Lyon in 4 days

One of Europe's largest Renaissance quarters, between the Saône and Fourvière hill, with galleried courtyards and stair towers along Rue Saint-Jean and Rue du Bœuf.

The white basilica crowning the hill since the late 19th century, lined inside with gold mosaics and marble, above a quieter crypt.

The strip of city between the Rhône and the Saône, linking Place Bellecour, Place des Terreaux with its Bartholdi fountain, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Hidden passages cut through the silk workers' buildings down the hill; the Cour des Voraces, with its six-storey staircase, is the most striking.

A 1,200 square metre trompe-l'oeil mural of daily life in the silk workers' district, repainted every few years so its characters grow older.

Lyon's covered food market, with around fifty traders selling cheese, quenelles, chocolate and oysters; at weekends, lunch at the counters is the thing to do.

A 105-hectare park in the city with a boating lake, a large rose garden, tropical glasshouses and a free zoo, enough for half a day.

A glass and steel museum at the meeting of the Rhône and Saône, covering origins and civilisations, from dinosaurs to Pacific collections.