Every year around 8 December, Lyon puts some thirty light works on its squares and façades over four evenings. The city takes in around two million visitors, and both the Presqu’île and Vieux Lyon go pedestrian from early evening until late at night.
A city cut in two by the festival
The installations occupy Place des Terreaux, Place Bellecour, Saint-Jean cathedral and the Fourvière hill. The Rhône and Saône embankments are closed to traffic at peak hours.
In practice, cars do not enter the perimeter, and the metro is saturated between seven and midnight. The drop-off points move from one evening to the next depending on the traffic plan.
The timings of the Lumières weekend
The illuminations come on at nightfall and stop around midnight, one in the morning on the Saturday. The peak falls between nine and eleven in the evening.
A chauffeur who drops you at the edge of the perimeter and comes back to the same point at the agreed time saves you the walk back and the wait on a platform.
What we organise in December
We cover the runs from the hotels at Part-Dieu, Confluence and western Lyon, and transfers from Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport for visitors arriving the day before.
The van keeps the group together and the chauffeur stays directly reachable if you decide to leave earlier or later than planned.
Before and after the illuminations
Many of our clients have dinner in a bouchon in Vieux Lyon or Croix-Rousse before joining the installations, and head back to the hotel after midnight.
The car stays at your disposal from one stop to the next, which spares you looking for a ride at an hour when the whole city is looking for one.
To organise your evenings during the Fête des Lumières, give us the dates, the address and the number of passengers: you receive a firm price before confirming. See also our private driver in Lyon page.
Photo: Corentin Eustacchi / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0
