Les meilleurs hôtels à Lyon

If you're planning a trip to Lyon, be sure to bring your appetite. The third largest city in France has more good restaurants per square block than any European city (with the possible exception of Paris) and is internationally renowned for its cuisine (though it's hardly a vegetarian's dream). Local specialties include fried pork fat, andouillette (chitterling sausage), tripe, veal stew, exquisite soft cheeses with herbs and, in winter, raclette (melted cheese served with salami, ham and boiled potatoes). Lyonnais wash all of this down with Beaujolais or C?tes du Rh?ne wine and are so fond of their food that they invented a fourth meal -- the 10 a.m. "m?chon" snack. Lyon's chefs owe much to their local farmers; most of their ingredients come from the farms and vineyards along the Sa?ne and Rh?ne valleys. Lyon and Marseille both like to claim they are France's "second city." Marseille probably wins the title in terms of size and industry, but Lyon's a clear winner as a traveler's destination. Lyon has all the attractions you would expect from a city of its size (around half a million): a lively night scene and cultural life, including the famous Lyonnais puppets, a gorgeous opera house and some thirty museums with permanent collections and frequent exhibitions. The center of Lyon is La Presqu'Ile (Almost Island), the peninsula of land between the Sa?ne and Rh?ne rivers. Across the Sa?ne at the foot of the Fourvi?re Hill, Vieux Lyon (the old town) is littered with steep slopes and traboules (quaint passageways that cut beneath houses from one street to another). At night, well-dressed locals stroll the old town's brightly lit streets and eventually end up in one of its bouchons (traditional Lyonnaise restaurants). Because Lyon has never really had to endure hard times, a mood of content prevails. Lyonnais love to boast that their city has been important for over 2,000 years: the Romans made it the capital of Gaul around 43 B.C. During the French Renaissance under the 16th-century king Francois I, Lyon became a leader in the silk industry. By the 19th century, over 30,000 canuts (weavers) were working in Lyon. The city is named for the Roman Lugdunum, or "Hill of the Crow."