4 Days from Lyon: The Day-Trip Itinerary
Four days from Lyon extends the plan to Perouges, a walled medieval village 40 minutes out, alongside the Beaujolais and Vienne day trips already covered. Base in the Presqu’ile, then give each gateway destination its own day rather than rushing two into one. Need more or less time? Try the 3-day or 6-day itinerary instead.
Book these before you go
- Hotel: check Presqu’ile or Vieux Lyon rates on Booking.com
- Beaujolais half-day wine tour: browse times on GetYourGuide
- Perouges half-day tour: check dates on GetYourGuide
| Day | Focus | Distance/time from Lyon |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Base in Lyon, Presqu’ile orientation | In Lyon |
| Day 2 | Beaujolais wine country | 30-45 min |
| Day 3 | Vienne | 19-30 min |
| Day 4 | Perouges | ~40 min |
Day 1: Base in Lyon, Presqu’ile orientation
- Land in Lyon and check into a base near Part-Dieu or Perrache, both stations run the TER trains that do the heavy lifting on this trip.
- Buy a TCL day pass or single EUR 2.10 tickets for getting around the city itself; the regional TER tickets for the coming days are a separate purchase.
- Spend the afternoon walking the Presqu’ile, Place Bellecour to the Opera, before the day trips start.
- Dinner at a certified bouchon, book ahead, the genuinely good tables fill fast.
Day 2: Beaujolais wine country
- Beaujolais sits 30 to 45 minutes north of Lyon by car or organized tour. Public transport into the actual vineyard villages, Fleurie, Morgon, Julienas, thins out fast, so a tour or a rental car matters here more than anywhere else on this list.
- A half-day tour typically visits 2 to 4 domaines with tastings included. Add the Pierres Dorees golden-stone villages, Oingt among France’s Most Beautiful Villages, if you’ve booked the full day. Check Beaujolais’s official tourism site for the current wine route map before you go.
- Back in Lyon by evening for dinner in the Presqu’ile.
Day 3: Vienne
- Vienne is the fastest, cheapest day trip on this itinerary, 19 to 30 minutes by TER from either Part-Dieu or Perrache, tickets from roughly EUR 5 each way booked ahead.
- The Ancient Theatre, built around 40 CE and seating 13,000, still hosts concerts and the summer Jazz a Vienne festival; the Temple of Augustus and Livia, dedicated 10 BC, stands remarkably intact in an ordinary town square.
- Cross the river to Saint-Romain-en-Gal for the archaeological site if you’ve got an extra hour or two. Check Lyon-Vienne train times on SNCF before you head to the station.
Day 4: Perouges
- Perouges is a walled medieval village 35km northeast of Lyon, small enough to walk end to end in a few minutes, so treat it as a half-day stop rather than a destination on its own.
- Drive the A42 in about 30 minutes, roughly EUR 2 parking outside the gates, or take the TER to Meximieux-Perouges plus a 20-minute uphill walk.
- Wear real shoes, the cobblestones are uneven, and try the galette, the sugar tart that’s the village’s actual specialty, at a cafe inside the walls.
- Pair the trip with a slower afternoon back in Lyon once you’re done.
Is Perouges worth a special trip on its own?
Not really, and that’s fine. The village is walkable end to end in a few minutes, so it works best as a half-day add-on rather than a dedicated round trip by itself. Pairing it with a slower Lyon afternoon, as this itinerary does, gets you the fairy-tale walk without wasting a full day on a single small village.
Do you need a car for Beaujolais wine country?
Public transport thins out fast once you’re off Lyon’s main train lines and into the vineyard villages themselves. A rental car or an organized minivan tour matters more here than for Vienne or Perouges, both of which sit on direct rail or road links. Skip the car-rental headache and book a half-day tour with tastings built in instead.
Book Beaujolais and Perouges in the same sitting as the hotel, both small-group tours move fast on summer weekends. Staying inside Lyon itself the whole time instead? Our 4-day city itinerary covers Croix-Rousse and the Confluence without a single day trip.