Planning a trip to Lyon? The Lyon City Card is a great way to save money in Lyon with free museum admission, free tours, and unlimited public transit.
But you may be wondering, ‘is the Lyon City Card worth it?’
Lyon is one of the most popular tourist destinations in France, and also one of my personal favorites.
Well, I just visited Lyon last summer, and I’m going to share all of the details on what you get with the Lyon City Card! (Spoiler alert! I totally recommend buying it. I do on every visit!)
The nutshell answer: the Lyon city pass provides free admission to over 20 museums, unlimited use of public transportation, free tours, and discounts on many other activities.
Lace up your shoes and let’s go — to Lyon!
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Lyon City Card
✔️ Free admission to 20+ museums
✔️ Free guided tours
✔️Unlimited public transportation
Lyon City Card Information
The Lyon City Card offers Lyon visitors a way to save a lot of money while seeing the top attractions in Lyon. It’s the best way to travel to Lyon on a budget!
Here are the highlights of what is included with Lyon City Cards:
What museums are included in the Lyon City Card?
The Lyon City Card grants the cardholder free access to over 20 top Lyon museums. If you’re a big fan of visiting museums when you’re on vacation, this will save you a lot of money in France.
Using the city card in Lyon gives you flexibility to spend hours in a museum, or to just pop in and hit the highlights, depending on your interests. They’re free, so why not? The wide variety of museums is one of the top reasons to visit Lyon.
Here is a list of the museums that are free with the Lyon City Card. You’re certain to find several you’ll love!
1. Lyon Fine Arts Museum: This is a wonderful fine arts museum — the second largest in France after the Louvre. My favorite parts of the museum’s collections are the classical statuary and the Impressionist art.
2. Musée des Confluences: This museum features collections ranging from natural history to anthropology and cultural history. It’s one of the top museums in Lyon, with the most dramatic modern architecture!
3. Lyon Printing Museum: Visit the only printing museum in France and discover the history of printing techniques from the 15th century to today.
4. Soieries Brochier Museum: Learn about the history of the silk trade in Lyon and the Brochier family’s contributions to the textile industry. Enjoy the displays of silk dresses and pick up a lovely silk scarf as a souvenir of your trip to Lyon!
5. The Silk Workers’ House: La Maison des Canuts shows the process of silk-making and includes a Jacquard loom. If you visit at the right time, you can see a weaving demonstration. The gift shop contains a wide selection of silk scarves and squares.
6. Living Silk Trimmings Workshop: This cultural center focuses on silk production in one of the last family-owned silk workshops in Lyon. Guided tours and weaving demonstrations available.
7. Gadagne Museums: This is a 2-for-1 museum, as this historic building contains both the Museum of the Marionette and the Museum of the History of Lyon. Learn about the history of Lyon, the history of puppetry, or both! Don’t miss the hanging gardens on the top floor.
8. Fourvière Museum: This museum is right next to the Basilica of Notre-Dame atop Fourvière Hill. It focuses on religious works.
9. Lugdunum Roman Museum and Theaters: You don’t want to miss the ruins of the Roman Amphitheater and Odeon! They’re part of Lyon’s UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit the Lugdunum Museum to learn about Roman history in Lyon and see artifacts ranging from statuary to mosaics.
10. Cinema and Miniatures Museum: This is another 2-for-1 museum in Vieux Lyon. One half of the museum features props and special effects from blockbuster movies. And the other half features a collection of miniatures scenes done in 1/12 scale. The details are quite amazing!
11. The Museum of Guignol: The puppet Guignol comes from Lyon, and this tiny Vieux Lyon museum focuses on this beloved puppet.
12. Lyon Cultural Center of Christianity: Housed in a former cloister, this museum documents the history of Christianity in Lyon. Visit the crypt and see the mosaics of the martyrs of Lyon.
13. Resistance and Deportation History Center: Housed in a former Gestapo headquarters, this museum focuses on Lyon’s resistance efforts during WWII. It also remembers those who were deported to concentration camps.
14. Cultural Institute of Judaism: Learn about aspects of Judaism through interactive exhibits and a virtual reality experience.
15. Lumière Cinema Museum: Learn about the birth of cinematography with the history of the inventive Lumière brothers!
16. Tony Garnier Urban Museum: Love the trompe-l’oeil murals of Lyon? This unique open-air museum is a housing project decorated with murals showcasing the works of architect Tony Garnier.
17. Jean Couty Museum: Showcases the works of Lyon native, painter Jean Couty.
18. OL Le Musée: Learn the history of the Lyon Olympics team with a behind-the-scenes look. (Choose between OL Le Musée or a guided tour of the Groupama Stadium.)
