Lyon: Activities

• inline skating

  Rollerbladers hook up for a mass scoot around town at 21:00 on Fridays on place Bellecour; see www.generationsroller.asso.fr (in French). Otherwise, they blade by the rivers, in Parc de la Tête d'Or, and in the skate park in Parc de Gerland. Skate shop Le Cri du Kangourou (04 72 00 99 10; www.cdk.fr in French; 21 rue d'Algérie, 1er; metro Hôtel de Ville) rents blades by the half-day, day or weekend.

• cycling

  Cycling paths run beside both rivers and more are planned. Pick up a set of red-and-silver wheels at one of 200-odd bike stations dotted around the city and drop them off at another with the city's hugely successful Vélo'v (08 00 08 35 68; www.velov.grandlyon.com in French) bike-rental scheme. The first 30 minutes are free, and you pay a small fee for subsequent hours, using either a carte courte durée (a short-duration card, valid for seven days) or a carte longue durée (long-duration card, valid for one year). Buy either card with a credit card from machines installed at bike stations: central stations include in front of the town hall on blvd de la Croix Rousse, 4e (metro Croix Rousse); beside the opera house, 1er (metro Hôtel de Ville); and opposite Cathédrale St-Jean on place St-Jean, 5e (metro Vieux Lyon). A city map showing every station and cycling path is posted at each station.

• boating

  Lyon's graceful 117-hectare Parc de la Tête d'Or (blvd des Belges, 6e; metro Masséna), landscaped in the 1860s, is graced by a lake, botanical garden with greenhouses, an alpine garden, rose garden and zoo. When it's warm you can rent boats, ride ponies, play miniature golf, take a twirl on a fairground ride or watch a puppet show. The park is served by bus 41 or 47 from metro Part-Dieu.

• football

  Get cosy with the locals screaming your support at a football match. When at home, national champions Olympique Lyonnais (olweb.fr) kick off at the 44,000-seater Stade de Gerland (Gerland Stadium; 04 72 76 01 70; 353 av Jean Jaurès, 7e), the city stadium built in 1920 and overhauled for the 1998 World Cup. Match tickets costing Euro15 to Euro70 are sold online and at club boutiques OL Store (04 72 76 76 14; 60 av Tony Garnier, 7e) opposite the stadium and Planète OL (04 78 37 49 49; cnr rue de Jussieu & rue Grolée, 2e; metro Cordeliers) in town.

Back to top ^