Lyon · Self-guided audio walk

Saône to Rhône: Crossing the Presqu'île

Cross Lyon's Presqu'île from the Saône to the Rhône, square by square, through a covered passage and past two cultural landmarks.

8Stops
3.4 kmDistance
50+ minTime

Photo by genevieveromier on Openverse

This walk follows the spine of Lyon's Presqu'île from the Saône to the Rhône, room by room through the squares the city has used as its public stage for three centuries. You begin at the morning food market on quai Saint-Antoine, cross the 62,000 square metres of Place Bellecour, stop at the 1885 marble fountain on Place des Jacobins, and thread the covered Passage de l'Argue to Place des Terreaux, its city hall, and the Bartholdi fountain. The last leg passes the Musée des Beaux-Arts in a former convent and Jean Nouvel's glass-crowned Opéra, and closes at the 1890 steel arches of Pont Lafayette over the Rhône.

The market on quai Saint-Antoine runs Tuesday through Sunday morning and is closed on Monday. The route stays on the Presqu'île between the two rivers and never crosses either bridge.

Hear it on the street

Get the turn-by-turn audio guide in the app. The narration plays itself as you reach each stop, hands-free and offline.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Stop by stop

The route

Interactive map of the route. The full stop list below works without it.

Must see

Photo by Frachet on Wikimedia Commons

Marché Saint-Antoine

0:00

Lyon's largest food market, stretching along the Saône quay from Tuesday to Sunday morning.

You're at the southern end of Lyon's biggest food market, on a quay where produce boats once tied up and sold straight from the deck. The stalls run north along the Saône toward the Célestins theatre, with Vieux Lyon and its ochre facades facing you across the water. The market opens Tuesday through Sunday and closes on Monday; on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings it swells to around 120 traders, the weekday crowd nearer 40. You'll find fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat, roast chickens, fish, bread, wine and flowers, and more than a few of the city's restaurant chefs shopping among the locals. The habit goes back to around 1910, when boats loaded with produce moored along these quays. Start here at the southern end near Pont Bonaparte, then turn your back on the river and head into the peninsula.

Open in Google Maps

≈8 min walk to the next stop

Must see

Photo by Chabe01 on Wikimedia Commons

Place Bellecour

0:00

Lyon's largest square, a 62,000 square metre field of red gravel under the gaze of Louis XIV on horseback.

Place Bellecour opens around you as one of the largest pedestrian squares in Europe, a 62,000 square metre field of red gravel with traffic pushed to its edges. The king on horseback at its centre is Louis XIV. This is the second statue to hold the spot: the first, cast in bronze in 1713, was melted down for cannons during the Revolution, and this replacement by François-Frédéric Lemot was installed in 1825. Look at the base and you'll find two figures carved by the Coustou brothers in 1720, a man for the Rhône and a woman for the Saône, the two rivers you're walking between. The square was laid out by Robert de Cotte and inaugurated in 1713, and its name descends from a vineyard once called Bella Curtis. Locals still meet under the horse's tail, the classic Lyon rendezvous point.

Open in Google Maps

≈6 min walk to the next stop

Must see

Photo by FaceMePLS from The Hague, The Netherlands on Wikimedia Commons

Place des Jacobins

0:00

A round little square whose white marble fountain honours four artists born in Lyon.

The white marble fountain at the centre of this small square is the work of Gaspard André, and its waters first rose on 14 July 1885. Four figures stand around it, each one a Lyon-born artist: the architect Philibert Delorme, the engraver Gérard Audran, the sculptor Guillaume Coustou, and the painter Hippolyte Flandrin. The square itself is older than it looks. Until 1782 it was called Place Confort, after a chapel to Notre-Dame de Confort, and the name Jacobins comes from the Dominican convent that once stood on its south side. In that convent's church, in 1316, the cardinals elected Pope John XXII, one of the few popes chosen outside Italy. André is also known to Lyonnais for another project, the Théâtre des Célestins, a few hundred metres back toward the river.

Open in Google Maps

≈1 min walk to the next stop

Free preview ends here · stops 4 to 8 continue in the app

Passage de l'Argue

A covered 19th-century arcade named for the machine that drew gold and silver into thread.

in app

Place des Terreaux

The city's ceremonial square, framed by the Hôtel de Ville and crowned by Bartholdi's lead-skinned fountain.

in app

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

One of France's major fine arts museums, inside a former Benedictine convent on the square's south side.

in app

Opéra de Lyon

The 1831 opera house hollowed out by Jean Nouvel and crowned with a glass barrel vault.

in app

Pont Lafayette

The 1890 steel-arched bridge over the Rhône, where the walk meets the second river.

in app

Good to know

Before you go

Is the Marché Saint-Antoine open every day?

No, it runs Tuesday to Sunday morning and is closed on Monday.

Does the walk cross the Saône or the Rhône?

No, the route stays on the Presqu'île between the two rivers and never crosses either bridge.

Is the Musée des Beaux-Arts worth the entry?

Yes, it is one of France's major fine-arts museums, housed in a former Benedictine convent. Collections entry is €8 full, €4 reduced, and Lyon City Card holders enter free.

SourceMusée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Keep exploring

More of Lyon

Keep exploring

More walks in Lyon

The local mix

The Pentes de la Croix-Rousse: The Canut Climb

From a painted wall on the Saône to a six-storey weavers' staircase, the climb through Lyon's silk slopes.

7 stops1.7 km30+ min

The local mix

The Rhône Banks to the Parc de la Tête d'Or

A green, slow walk from the reclaimed Rhône banks to the lake, glasshouses, and roses of Lyon's great park.

10 stops6 km85+ min

The local mix

Confluence: The New City on the Water

Walk the new district Lyon built where the Rhône and the Saône meet.

6 stops2.5 km35+ min

The essentials

The Croix-Rousse Plateau: The Market and the Canuts

A short, flat walk across the working village on top of the hill.

6 stops2.1 km35+ min

The essentials

Fourvière: Roman Lugdunum and the Hill Above the City

From the hilltop basilica to the Roman theatres, then a rose garden path back down toward the river.

6 stops1.4 km25+ min

The local mix

Vieux Lyon: The Renaissance City and Its Traboules

Follow the hidden passages of the UNESCO-listed old town from Saint-Paul to Saint-Georges, with the Saône never far away.

8 stops2.3 km35+ min

← All tours in Lyon Browse every city →

Provenance · last verified August 22, 2026

Built from the Wayside route itself: the stops, their order, and the walk between them.

Photo by genevieveromier on Openverse · CC BY 2.0

Photo by Frachet on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo by Chabe01 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo by FaceMePLS from The Hague, The Netherlands on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Photo by Jacmin on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo by Blueberry-026 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo by SashiRolls on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo by corno.fulgur75 on Openverse · CC BY 2.0

Photo by Thomas K on Unsplash

Photo by ell brown on Openverse · CC BY-SA 2.0