Lyon Hop on Hop off Bus Tours

One of the best things to see and do in Lyon is to hop on a sightseeing bus that will take you to see the city's most incredible sights, monuments, popular attractions and iconic restaurants. All this while an expert guide tells you all about the history and culture of this city.

The best thing about all this is that there are two incredible ways to get around the city, one of them is the tourist bus and the other is getting on board the tram, which is a means of transport very similar to the bus that moves through the streets of the city. I'll tell you what it's like to get on each of them and how you have to do this activity.

Lyon City Tours is the company in charge of providing the tourist bus service in the city, so if you want to sign up for one of the best routes in Lyon, you have to go directly to the website of this company to buy tickets for the tour. It's a bus that takes you around the most popular areas of the city and takes you past the most important historical and cultural monuments.

In approximately 24 stops, both the bus and the tourist tram will take you to see not only the old city of Lyon, but also the Croix-Rousse district, which is one of the most popular cultural areas of the city. The bus makes strategic stops where you can hop on and off as many times as you want and from where you can see more of Lyon's sights.

The tourist bus has two distinct routes, one of them is the green route and the other one is the tram route. The best thing about these two routes is that they complement each other, i.e. each of them takes you to different parts of the city. In addition, each route has its own defining characteristics and timetables.

Green Line

The green line is the main line of the city's tourist buses, because it is precisely the one that is completed in a double-decker bus with panoramic windows so that you can see the whole city. This route will take you through sites such as the old city of Lyon, Confluence and Fourvière.

Throughout the tour you will have access to an audio guide in different languages, including Spanish, Italian, French, English, German, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese. The walk starts at Place Bellecour and the rest of the route takes you through eleven more stops.

Terreaux, Mur Peint-Aller, Palais de Justice, Vieux Lyon, Perrache, Musée des Confuences, Berges du Rhône, Théâtres Gallo-Romains, Fourvière, Parc des Hauteurs, Mur Peint-Retour, are the rest of the stops on this route.

Tramway

The tramway is the second way to get around the city. It is a bus segmented into carriages with panoramic windows from which you can see the whole city while listening to an audio guide available in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and French. The best thing about this route is that you can choose between two routes of seven and five stops each.

One of the routes takes you to Croix-Rousse, which is one of Lyon's most popular neighbourhoods, because it is known as the city within the city. You will be struck by its steep streets and its various interesting sites, including the Fresque Végétale Lumière, the Mur des Canuts and the Fresque des Lyonnais.

This Croix-Rousse route takes you to seven specific places, including Place Colbert, Place Croix-Paquet, Cour des Moirages and rue de Burdeau. The other route on this tram line is the Vieux Lyon route, which passes at least five landmarks, including Place du Gouvernement and rue Saint-Georges.

The difference between the tram and the bus is that the ticket is valid for a round trip route where there are no stops and you only have the opportunity to see the city from your seat on the bus. In general it is more of a panoramic tour than a dedicated tour, as is the case with the tourist bus.

Duo Pass

This duo pass is one of the most sought after in Lyon because it combines the two types of transport, the green line bus and the tram ride. This pass gives you the opportunity to experience the two separately, by buying it you have the opportunity to hop on the tourist bus for at least one day and hop off at as many stops as you like.

At the same time you have the opportunity to hop on the tram and enjoy the city from the comfort of your seat. This dual tour offers you one of the best city tours in Lyon, because not only will you be able to see every single place of interest in the city, but you will also be able to take amazing pictures from your seat thanks to the panoramic windows of the tram.

