One Week Beyond Lyon: An Offbeat Itinerary
A full week beyond Lyon runs all five offbeat gateways, a flex day to recover, and a departure day timed around the Rhonexpress tram rather than a rushed morning. Same spine as the 6 day plan , one departure day added, or drop back to any shorter version starting at 2 days . The day-trip guide has the overview if you want it first.
Book these before you go
- Hotel: check Presqu’ile or Vieux Lyon availability on Booking.com
- The Beaujolais and Perouges combo tour: reserve a seat on Viator
- The Annecy day trip: reserve a spot on GetYourGuide
- Rhonexpress airport tickets: buy them online ahead on Rhonexpress
| Day | Focus | Distance/time from Lyon |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Presqu’ile orientation, in Lyon | In Lyon |
| Day 2 | Beaujolais golden stone villages and Perouges | 30-45 min (Beaujolais), ~40 min (Perouges) |
| Day 3 | Vienne | ~30 min by TER |
| Day 4 | Annecy | ~1h51-2h24 by direct TER |
| Day 5 | Grenoble | ~1h25 by TER |
| Day 6 | Flex day, in Lyon | In Lyon |
| Day 7 | Departure | ~30 min by Rhonexpress to LYS |
Day 1: Get your bearings in the Presqu’ile
Land in Lyon and check into a base near Part-Dieu or Perrache, the two stations that run every regional TER used this week. Buy a single TCL ticket , EUR 2.10, and spend the afternoon walking the Presqu’ile, Place Bellecour to the Opera. Dinner at a certified bouchon, book ahead, since the good tables fill fast even on an arrival night.
Day 2: Golden stone villages and a walled fairy tale
Skip the wine-label crus, Fleurie and Morgon among them, for the Pierres Dorees, roughly 40 hillside villages of rust-gold limestone, Oingt among France’s Most Beautiful Villages and the wider region a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2018. The combined tour booked above folds Perouges in after lunch, a medieval walled village small enough to cross end to end in a few minutes. Order the galette de Perouges, the sugar-crusted tart that is this village’s actual reason for existing on a tourist map, before the group moves on.
Day 3: Vienne, the gateway everyone skips by mistake
About 30 minutes by TER from either Part-Dieu or Perrache, the fastest and cheapest gateway on this list. The Ancient Theatre, built around 40 CE for roughly 13,000 spectators, still hosts Jazz a Vienne every summer, 25 June to 11 July for the 2026 edition, its 45th. Pair it with the remarkably intact Temple of Augustus and Livia a short walk away. SNCF’s regional timetable has current train times.
Day 4: Annecy and the prison on a traffic island
Annecy sits about 101km from Lyon, and direct TER trains run 1h51 to 2h24, closer to two hours than the 90 minutes some older guides still quote, so give it the full day. The Palais de l’Ile, a ship-shaped stone building splitting the Thiou canal, was a stronghold from 1325 and a working prison until 1864 before becoming a courthouse and finally a heritage center. Walk the canal-laced Vieille Ville around it, and if the private tour booked above includes a car, ask for a detour to Col de la Forclaz, a viewpoint above the lake that rail-only day-trippers never reach. The Lake Annecy tourist office covers current opening hours.
Day 5: Grenoble and a cable car that lied about its own history
Grenoble sits roughly 100km southeast of Lyon, about 1h25 by hourly TER with no advance booking needed. The Bastille cable car opened in 1934 with blue, twelve-sided cabins, but the spherical glass pods that earned it the nickname “les bulles,” the bubbles, only arrived in 1976, more than four decades later. The ride delivers panoramic views over the Belledonne, Vercors, and Chartreuse ranges, and the Musee de Grenoble is a solid fallback if the weather turns. Bastille Grenoble’s official site has current hours.
Day 6: A flex day back in Lyon
No train today, and specifically not Chamonix, the one gateway this whole week deliberately excludes: no direct train, 2h30-plus each way by car and worse by bus, a full day of transit for a few hours of actual mountain. Spend the day inside Lyon instead: repeat the bouchon that impressed you most, walk back through a traboule you rushed earlier, or simply rest before tomorrow’s departure. Our own Lyon hidden gems guide covers roughly this much city time if you want a loose plan.
Day 7: Departure via the Rhonexpress
Take the Rhonexpress tram from Part-Dieu, a dedicated line separate from the city’s TCL fare system, reaching Lyon-Saint Exupery airport in under 30 minutes with departures roughly every 15 minutes. Buy the ticket online in advance rather than onboard, it is cheaper and avoids the flat EUR 4 surcharge charged for tickets bought on the tram. Check the schedule the day before, since engineering works have replaced the tram with shuttle buses during past summer periods.
How long does the Annecy day trip actually take round trip? Roughly 4 hours of train alone, since direct services run 1h51 to 2h24 each way. That is why this itinerary gives Annecy its own full day rather than folding it into a shorter one.
Is a flex day really worth giving up a sixth gateway? Yes, since Chamonix is the only gateway left and it genuinely does not work as a single day trip from Lyon: no direct train and 4 to 7 hours of total transit depending on the route. A rest day back in the city is the better use of the time.
Confirm your Rhonexpress or return train time before day 6, not the morning of day 7; a full week of offbeat gateways is exactly when a buried departure detail gets forgotten.