Hotels near Vieux Lyon (Old Town)

Vieux Lyon is the largest Renaissance quarter in Europe outside Italy, a dense grid of ochre-and-cream townhouses squeezed between the Saône river and the Fourvière hill. Built up between the 15th and 17th centuries when Lyon was Europe's silk-trading capital, the district is divided into three parishes: Saint-Jean at the centre with its Gothic cathedral, Saint-Paul to the north, and Saint-Georges to the south. The signature feature is the traboule, a covered passageway cutting through courtyards and buildings to link parallel streets; roughly 40 of the estimated 300+ traboules are open to visitors, marked by small bronze plaques. Rue Saint-Jean and Rue du Boeuf hold the highest concentration of accessible ones, including the four-storey Tour Rose courtyard at 16 Rue du Boeuf. The whole quarter falls inside the UNESCO buffer zone. Take Metro Line D to Vieux Lyon station, which drops you directly at the cathedral square.

Pro Tip: Traboules are private property that residents allow the public to cross during daytime, so keep voices down and close the heavy wooden doors behind you. Pick up a free traboule map from the Lyon Tourist Office at Place Bellecour before you go in - the entrances are unmarked and easy to miss.