Lyon from beside the basilica on a festival night, the Presqu'île and its two rivers below
The base is Cour des Loges, on the Rue du Bœuf in the old town. The days go to the city's two hills and the museum where its rivers meet, and the evenings to the shows, with Saturday's kept on the quieter side of the Saône.
Fête des Lumières 20265 to 8 Dec 2026 · LyonDates, hours and which night
Stand on the basilica terrace at dusk on the first evening and you watch a whole city switch on below you. For four nights the festival throws its shows onto Lyon's landmarks, usually the cathedral, the town hall and the hilltop basilica among them, and you walk between them through streets with no cars.
Sleep in the old town and every show is a walk home, which leaves the mornings for the Roman theatre, the silk weavers' hill and the museum at the rivers. Save your energy for Monday, the one night with room to see everything.
54 km in four days, by taxi and transit, and on foot, from Lyon Saint-Exupéry to Lyon.
One hotels for four nights, in the order you reach them, with the journey into each. Fly into Lyon (LYS) and 40 to 60 min by taxi.
Vieux Lyon, on the Rue du Bœuf
A five-star in four restored houses from the 14th to the 17th century, with an indoor pool and a spa. The funicular and the metro are a few minutes' walk away, and the traboules start at the door.
The cathedral of Saint-Jean at dusk, a short walk from the hotel
Land at Saint-Exupéry by early afternoon and take a taxi into Vieux Lyon, leaving the bags at the hotel. The F2 funicular leaves from the old town's metro station and climbs to the basilica in a few minutes.
Go inside first, the crypt and then the upper church, and be out on the terrace for dusk, which falls before five in early December. Below you is the ground the week covers: the Presqu'île between its two rivers, with the Croix-Rousse slope rising behind it.
Saturday is the most crowded night of the four, so keep to this side of the Saône. Walk down to the cathedral of Saint-Jean, which the festival has lit in recent editions and where there is room to stand even tonight. Dinner is in the old town, at a table booked weeks ahead.
A Renaissance courtyard and its stair tower in Vieux Lyon
Spend the morning in the lanes around the hotel. Start in the courtyard at 8 Rue Juiverie for the Galerie Philibert de l'Orme, push through the marked traboules of Rue du Bœuf and Rue Saint-Jean, and finish in the cathedral as its astronomical clock plays at noon.
After lunch, ride the F1 funicular up to the Roman theatre, cut into the slope below the basilica, where the tiers are open to walk in without a ticket. Sit high for the view across the roofs before you head back down.
Sunday's shows close at ten, an hour early, which makes it the night for children. Begin on the Place Bellecour, where you walk through the pieces instead of standing back from them.
Lasers across the Hôtel de Ville on the Place des Terreaux, the last stop of the night
Give Monday morning to the Croix-Rousse slope itself, since its silk museum and the Halles are shut today. Take Metro C up from Hôtel de Ville, then work down through the Cour des Voraces, whose open stairs climb six floors above the courtyard, and on through the traboules.
Spend the afternoon back at the hotel, in the pool or asleep, because tonight is the long walk. A Monday is a working night in Lyon, so the squares open up, and this is the evening to see every big show.
Ride the funicular up for the show the festival usually stages at Fourvière, and walk down the 228 steps of the Montée des Chazeaux into the old town if the stairway is open on the night. From there the route crosses the Saône and climbs the Presqu'île to the Place des Terreaux, the walk the event page maps stop by stop.
Candles on the Saône on a festival night
The Musée des Confluences opens at half past ten on a Tuesday, about a quarter of an hour from the old town by taxi. Give it the morning: the Origins gallery and the mammoth found in Lyon in 1859, under the steel Cloud that holds the collections.
Cross the Rhône for a late lunch at the Halles de Lyon-Paul Bocuse, at an oyster counter or buying cheese for later. Then walk back over both rivers to the old town for the evening.
The eighth is the old night, the one the festival grew out of. As the light goes, the old town's windows fill with small flames in coloured glass, the lumignons, and at half past six a torch procession usually leaves Saint-Jean for the climb to Fourvière.
Watch it set off, then cross to the Place Bellecour. A lumignon bought there for this year's charity can join the shared display or go home to the hotel windowsill.
Not if you want Lyon by day as well, since the shows run only in the evenings. With two nights, take the 7th and the 8th: the Monday has room at the projections, and the eighth is the traditional night.
From Saturday 5 to Tuesday 8 December. The shows run from 7pm to 11pm, except on the Sunday, when they run from 6pm to 10pm, and the programme of sites goes online in early November.
Lyon Saint-Exupéry (LYS), east of the city. The Rhônexpress tram reaches Part-Dieu station in about 30 minutes, and a taxi to the old town takes 40 minutes to an hour.
No. From the evening start the centre is for walkers only, and bikes and scooters are turned back at the barriers too. By day the metro, the two funiculars and the T1 tram reach every stop on this plan.
Only the hotel, and well before autumn. The shows need no ticket, so the one other booking worth making is a dinner table for the Saturday.
Layers, a waterproof and shoes with grip. Expect a few degrees above freezing and wet stone underfoot, since the shows run in the rain and most of each evening is spent standing.
All four days land in the app's Plan as your own copy, with the bases, the nights and every stop in place, ready to move around.
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