Lyon Day Trips in 3 Days (With Real Costs)
Three days, three day trips, one Lyon base. Day 1 is Vienne (EUR 6 to 9, 30 minutes each way), Day 2 is a full Beaujolais wine day (EUR 60 to 100), and Day 3 adds Perouges, a free medieval village reachable in about 40 minutes. This extends the 2-day plan rather than replacing it; the same Day 1 and Day 2 apply. Need more time? The 5-day , 6-day and 7-day versions add Annecy and Grenoble on top of this route.
Book these before you go:
- The Beaujolais wine tour: small-group departures sell out fastest in tasting season and around Beaujolais Nouveau week. Book the wine tour on GetYourGuide
- A half-day Perouges tour, if you’d rather skip the drive or the TER connection. Book the Perouges tour on GetYourGuide
- A Presqu’ile or Vieux Lyon hotel: lock this in early since all three days start from the same base. Check rates on Booking.com
| Day | Day trip | Travel time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Vienne | About 30 min by TER | EUR 6 to 9 one way |
| Day 2 | Beaujolais | 30 to 45 min by car or tour | EUR 60 to 100 half-day tour |
| Day 3 | Perouges | About 40 min TER plus a walk, or 30 min by car | EUR 7 to 9 by train, EUR 2 parking |
Day 1: Vienne, the cheapest day trip on the list
Take a TER train from either Part-Dieu or Perrache; both run frequent service to Vienne, about 30 minutes each way for EUR 6 to 9. The Ancient Theatre, built around 40 CE and seated for roughly 13,000, is still used for concerts and the summer Jazz a Vienne festival. Walk a few minutes to the Temple of Augustus and Livia, dedicated 10 BC and remarkably intact for a building this old, standing in an ordinary town square rather than behind a fence. Cross the river to the Saint-Romain-en-Gal archaeological site if Roman history is genuinely your interest, adding an hour or two of mosaics and excavated villa foundations. Check current hours on Vienne Condrieu’s official site before you commit to the extra stop.
Day 2: a full day in Beaujolais
Don’t improvise this on public transit. The villages that make Beaujolais worth the trip, Fleurie, Morgon and Julienas among them, are exactly the ones the regional bus network skips. A half-day small-group tour typically covers two to four domaines with tastings and usually folds in a stop in the Pierres Dorees, roughly 40 hillside villages built from local iron-rich limestone that oxidizes to a rust-gold color. Oingt, the best known of them, is ranked one of France’s Most Beautiful Villages. If your dates land on 19 November 2026, Beaujolais Nouveau day turns both Lyon and the villages into a genuine local event, though book well ahead since it’s the busiest week of the year for wine and hotel prices. Check Beaujolais’s official tourism site for the current wine route map.
Day 3: Perouges, the free half-day village
Perouges is a tiny walled hilltop village about 35km northeast of Lyon, small enough to cross end to end in a few minutes. Entry is free. By car it’s about 30 minutes via the A42, with visitor parking around EUR 2 outside the gates. By train, take the TER to Meximieux-Perouges and add a roughly 20-minute uphill walk; check the current timetable on ter.sncf.com before you leave, since weekend service runs lighter than weekdays. Wear real shoes; the cobblestones are uneven. The one thing worth paying for is the galette de Perouges, a sugar-crusted tart sold from a single bakery inside the walls, usually a few euros a slice. Because the village is walkable in minutes, plan to be back in Lyon by mid-afternoon with cash left over for a proper bouchon dinner.
Three day trips is the point where a car rental starts to look tempting; it isn’t worth it here, since Vienne and Perouges both run on frequent TER service and Beaujolais is covered by the tour. Adding Annecy or Grenoble needs more runway than three days gives, which is what the 5-day version is for. Skipping the day trips entirely and staying in the city? Our Lyon budget guide covers Vieux Lyon and the traboules without leaving town.