Lyon in 7 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Seven days in Lyon is the full free-and-cheap spine plus a market-and-airport wrap-up day, built for travelers who want every free sight at least twice. Shorter trip? See our 3-day or 5-day itinerary instead.
Book these before you go
- Hotel: check Presqu’ile or Vieux Lyon availability on Booking.com
- A traboules walking tour: browse times on GetYourGuide
- A bouchon food tour: reserve through Viator
| Day | Focus | Est. cost (EUR) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Vieux Lyon, the traboules, Fourviere basilica | 30 to 40 |
| Day 2 | Presqu’ile murals, Croix-Rousse, La Guillotiere dinner | 25 to 35 |
| Day 3 | Parc de la Tete d’Or, Musee des Confluences | 35 to 45 |
| Day 4 | Croix-Rousse market, Lugdunum Museum | 30 to 40 |
| Day 5 | River quays, second bouchon lunch | 30 to 40 |
| Day 6 | Flex day, Lyon City Card math | 25 to 30 |
| Day 7 | Market breakfast, Rhonexpress to LYS | 15 to 20 |
Day 1: Vieux Lyon and Fourviere, the free start
Buy a single Ticket Liberte Jour day pass (EUR 6.60) at any TCL machine, it covers every ride today, both Fourviere funiculars included. Start on foot in Vieux Lyon: the Renaissance streets around Rue Saint-Jean cost nothing to wander, and ducking through two or three traboules is free too, these covered passages are mostly private property, so keep the visit quiet, don’t linger, and shut the door behind you, public access only runs 7am to 7pm. The Cathedrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Lyon’s actual cathedral, is free to enter and holds a working 14th-century astronomical clock.
Take the funicular up to Fourviere (included in the day pass). The basilica’s nave, crypt, and esplanade are free; skip the paid rooftop tour (EUR 14) unless it’s already in the budget. Walk down past the outdoor Roman theatres at Lugdunum, free and open daily, before heading back into town for a bouchon dinner: a formule at a certified Bouchon Lyonnais runs roughly EUR 20 to 32 and is worth the one splurge today.
Rough total for the day, transport and food, no lodging: EUR 30 to 40.
Day 2: Free murals and the Croix-Rousse silk quarter
No must-buy ticket today. Walk the Presqu’ile past Place Bellecour and Rue de la Republique, window shopping, zero cost, then find the Fresque des Lyonnais at 49 Quai Saint-Vincent: a free, 800-square-meter trompe-l’oeil mural of 30 famous Lyonnais, from the Lumiere brothers to Paul Bocuse, painted onto a blank building wall.
Head up to Croix-Rousse, the same day pass or a single EUR 2.10 TCL ticket covers the bus or metro, for the Mur des Canuts, a second giant painted mural marking the neighborhood’s silk-weaving past, plus a fresh set of traboules that get far fewer visitors than the ones down in Vieux Lyon. Lyon’s official tourism site keeps current opening hours if any of this shifts. Lunch at Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse costs whatever you spend at the stalls, a cheese and charcuterie plate and a coffee runs about EUR 10 to 15. Dinner in La Guillotiere, Lyon’s most multicultural district, is the cheapest meal of the trip: EUR 12 to 20 for a full plate at one of the North African, Vietnamese, or Chinese kitchens near the metro stop.
Rough total for the day: EUR 25 to 35.
Day 3: Parc de la Tete d’Or and the one museum worth paying for
Start free: Parc de la Tete d’Or is open dawn to dusk, and both the botanical garden and the small zoo inside it, around 300 animals, cost nothing. Bring a picnic from a market stall rather than buying lunch in the park.
In the afternoon, ride the tram down to the Confluence district at the tip of the peninsula. The redeveloped docklands are free to walk past, but the Musee des Confluences is the one paid stop on this whole trip that earns its keep: adult admission is EUR 12 (EUR 7 for visitors 18 to 25), and the building itself, a glass and steel structure designed to look like a cloud landing on a crystal, is worth seeing even before you reach the natural-history galleries inside. Budget two to three hours.
Dinner back on the Presqu’ile, casual, runs EUR 15 to 20. Rough total for the day, with the museum ticket: EUR 35 to 45.