19. Dr. Mérieux Biological Sciences Museum: Learn about vaccines and their importance as a tool in public health. (Currently closed)
20. Ampère Electricity Museum: Learn about the history of the man who formed the law of electromagnetism and his work in the field of electricity. Enjoy the hands-on exhibits!
21. Henri Malartre Museum: Do you love cars? Then you’re going to want to visit the Henri Malartre Automotive Museum. See cars produced near Lyon and unique vehicles such as Hitler’s parade Mercedes.
22. Gallo Roman Museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal: Visit this archaeological site and learn about life in ancient times. (Note: This museum is in the city of Vienne, about an hour from Lyon.)
23. Soieries Bonnet Museum: If you’re interested in textiles, you won’t want to miss this museum. It’s the largest textile industry collection in the world! (Note this museum is in the city of Jujurieux, about 75 min from Lyon)
24. MAC – Modern Art Museum: While most of Lyon’s museums are steeped in history, the MAC focuses on contemporary artworks.
25. Institute of Contemporary Art: A unique ‘laboratory’ of contemporary art by local and international artists.
Does this sound amazing to you? Purchase your Lyon City Card today!
What tours are included in the Lyon City Card?
Guided tours allow you to learn so much more about a city! The Lyon City Card allows you to take several amazing tours, for free! You just have to register in advance to save your place.
On my last trip to Lyon, I stayed for 3 days. I purchased a 3-day pass and took a different tour each day! There ones listed below are the tours that I’ve personally taken, there may be a few others available with the card (such as the Groupama Stadium tour).
Even if you only have one day in Lyon, you can benefit from the 24-hour Lyon city card.
Lyon Guided Tours
There are a few different guided tour options available. I really wanted to take a tour in Old Town Lyon to go through the traboules, so that’s the one I signed up for this time.
(Last time, we took a mini-tram tour up to the Criox-Rousse area. That tour covered the highlights of the area including the stunning Mur des Canuts mural. So, check which tours are offered, and pick the one that sounds the most interesting to you.)
We met in Vieux Lyon, in front of the Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste. This is really a remarkable church, so be sure to pop in and take a look before or after your tour. Don’t miss the 16th century astronomical clock, the stained glass, and the treasury exhibit.
Our guide led us on a 1-hour walking tour through Old Lyon. Along the way, she shared tidbits about Lyon’s interesting history and how the city was built.
We ducked into many traboules and learned about their important role in Vieux Lyon. You can’t help but admire the beautiful courtyards and colorful turreted staircases.
Lyon River Cruises
Lyon is a great city to see from the vantage point of the water. Les Bateaux Lyonnais offer several sightseeing river cruise trips.
If you don’t speak French, be sure to sign up for one that is given in English so that you can understand the guided commentary. Otherwise, you can enjoy the view, but you won’t know what you’re passing by!
On our previous visit to Lyon, we took the ‘Cap Presqu’île’ cruise. We first headed up the Saône River. The ship then turned around and journeyed all the way down to the tip of Presqu’île and back.
This time, I took the ‘Cap Confluence’ cruise.
All the cruises depart from the same place, but this cruise just headed downstream and around the tip of Presqu’île. It includes a stop at the Musée des Confluences (there was a different option that folks could purchase for this cruise plus entrance to the museum).
Between the two, I’d recommend the Cap Presqu’île cruise as you get to see more of Vieux Lyon, and you still get to see the modern architecture en route to the museum. That is definitely the more romantic Lyon cruise!
There’s a third one I haven’t taken, that goes further upstream to the Ile Barbe.
(Note: You can choose one river cruise, or one Lyon city bus pass.)
Guided tour of the rooftops of Fourvière
This tour is really quite special! This guided tour takes you behind the scenes at the gorgeous Notre-Dame Basilica. And specifically, up to the rooftops of the basilica!
There’s no elevator, so be prepared climb 300+ stairs as part of your tour. (Don’t worry, there are plenty of breaks along the way!) At the first stop, you’ll be able to admire the magnificent murals of the basilica from a high vantage point.
Then you continue outside where you peek down from behind the large caryatids lining the front of the basilica. Next, it’s off to see the carillon with its giant bells, each of which is named.
The best part is at the end, when you reach the rooftops. Admire the gilded Madonna statue, and the whimsical statue of Saint George and the Dragon. And, or course, take in the incredible panoramic views of Lyon from this birds-eye view!
This tour is only given in French. I was able to understand the gist of it, but if your French is more limited, you’ll just have to enjoy the views.
Save money on your trip to Lyon! Purchase your Lyon City Card today!
