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

Berges du Rhône at Pont de la Guillotière

The walk begins on the reclaimed riverside promenade under Lyon's oldest Rhône crossing.

You're standing on the reclaimed left bank of the Rhône, at the foot of Pont de la Guillotière. This riverside path is the Berges du Rhône, and for decades the lower quay here was a car park. The city cleared the cars and gave the bank back to walkers, runners, and cyclists. The bridge above you is the oldest Rhône crossing in Lyon, though the structure you see opened in 1958.

A wooden bridge stood here as early as 1183, and on an earlier stone bridge a crowd crush in 1711 killed 241 people during a festival. From here, the whole walk runs north with the river on your right. When you're ready, turn away from the bridge and start up the bank.

The moored peniche bars along quai Victor Augagneur

A row of permanently moored barges turned into bars and restaurants on the lower quay.

The boats tied along this stretch of quay are bars and restaurants, permanently moored. They sit on a quay named in 1932 for Jean-Victor Augagneur, a doctor who served as Lyon's mayor from 1900 to 1905. In the evenings the decks fill with drinkers and the lower quay becomes one long terrace. In daylight you can see them empty, their hulls resting against the stone while the river slides past.

One of the best known is La Passagère, moored at number 21 near the foot of the next bridge. The barges owe their spot to the same redevelopment as the path you just walked. Keep going north, and you will reach Pont Wilson.

Pont Wilson

The 1918 bridge named for the American president, built of reinforced concrete on stone piers.

Pont Wilson carries the avenue that climbs toward the Préfecture. It was named on 24 June 1918 for Woodrow Wilson, the American president whose country had entered the First World War on France's side the year before, and it opened to traffic on 14 July 1918, Bastille Day. It replaced an earlier suspension bridge, the Pont de l'Hôtel-Dieu, that stood here from the late 1830s until 1912. The deck is reinforced concrete set on stone piers, an early use of the material for a major city crossing. You do not cross it. The walk stays on this bank, and Pont Morand sits about a kilometre further north.