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Musée Gadagne
The Musée Gadagne, in a 16th-century mansion once owned by two rich Florentine bankers, will house a local history and puppet museum when it reopens in 2007 after extensive renovations.
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Musée Lumière
Cinema's glorious beginnings are showcased at the Musée Lumière, a film-buff must 3km southeast of place Bellecour along cours Gambetta. The museum is inside the Art Nouveau home (1899-1902) of Antoine Lumière who, with his sons Auguste and Louis, moved to Lyon in 1870 and shot the first reels of the world's first motion picture, La Sortie des Usines Lumières (Exit of the Lumières Factories) in one of their factories here on 19 March 1895.
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Opera House
Lyon's neoclassical opera house was built in 1832 and topped with its striking glass-domed roof by French architect Jean Nouvel in 1993.
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Palais de Justice
Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon), with its cobblestone streets and medieval and Renaissance houses below Fourvière hill, is divided into three quarters: St-Paul at the northern end, St-Jean in the middle and St-Georges in the south. Facing the river in Old Lyon is the grandiose Palais de Justice.
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Parc de la Tête d'Or
Lyon's graceful 117-hectare Parc de la Tête d'Or, landscaped in the 1860s, is graced by a lake, botanical garden with greenhouses, an Alpine garden, rose garden and zoo. When it's warm you can rent boats, ride ponies, play miniature golf, take a twirl on a fairground ride or watch a puppet show. The park is served by bus 41 or 47 from metro Part-Dieu.
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place Bellecour
Laid out in the 17th century, place Bellecour - one of Europe's largest public squares - is pierced by an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. From here, pedestrianised rue Victor Hugo runs southwards to place Carnot and Gare de Perrache.
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place des Terreaux
The centrepiece of Presqu'île's beautiful place des Terreaux is a 19th-century fountain made of 21 tonnes of lead and sculpted by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi of Statue of Liberty fame. The four horses pulling the chariot symbolise rivers galloping seawards.
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place Louis Pradel
Boarders and bladers buzz around the fountains of riverside place Louis Pradel, surveyed by the Homme de la Liberté (Man of Freedom) on roller-skates, sculpted from scrap metal by Marseille-born César (1921-98).
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rue Juiverie
Crane your neck upwards to see gargoyles and other cheeky stone characters carved on window ledges along rue Juiverie, home to Lyon's Jewish community in the Middle Ages.
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Théâtre Romain
The Théâtre Romain, built around 15 BC and enlarged in AD 120, sat an audience of 10,000. Romans held poetry readings and musical recitals in the smaller odéon next door.
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Tour de l'Observatoire
A city panorama unfolds from the Tour de l'Observatoire. The tower can be scaled with or without a paid tour.
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Tour Métallique
The Tour Métallique is an Eiffel Tower-like structure built atop Fourvière in 1893 and used as a TV transmitter.