Unlimited use of Public Transportation in Lyon
This one is a big money saver! The Lyon City Card gives you unlimited use of all of Lyon’s public transit systems.
This includes buses, trams, the metro, and the funicular. And yes, you will want to use the funicular to ascend Fourvière Hill to see the basilica or the Roman ruins!
If you’re cramming a lot of sightseeing into your trip to Lyon, then you’ll be covering a lot of ground.
If you’re focusing on just one area such as Vieux Lyon, then it’s easy to get around by foot. But if you’re bouncing around more far-flung areas, then you will definitely want to make use of the metro and bus.
One ticket costs €1.90 (purchased in advance) or €2.20 if you buy your ticket on the bus. So this can add up quickly over the course of your stay in Lyon. But when you’re using the city card, you don’t even have to think about it, since it’s free.
I do walk *a lot* on vacation (25,000 steps) but after a few days I definitely need to give my feet a break and leverage the public transit.
(Note the normal Lyon City Card does not cover the Rhone Express which goes to the Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport.
If you’re taking a plane from Paris to Lyon, you can buy a version of the Lyon City Pass which includes round trip transit to the airport. If you only need a single (one-way), it’s cheaper to buy the one-way ticket separately.)
Discounts to Lyon Attractions, Tours, and Shopping
If all the above isn’t enough, the Lyon City Card also saves you money on a lot of other top things to do in Lyon. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on these, but here are a few examples of discounted activities:
- Discounts on Lyon Food Tours
- Cyclotour bike tours
- Lyon Tuk Tour
- Saone river dinner cruise
- Guided tours on e-bike
- Segway tours
- Aquarium de Lyon admission
- Illusion museum admission
- Mini Golf
- Parc des Oiseaux Animal Park (in Villars les Dombes)
- Exclusive offers at the Confluence Shopping and Leisure Center
Lyon City Card FAQ
The Lyon City Card includes free access to over 20 museums, free guided tours, and unlimited use of Lyon public transportation. It also includes discounts to many other Lyon attractions and activities.
If you like to do a lot of sightseeing when you travel, the Lyon City Card is definitely worth it! The Lyon City Card is an amazing value and the savings really add up the more you use it.
The Lyon City Card is a contactless card with an embedded chip. To use public transport, you just tap the card and you’re all set. You will need to present your card for validation to enter the museums or take the tours.
You can choose the duration of your Lyon City Card; One day, two days, three days, or four days. The card will activate the first time you use it, and that’s when the clock starts ticking on the usage.
The Lyon Tourism office is in Place Bellecour.
Final thoughts..
Lyon is a beautiful and fascinating city with plenty of unique things to do, see, and experience.
With the Lyon City Card in hand, you can save money on Lyon’s top attractions like museums, guided tours, and river cruises. Not to mention unlimited free transportation!
Whether you’re interested in history, art, or culture – the Lyon City Card will help you make the most of your vacation in Lyon!
Check out these Lyon posts for more ideas on things to do in Lyon, from visiting Lyon’s top museums to enjoying a mouthwatering food tour in Lyon!
- Popular Things to Do in Lyon, France
- Best Lyon Food Tours
- Guide to Vieux Lyon
- Romantic Things to Do in Lyon for Couples
- Top Lyon Museums
- One Day Lyon Itinerary
Are you ready to book your trip to Lyon?
Looking for the top picks for your trip to Lyon? Here are some of the best tours, hotels, and more to help you plan the perfect vacation!
Top Tours and Experiences in Lyon
- Old Town Walking Food Tour (Vieux Lyon sightseeing + tasty local favorites)
- E-Bike Tour of Lyon (A fun & easy way to see Lyon’s top sights!)
- French Pastry-Making Class (Perfect for those who love to cook!)
- Beaujolais Golden Stones Wine Tour (The best day trip for wine lovers)
- Lyon City Card (Amazing value! I buy this every time I visit Lyon)
Top Hotels in Lyon
- Villa Florentine (Fabulous 5-star hotel in Vieux Lyon)
- Cour des Loges (Amazing 5-star hotel in the heart of Vieux Lyon)
- Hôtel Bayard Bellecour (Highly rated budget-friendly hotel)
Planning a day trip to Lyon, France? Pin this for later — you’ll definitely want to pick up a Lyon City Card for your trip!
Lisa Garrett
Lisa Garrett is the founder of Travel to Lyon.
She has explored Lyon with her husband (Chris) as well as on solo trips to France. She has visited Lyon many times, including a 2-week stay last spring (unseasonally cold for a Phoenix girl!). Whether you’re interested in food, history, or culture, Lisa’s tips will help you plan the perfect trip to Lyon!
Learn more about Lisa!
