes.

A Renaissance spiral staircase tower in a Vieux Lyon courtyard
Behind a hidden door
The staircase the silk built
See the journey
The Fourvière basilica glowing above Lyon in evening light
The hill of prayer
Where the whole city lies below
See the journey
Cured saucisson hanging in a rustic Lyonnais charcuterie
The mother of bouchons
Charcuterie, and a pot of Beaujolais
See the journey
The Saône river at blue hour with a lit footbridge
The city of light
Blue hour on the Saône
See the journey
A vintage Lyon bistro interior with mosaic floor
A table of your own
Dinner in old Lyon
See the journey
A steep terraced vineyards above the river
The vineyards beyond
Syrah from the vertical slopes
See the journey
0104
Marie Tesson, founder
A travel house — not a tourism office

Why us.

A tourism office books you a bouchon off a list and a bus to Fourvière. We hand you to the people who are Lyon — the mère in her kitchen, the silk-weaver in the Croix-Rousse, the sommelier with the cellar key, the winemaker on the vertical slopes of Côte-Rôtie. In the capital of French gastronomy, who you know is the whole meal.

iTwenty-five years of real relationshipsNot suppliers on a commission — friends who open their own doors.
iiAround fifty journeys a year, never off-the-shelfEach built from nothing. We turn most inquiries away.
iiiMarie reads every inquiry herselfA real conversation, and a reply within two days — or nothing at all.
Start a conversation
Begin here

Tell us the Lyon you want to taste.

A traboule opened by a silk-weaver, a bouchon with no menu, a Michelin table set for you alone, a Côte-Rôtie cellar cut into the granite.

Marie reads every inquiry herself and writes back within two days.

No itinerary · No brochure · A real conversation
Write to Marie