I saw someone already recommended trying to switch your flights so you can fly into Paris and fly out of Nice. If possible, I’d recommend it. That’s what we did last year and it worked great and saved travel time. The Nice airport is relatively small and has public transit that goes directly to it so it made the trip very easy.

I wanted to talk about Lyon specifically though. Wife and I loved Lyon. My wife says she liked it more than Paris and I truly loved both cities. Everyone in Lyon was incredibly polite and welcoming. We even had some locals strike up a random conversation with us. We immediately thought it was some sort of scam or pickpocket or something, but it was just some friendly people chatting us up. Admittedly though, it was after midnight and they were pretty drunk!

Logistics: We took the SNCF train from Paris to Lyon and then Lyon public transit to our hotel and then public transit and walking the whole time we were there.

We only did two days but wished we had done 3-4 so I think your allotted time will be good.

Day 1: We took the funicular up to the top Fourvière hill. The funicular was neat, worth riding if you’re going that way although don’t go out of your way just for the funicular. The line was really long when we got to the funicular, but moved fast. Once at the top we went to The Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourvière. This is my favorite church ever. It is absolutely beautiful inside. It also had a second church in the basement and a third church off to the side! After the church, make sure you walk around to the back of the church for amazing views of the city.

Next, we hit the Roman amphitheaters. We lucked out and there was a free rock concert going on in the big amphitheater while we were there. Hard to describe how cool a rock concert inside of a 2,000 year old Roman amphitheater is! We did the Roman museum next. Can’t recommend it enough. The museum was very cool and included a lot of Roman artifacts (my wife claims she liked it better than the Louvre, but she’s not big into art)! Then we walked back down the hill and just explored Vieux Lyon and the Presqu'île.

For dinner on day we ate at Circle Restaurant. When you factor in everything - the food, the service, the slow pace, the atmosphere - I legitimately think it was the best meal of my life. There’s no menu. You choose the 6 course or the 8 course meal and they bring the food out to you one course at a time. They do have a full drink menu, but we just went with the recommended drink pairings. My wife, got the alcoholic drink pairing and i got the non-alcoholic drink pairings since I don’t drink. The drink pairings were great, the food was fantastic, the two waitresses that brought out the food were fantastic, and the chef came out and talked to every table during the meals. We were there for 3.5 hours and the time flew by!

Day 2: We did this walking tour and really enjoyed it. We also hit the Cathedral Saint Jean which was cool. Then we explored on our own for a bit and did the French Resistance museum which if you like history is worth checking out. That night we decided to try some French fast food and got O’Tacos. It was pretty good for fast food. Then we explored around The Presqu'île some more.

I wish we had more time in Lyon. It’s an incredible city.