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Over the Saône, Lyon

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Lyon Local time

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France

Travel to Lyon

Flying to Lyon

Flights to Lyon from the UK include a mix of low-cost and scheduled airlines, including British Airways, Air France, easyJet and bmi.

Flight times: 

From London - 1 hour 40 minutes; New York - 8 hours 35 minutes.

Travel by road

Summary:

Lyon is located in the heart of a dense network of motorways where tolls are charged. Traffic drives on the right and the minimum legal driving age is 18. The speed limits are 50kph (31mph) in urban areas, 90kph (56mph) on main roads and 130kph (81mph) on motorways. A national driving licence, the car's registration documents and a red warning triangle must be on hand at all times or the driver is liable to be fined. The French police fine motorists on the spot for driving offences such as speeding. All headlamp beams must be adjusted for right-side driving by either using beam deflectors or tilting the headlamp bulb-holder.

Road and route information is provided by Société des Autoroutes Rhône-Alpes (AREA) (tel: 0826 887 272; www.aprr.fr) and Autoroute du Sud de la France (ASF) (tel: (04) 9032 9005; www.asf.fr).

Emergency breakdown service:

Automobile Club (tel: 0800 080 001).

Routes:

Main routes to Lyon are the A6 motorway from Paris, the A7 from Marseille, the A43 from Geneva and the A48 from Grenoble.

Coaches:

The coach station is situated at Lyon Perrache railway station, 10 cours de Verdun. Its facilities include cafés, restaurants, ATMs and a bureau de change. Within the Rhône-Alpes area, the main operator is Transports en Commun Lyonnais (TCL) (tel: 0820 427 000; www.tcl.fr). Eurolines (tel: (04) 7256 9530; www.eurolines.com) provides links throughout Europe.

Travel by rail

Services:

The French TGV network (high-speed trains) is highly developed, branching out in three main directions - southeast (Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean), Atlantic and north.

Lyon Part-Dieu, place Beraudier, and Lyon Perrache, 10 cours de Verdun, are the two main railway stations in Lyon’s city centre. Both have a café, snack bar, ATM, newsagent, tourist information office and a bus link to Lyon-St-Exupéry Airport.

Operators:

SNCF (tel: 3635; www.sncf.fr) is the national rail service provider running the effective TGV network (high-speed trains). A TGV leaves Lyon Part-Dieu for Paris almost every half an hour (journey time - 2 hours), providing frequent services between the two cities. Direct connections are also available to and from other cities, including Marseille (1 hour 40 minutes), Geneva (2 hours), Lille (3 hours), Brussels (4 hours) and Nice (4 hours 25 minutes).

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