Lyon is the main rail hub of central France and the country’s third largest city. The most important railway station is Lyon Part Dieu which lies to the east of the city centre. All long-distance trains serve Lyon Part Dieu. Many local trains and some TGVs also serve Lyon-Perrache, in the more central Presqu’île district. The airport, about 25 km from the city, has its own station called Lyon-St Exupéry (TGV). Note that, since it's well out of town, the airport railway station is not included in searches here using ‘Lyon (Any Station)’.

Fast TGV trains leave Paris at least hourly for Lyon, most taking less than two hours for the 427-km journey to Lyon Part Dieu. There are hourly high-speed services to Avignon and Marseille, as well as several direct trains daily to the French Riviera. There are excellent links with regional trains from Lyon to cities in the French Alps such as Annecy, Grenoble and Chambéry.

Lyon benefits from a superb range of long-distance and international links, including five trains each day to Brussels. There is a daily train from Lyon Part Dieu to Turin and Milan (with additional services from the station at Lyon airport). From Lyon, it is a short hop east to Switzerland with about eight trains each day from Lyon to Geneva. There are also fast once-daily direct links from Lyon to Basel, Baden-Baden, Frankfurt am Main, Girona and Barcelona. Eurostar has a summer season direct service to Lyon from London. In 2019, that direct train from London to Lyon runs three or four times per week from early May until mid-September.

Lyon is a major centre for industry and commerce, yet it also makes its mark as a significant tourist centre. In recent years Lyon has become a popular destination in the city-break market, particularly on weekend nights when hotel rates in the city often tumble. The heart of Vieux Lyon is tucked into a bend on the west bank of the River Saône, while the life of the modern city centres on a finger of land called Presqu’île between the two rivers. Make time for the new Musée des Confluences, a bold piece of deconstructivist design, which has done much to breathe new life into the old docklands district.