A Good Arrondisement to Explore From

I have never been to Lyon. In Paris, I like to stay near the Latin Quarter/St Germain de Pres....

For those of you who have been to Lyon, did you stay at a well-situated hotel...by that I mean close to Metro, lively/pretty area? Can you pass on the hotel name? I leave in 10 days.

Thanks!

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The best places to stay, both central and lively, are the 2nd and 1th, in the area between the 2 rivers called the %26quot;Presqu%26#39;île%26quot;.

I ususally recommend the Grand Hotel des Terreaux if you want to stay in an hotel (there are also B%26amp;B as an alternative. There are other recommendations on this forum (use the search space above) in case this hotel is fully booked.

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Thank you onlylyon! I was hoping I%26#39;d hear from you.

Merci

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Now that I am thinking about it..I%26#39;ve read that there are %26#39;bad%26#39; neighborhoods to avoid e.g. %26quot;little Algeria%26quot;. What the heck is that? Can you tell me a little bit about what to expect in Lyon? For example is it an easy walking city? Insight into the metro system? Is the dialect different from my Parisienne education?

Thanks again...

Delphi

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Lyon is definitively an easy walking city. It is not as big as Paris, so you will be able to walk everywhere. There is also a very well developped public transportation system (métro / tramway and bus) to get outside the city center.

http://www.tcl.fr/index.asp?page=plan_reseau

And also an original bike rental system (first developped in Lyon and copied since in Paris!) : you can get a bike for free if you use it less than 20%26#39; (and you cover a lot of ground in 20%26#39;!). But you can use it only if you have a credit card with a chip (all credit cards have chips inside in France but I know it is not the case in the USA). Don%26#39;t miss the Rhône banks, nice bike paths along the river! Have a look:

http://www.velov.grandlyon.com/?L=1

Don%26#39;t worry about %26quot;little Algéria%26quot;. You won%26#39;t stay there anyway as there are no hotel there (it is located in the 7th arrondissement around rue Paul Bert). It is an ethnic neighborhood I like very much. I go there for shopping : food, bread, turkish slippers, tea glasses, etc...or just to stroll around for the atmosphere. There is also a little Chinatown closeby. I think that is what makes you feel in a %26quot;real%26quot; city when beeing in Lyon, unlike smaller french cities (but nothing compared to ethnic neighborhoods in US cities).

Last but not least : no there are no more dialects spoken in France except in Brittany and Corsica (but not really spoken, only by older people), you will hear regional accents as in any country, but the one in Lyon is not as strong as the southern or soutwestern accent.

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