5 to 8 Dec 2026
Two of the four nights give you room in front of the big shows: Sunday 6 and Monday 7 December. Saturday is by far the busiest, and Tuesday the eighth is the traditional night, with a procession from Saint-Jean up to Fourvière.
5 to 8 Dec 2026. Times are approximate and can change from year to year.
The most crowded evening of the four.
The one evening that starts and ends an hour earlier, which helps with young children. Start at the Place Bellecour, where the pieces suit them best.
A weeknight, with far more room at the big projections than Saturday.
The traditional night, and the last of the four.
The installations change every year, but most are shown in the same places: projections on the Hôtel de Ville, the Cathédrale Saint-Jean and the basilica of Fourvière, and larger pieces on the Place Bellecour and in the Parc de la Tête d'Or.
On the night of 8 December, Lyon residents still set candles in coloured glasses, called lumignons, on their windowsills, so look up at the windows as well as at the facades. On the Place Bellecour you can buy one for charity and add it to a shared installation.
About thirty installations light the city each night. The headline projections repeat through the evening, and at the busiest ones marshals hold the crowd back between showings. Expect to wait through one or two showings before you reach the front.
Ride the funicular up to Fourvière early and walk down through the old town, since the climb on foot is hard work in a crowd. Wear warm, waterproof layers: you will be standing outside in the damp cold for hours.
Book dinner ahead. Tables on the Presqu'île and in Vieux Lyon fill on festival nights, and the arrondissements across the Rhône are calmer.
Book as soon as you can: central hotels are often full by July or August. If the Presqu'île is full, stay in the 3rd or 6th arrondissement, a short metro ride away.
Where to base yourself, and what else is on
The Lyon guide has the rest of the city.
Sixteen days of beer tents and brass bands on a Munich meadow. Get there on a weekday morning and a bench is yours without a booking.
Lima's purple month: a float carried through the old centre from dawn into the night on five days in October.