For our 2022 trip to the Écrins, we chose to fly in and out of Lyon, France. Flight schedule changes resulted in us having an extra day to explore, which was wonderful. Lyon’s architecture, parks, and food made for a wonderful stay.
This post is part of our series about our September & August 2022 Tour of the Ecrins, including:
- Overview and planning
- Arrival in Lyon and transit to Le Monêtier-les-Bains (this post)
- Stages 1-3: Le Monêtier-les-Bains, Vallouise, Refuge du Pré de la Chaumette, and Refuge de Vallonpierre
- Stages 4-7: Refuge du Pigeonnier, La Chapelle-en-Valgaudemar, Refuge des Souffles, and Valsenestre
- Stages 8-10: Refuge de la Muzelle, Mizoën, and Les Terrasses
- Stages 11-12: La Grave, Refuge d l’Alpe de Villar d’Arène and back to Le Monêtier-les-Bains, followed by our return through Grenoble and back to Lyon
- Our packing list for hut-to-hut hikes.
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Day 1 – Arrival in Lyon
We arrived in Lyon after lunch. From the airport, a short tram ride brought us to our hotel, Hôtel Mercure Lyon Centre – Gare Part Dieu (Booking.com). We were too early for our room to be ready, but we dropped our bags and set out for an afternoon walk.
We decided on a visit Parc de la Tête d’Or, with its combined botanic garden and zoo. After the long flights, this would get us outside and keep us moving, hopefully staving off our desire to fall asleep. This was great! The gardens had a mix of outdoor and greenhouse spaces, which a good variety of beautiful and interesting plants. At the zoo, we saw birds, crocodiles, monkeys, turtles, and more. For me, highlights include a giraffe that was swinging its tongue in the air (evaporative cooling? I don’t know.) and a giant pelican.
After the botanic garden, we walked back to the hotel to check in. There, we were startled to notice our return flights had been cancelled (a ticketing error from the airline), but this was resolved with a phone call, fortunately. After taking care of that, we cleaned up and set out for dinner.
We chose Le Bouchon des Artistes for its prix fixé menu featuring many classic Lyonnaise dishes. We ate an appetizer of trout-filled pasta, andouillette (tripe sausage), quenelle de pike, and some tasty desserts. Lovely outdoor seating let us enjoy the evening.
Though we were tired, we wanted to push ourselves to stay awake a little longer. We took a walk along the Rhône between Pont Wilson and Passerelle du College. I particularly liked all of the open space along the river: beer gardens, benches, and even slides. We feel asleep quickly on reaching the hotel.
Day 2 – Exploring Lyon
We had built a day in for travel mishaps or lost luggage, but fortunately everything went smoothly, giving us a full day to explore Lyon.
We first visited Boulangerie les Artistes for a breakfast of pain au chocolat, brioche praline, and tarte poire et chocolat.
After breakfast, we set out to explore Lyon’s old renaissance homes and traboules (passageways). We also stopped by the Fourvière Basilica and its view as well as the Ancient Theatre of Fourvière & Gallo-Roman museum, taking the funicular up from the metro station. All were enjoyable, but the standout was the Musée Gadagne, which combined a puppet museum and a museum of Lyon’s history. The puppet museum had many interactive exhibits where we could try different puppets, following along with video demos.
By this point, we were hungry, and so we got some ice cream. We then wandered to the Musée des Confluences, though more for the walk and architecture than to visit exhibits.
After, we returned to the hotel and then walked to dinner. We had selected at Restaurant Albert, also because of its appealing prix fixé menu. I had burrata, tomatoes, and pesto to start, an excellent lamb main, and a cheesecake-like dessert with raspberries. Kyle enjoyed a smoked salmon and avocado appetizer, steak, and hazelnut ice cream on a chocolate lava cake. Everything was excellent.
Before bed, we enjoyed another nighttime walk along the river and through the city.
Day 3 – Travel to Le Monêtier-les-Bains and a visit to Briançon
In the morning, we walked across the street to station for our train to Grenoble, picking up a few items for breakfast in the station.
We left Lyon at 9:16, arriving in Grenoble at 10:39. From there, our bus–Zou LER 35, reservations available–to Le Monêtier-les-Bains left at 11:15. By 1:25, after a lovely bus ride, we were in Le Monêtier-les-Bains, just steps from our hotel. Hotel Restaurant Le Monêtier gave us a warm welcome and showed us to our comfortable room.
With a whole afternoon ahead of us, we decided to take the 20-minute bus ride to see the old fortified town of Briançon. Upon arriving, we learned that our visit coincided with a medieval festival, so there were people dressed as knights and it was more crowded than we expected. We enjoyed walking through town as well as oaths above town.
As luck would have it, we timed our visit well. The sky darkened while waiting for our return bus. Moments after boarding, the skies opened up with an intense hail storm. Fortunately, the bus again dropped us close to the hotel, and we could watch the rest of the storm from inside our room.
For dinner, we visited 16âme. I had selected it based on an intriguing and affordable tasing menu. Dinner included cheese ball & radish plus focaccia amuse bouches, an appetizer of cucumber foam + red cabbage, delightful smoked butter + bread, pork with Parmesan risotto (Sean), salmon with carrot & fennel & lobster sauce (Kyle), and a cheese course of young and aged goat cheese, tomato jam. Sean had a chocolate dessert while Kyle had a creative ice cream and chocolate molded into a strawberry shape. Everything was fantastic. It was so good that we immediately made a dinner reservation for the day we’d return from our hike.
Tired and happy, we returned to the hotel to sleep before setting out on our Tour of the Écrins. Read on to Stages 1-3: Le Monêtier-les-Bains, Vallouise, Refuge du Pré de la Chaumette, and Refuge de Vallonpierre.
