Hotels near Presqu'île and Place Bellecour

The Presqu'île is Lyon's central peninsula, a narrow 500-metre-wide strip of land between the Rhône and Saône that holds the city's main shopping streets, opera house and grandest squares. At its heart is Place Bellecour, one of the largest pedestrian squares in Europe at 62,000 square metres, laid out in the 17th century and dominated by a bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIV cast in 1825. Rue de la République runs north from Bellecour up to Place des Terreaux, a broad terracotta plaza framed by the 17th-century Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, with a monumental fountain by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (sculptor of the Statue of Liberty) at its centre. The whole peninsula sits inside the UNESCO Historic Site of Lyon. Take Metro Line A or D to Bellecour, the main interchange, or Line A to Hôtel de Ville - Louis Pradel for Terreaux.

Pro Tip: The 8 December Fête des Lumières transforms Bellecour and Terreaux into open-air light installations for four nights; if you visit during those dates, book accommodation months ahead as hotel prices roughly double. Any other time, walking the length of Rue de la République from Bellecour to Terreaux takes about 15 minutes and covers most of Presqu'île's landmarks in one stretch.