• Thanks to the short duration of these trips, this is one of the best options for sightseeing in Lyon if you're only in town for a short time.
• Both routes offer you the chance to tour the town with an audio guide which is available in several languages, in the case of the bus you can choose from 8 languages, and in the case of the tram you can choose from 6 languages.
• The tourist bus offers you a ticket valid for a whole day and with free stops at the 12 stipulated stops.
• The tram offers a round trip and is one of the best ways to see the city quickly and safely.
• Both transport services are adapted for wheelchair users and people with other disabilities.
• There are multiple payment methods and also discounts for children and others based on age and specific conditions.
• You can validate your ticket online without having to print it out, and reservations can be made a minimum of time before boarding.
• There are special discounts for large families and also for tourists travelling in groups.
• Discounts are available if you have a city card.

The duration of the entire trip varies according to the type of tour or route you have chosen. In the case of the green line tourist bus, the duration of the ride can last an hour and a half, during which time you will travel through the 12 stops. However, this is the minimum duration of the activity, assuming you do not get off at any of the stops.

If you were to do the tour by getting off at each stop, it could take much longer to do the whole ride. It is important to note that the bus pass lasts for 24 hours from the time you buy the pass, so you can spend the whole day touring the city on the sightseeing bus.

The tram, on the other hand, usually takes about an hour to complete its journey. In this case, you would spend that whole hour on the tram seeing all the sights in the city.

During this trip you will have the opportunity to see different amazing places in the city of Lyon, also because in each of the routes you will have the opportunity to see different places.

In the case of the green line, you will have the opportunity to see and visit sites such as the statue of Louis XIV and the Tourist Office, both located in Place Bellecour. You can also see the Clocher de la Charité building on Place Antonin Poncet.

The Lyon Opera House, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Les Susbistances, Palais de Justice, Cathédrale Saint-Jean, Théâtre des Célestins, Musée Miniature & Cinéma, Musée des Confluences and Centre d'Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation are other places you can see along the way.

Prices may vary according to the type of trip, with the trams costing around 10 euros per adult, while children over 4 years of age pay 6 euros for their bus ticket. The tram also offers a full ticket for families of two children and two adults, the price of which can vary between 26 and 27 euros for everyone.

On the other hand, the green line tourist bus offers tickets for 22 euros per person, while a children's ticket costs approximately 9 euros. In case you go with your whole family, you will have to pay around 55 euros to receive a ticket valid for two adults and two children.

The double ticket, which includes both the tram ride and the sightseeing bus ride, costs approximately 27 euros for each adult and approximately 11 euros for each child. For families consisting of two children and two adults, the price of this ticket can be around 67 euros per person.

The best thing about this double pass is that it is valid for two days, and it is definitely a good deal to take advantage of if you want to tour Lyon with children.

The timetables of the tourist bus and tram vary from one another and also depend on the time of year. During the winter months, they usually stop running for a few days, or simply change their timetable a bit.

In any case, there is no doubt that riding the tourist bus or tram is one of the best things to do in Lyon in May or any month of spring and summer, when they run for the longest hours per day. However, as a general rule, the tourist bus usually has at least seven departures a day, starting around 10:15am and leaving for the last time around 5pm, returning at approximately 6:45pm.

Stops at each of the sites of interest occur every five to fifteen minutes, depending on the distance from one point to another. In the case of the tram, it usually departs between 11:30 and 17:45. Unlike the tourist bus, the tram has a special feature in that the timetable is the same throughout the year.

The way in which this means of transport works is very simple, although each one has its differences that characterise it. In the case of the tourist bus, it works for a whole day, which means that as soon as you buy your ticket, you have 24 hours to use it, with no exceptions.

You can get off at any stop you want and the price does not include visits to each of the sites of cultural and tourist interest, however, the Lyon City Tours company offers some routes with guided tours in conjunction with the tourist bus throughout the city.

On the other hand, the tram ticket works a bit differently, it's a tour where you don't get off at each stop, but you will have the opportunity to enjoy the scenery from inside the tram.

The process of validating your bus ticket is very simple, you just have to present your e-ticket when you get on the bus and your ticket is activated. You should also know that the tourist bus and tram work with the city card. In the case of the bus, all you have to do is show your card and you can get on. To get on the tram, you will get a discount of two euros if you present the card.