France · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes · Lyon
Vieux Lyon, Lyon — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Vieux Lyon is the Renaissance quarter of Lyon, spread over 24 hectares between the Fourvière hill and the river Saône.
About Vieux Lyon
Where to stay in Vieux Lyon
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges divide the quarter, and a room in any of the three puts a traveller inside the Renaissance streets rather than a journey from them. Noise follows the crowds. Streets nearer the Saône stay busier, while the side lanes holding the Église Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux de Lyon and the église Saint-Romain de Lyon keep a quieter run of frontages.
Book early for Saint Jean.
About Vieux Lyon
What are the main landmarks in Vieux Lyon?
Renaissance frontages are the attraction. Vieux Lyon covers 24 hectares of them, one of the largest such quarters in Europe, and inside that ground stand the Église Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux de Lyon, the église Saint-Romain de Lyon and the Musée des Hospices Civils de Lyon. Older work survives too, in the Murus gallicus de Lyon, and the Musée des Automates supplies the quarter's one oddity.
Three sections split the walk: Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges.
What is the history of Vieux Lyon?
Protection came early here. In 1964 Vieux Lyon became the first site in France covered by the Malraux law, the statute drawn up to protect the country's cultural sites. A second listing followed.
Vieux Lyon joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998, together with other districts of the city, on the strength of its history and its architecture. The Murus gallicus de Lyon reaches back further than either date.
Where is Vieux Lyon?
Between hill and river. Vieux Lyon fills 24 hectares between the Fourvière hill and the Saône, in three sections named Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges.
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More areas in Lyon
Updated September 2026