The
Lyon-St Exupéry
international airport (tel
04.72.22.72.21) and the new
TGV
station are off the Grenoble
autoroute
, 20km to the southeast of the
city, with a 45-minute Satobus bus
link to the town centre
(50F/?7.53). The Paris to Lyon
trip is actually quicker by TGV,
but it's only from the air that
you can appreciate architect
Santiago Calatrava's design of a
huge bird alighting or taking
flight from the station roof.
Central Lyon has two train
stations: the Gare de Perrache
on the Presqu'île is used mainly
for ordinary trains rather than
TGVs, and has the gare routière
alongside; La Part-Dieu TGV
station is in the 3e arrondissement
to the east of the Presqu'île.
Central Lyon is linked to the
suburbs by a modern, efficient and
driverless métro , as well
as a new tram system.
There's a Bureau
d'Information in the Centre
Perrache at the station (July
& Aug Mon-Fri 7.30am-6.30pm,
Sat 9am-5pm; www.tcl.fr ),
where you can pick up a métro,
tram, bus and funicular map; it's
just two stops on the métro to
place Bellecour, where the central
tourist office stands on the
southeast corner (daily 10am-6pm;
tel 04.72.77.69.69, www.lyon-france.com
). There is another office at 3 av
Aristide-Briand in Villeurbanne
(Mon-Fri 9.30am-5pm, Sat 9am-5pm;
tel 04.78.68.13.20).
At métro stations or the city
transport TCL offices, the
cheapest way to buy tickets
is in a carnet of ten (68F/?10.37,
discounts for students), or
there's the Ticket Liberté
, valid for 24 hours (24F/?3.66).
The ordinary tickets (8F/?1.22)
are flat-rate within an hour's
duration and limited to three
changes using any combination of
transport. The métro runs from
5am to around midnight. Many bus
lines close around 8pm.