Day 4: Back to Croix-Rousse, and the Roman museum this time
The outdoor Roman theatres were free on Day 1; today, go inside. The Lugdunum Museum next to the theatres is a separate paid ticket, from EUR 4 full price (EUR 2.50 reduced, free the first Sunday of the month), and it’s the context that makes the ruins outside make sense: mosaics, coins, and inscriptions from Lugdunum, the Roman city Lyon grew out of.
Spend the morning back in Croix-Rousse at its market, free to browse, cheap to buy from, and a second round of traboules you didn’t reach on Day 2, this neighborhood has more of them than Vieux Lyon does. Lunch is a market-stall sandwich or crepe, EUR 5 to 8. Dinner: pick a second, different bouchon from Day 1’s, comparing formules is half the fun of Lyon on a budget, and a EUR 20 to 32 set menu again.
Rough total for the day: EUR 30 to 40.
Day 5: A slow day on the two rivers
Lyon sits between the Rhone and the Saone, and walking both riverbanks costs nothing. Start on the Saone quays below Vieux Lyon, cross to the Presqu’ile, then follow the Rhone’s left bank toward the university district. Bring a book, or just watch the barges, this is the day with no ticket to buy.
Treat yourself to a bouchon lunch formule (EUR 20 to 32) rather than dinner today, kitchens run quieter and often cheaper at midday. The official bouchon label list helps you pick a certified one away from Vieux Lyon’s tourist crush. In the afternoon, browse the Rue de la Republique shops without buying, or catch whichever free exhibition happens to be on near Place Bellecour. Dinner can be as simple as a EUR 8 to 12 crepe from a Vieux Lyon stall.
Rough total for the day: EUR 30 to 40.
Day 6: A flex day, spend it on what you liked most
By now you know which free sight you’d rather see again at a quieter hour, go back to it. Early morning in Vieux Lyon before the tour groups arrive, or a second lap of Fourviere’s esplanade at sunset, costs the same as the first time, nothing, plus your day pass. If you haven’t picnicked in Parc de la Tete d’Or yet, do it today, the rose garden alone, 30,000 roses, is worth the walk even outside of bloom season.
This is also the day to price out a Lyon City Card if you’re stacking museums: the 24-hour card runs EUR 29, the 48-hour EUR 39, and it only pencils out if you’re combining unlimited transport with two or more paid museums and the Fourviere rooftop tour in the same window. For a slower trip built around single tickets and the one EUR 12 Confluences ticket, the plain EUR 2.10 TCL fares are usually cheaper. Meals today, casual: EUR 20 to 25 total.
Rough total for the day: EUR 25 to 30.
Day 7: Market breakfast, then the airport
Spend the morning at a neighborhood market, Croix-Rousse’s is the biggest, for a final cheap breakfast: coffee and a pastry for EUR 4 to 6. Take one more free walk, the quays, a mural you missed, whichever traboule you liked best, before heading to catch the Rhonexpress.
The airport is Lyon-Saint Exupery (LYS); the only sensible way there is the Rhonexpress tram from Part-Dieu, about 30 minutes, with fares reported anywhere from roughly EUR 10 to EUR 16.70 depending on when and how you book, book online in advance rather than paying onboard, which adds a flat EUR 4 surcharge. Don’t plan around Lyon-Bron, it has handled no scheduled passenger flights since 1975.
Rough total for the day, excluding the Rhonexpress fare: EUR 15 to 20.
Is a full week too long for Lyon on a budget?
Not if you’re repeating the free sights at quieter hours and adding a second bouchon and the Lugdunum Museum along the way. Seven days lets you see everything on this list without rushing any of it, and it still costs less than a rushed 3-day trip padded with taxis.
How much does 7 days in Lyon cost on this spine?
Roughly EUR 200 to 260 total for transport, food, two museum tickets, and the Rhonexpress fare across seven days, no lodging, including the trip out to the airport on the last day.
Book the Rhonexpress fare online a day or two before your flight rather than at the platform machine. It’s cheaper than paying onboard and one less thing to sort out with luggage on departure morning.