UK To Lyon
November 9th, 2011 |Not the most popular travel destination for vacations in France, Lyon is still a highly recommended, wonderful place to visit. UK travelers can find flights from London, Manchester, and Birmingham to Lyon year-round, although flights are more frequent during the ski season. There are charter flights from Paris, as well.
Since there are more frequent flights offered from the UK to Paris, travelers could look at the charter option. Lyon’s main airport is the Saint-Exupéry International Airport, and the city also has a second, smaller airport, the Lyon-Bron Airport.
Lyon is widely regarded as the French “Second City.” It is, as the name suggest, France’s second largest city. Built at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone Rivers, close to the Alps, Lyon is a popular travel destination for skier. It is also the main area of commerce between Paris and Marseille, world headquarters for Interpol, and an industrial powerhouse, with pharmaceutical, chemical, and biotech companies. Lyon even has a large video game industry.
Lyon played a well-known role in the Second World War. Occupied by Germany, Lyon was the fabled home of the resistance movement. In Lyon one may now find an entire museum dedicated to the resistance fighters. Many Lyonnaise residences had secret passageways that helped both their owners and the resistance fighters they sheltered escape Nazi raids.
Lyon is known for its shopping, and the city has wonderful architecture. Visitors to Lyon can see one of the largest collections of Renaissance buildings in all of Europe. Lyon is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Popular buildings in Lyon include the Place Bellacour, the Saint Jean Cathedral, the church of St-Martin-d’Ainay and the La Mouche Cattle Market.
Lyon hosts many festivals. Perhaps the most famous of these is a celebration in honor of the Virgin Mary that takes place every December 8, the Festival of Lights. Residents throughout the city place candles in their windows, and there are nighttime light shows on the sides of important buildings and monuments.
Lyon, like the rest of France, provides a wonderful local cuisine. Gourmets seek out bouchons, a kind of restaurant found in Lyon, that only serve local food and wine.
Traditional local dishes include sausage, andouillette, coq au vin, tripe with onions, salade lyonnaise, marrons glacés and cardoon au gratin. A trip to Lyon is a great opportunity to taste new cuisine and find a new favorite dish. In addition, the Beaujolais and Cotes du Rhone winemaking regions are near Lyon, making the city popular with wine lovers as well.
Lyon has excellent accommodations for every budget. If you plan carefully, you can make your vacation in Lyon can be a trip to remember. Lyon has it all: food, wine, culture, shopping, festivals, and nightlife. Travelers from the UK to Lyon won’t be disappointed.
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Very good points made here. I agree totally on where the go...