Lyon as a Base: 5 Day Trip Plan
Five days covers every day trip from Lyon actually worth the train ticket: Vienne, Beaujolais, Perouges, Annecy and now Grenoble, the one legitimate single-day taste of the Alps. Same base, same hotel, five separate directions out of Part-Dieu or Perrache, none of them requiring you to change rooms mid-week. Shorter versions of this plan run 2 , 3 and 4 days . The 6 day and 7 day versions add a flex day and a departure day on top of this one, same spine, nothing re-ordered.
Book these before you go
- Book the Beaujolais tour first, small-group departures sell out fastest in tasting season and around Beaujolais Nouveau week. Book the wine tour
- Perouges by tour skips the train connection and the uphill walk. Book the Perouges tour
- Annecy direct trains are limited to about six a day, book seats or a guided day trip ahead. Book the Annecy day trip
- Presqu’ile and Vieux Lyon hotels sit closest to both stations you will use all week. Check rates on Booking.com
| Day | Day trip | Distance/time from Lyon | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Vienne | About 30 min by TER | Roman ruins, half day |
| Day 2 | Beaujolais + Pierres Dorees | About 30-45 min by car or tour | Wine country, full day |
| Day 3 | Perouges | About 40 min by TER plus a walk | Medieval village, half day |
| Day 4 | Annecy | About 1h50-2h15 direct by TER | Lake and mountains, full day |
| Day 5 | Grenoble | About 1h25 by TER | Alps taste, full day |
Day 1: Vienne
About 30 minutes by direct TER from Part-Dieu or Perrache, book seats on sncf-connect.com the night before rather than risk a full morning train. The Ancient Theatre, built around 40 CE and still used for the summer Jazz a Vienne festival, seats 13,000 as a working venue rather than a fenced ruin, and the Temple of Augustus and Livia, dated to around 10 BC, is one of the best-preserved Roman temples in France, standing in the middle of the modern town. Check current hours on vienne-condrieu.com , and cross the river to Saint-Romain-en-Gal for another hour of mosaics if you want the fuller Roman picture. Back in Lyon by mid-afternoon, this is intentionally the lightest day of the five.
Day 2: Beaujolais and the Pierres Dorees
A car or small-group tour, not a train ticket. Villages like Fleurie, Morgon and Julienas sit past where public transit gives out entirely, and a half-day tour typically covers two to four domaines with Gamay-based tastings, plus the golden-stone Pierres Dorees hamlets around Oingt, listed at beaujolais.com . Oingt is ranked one of France’s Most Beautiful Villages, and the wider Pierres Dorees area carries UNESCO Global Geopark status since 2018. This is the most physically demanding day on the schedule, plan a genuinely quiet dinner back in Lyon rather than another elaborate meal.
Day 3: Perouges
A half day, not a full one. About 40 minutes by TER to Meximieux-Perouges plus a 20 minute uphill walk, or 30 minutes by car with cheap parking outside the gates. Worth the detour for the cobblestones and the local galette pastry, not worth an entire day’s schedule against it. Back in Lyon by early afternoon, with the rest of the day free for a slower look at whichever neighborhood you have not properly explored yet.
Day 4: Annecy
Budget the whole day for this one. Direct TER trains from Part-Dieu run 1h50 to about 2h15, and only around six direct services run daily, so take the earliest reasonable one and confirm your return service before you leave the hotel that morning. The canal-laced Vieille Ville, the lake, and the Chateau d’Annecy are the core stops, and the Col de la Forclaz viewpoint above the lake rewards the extra effort if you have a car or a tour that includes it. Check current lake-cruise and cable-car schedules on lac-annecy.com . Fares for the direct TER start from around 25 euros booked ahead, rising sharply on the day, and summer weekends bring the heaviest crowds to both the train and the lakefront.
Day 5: Grenoble
About 1h25 by TER, hourly departures, no advance booking required for the ride itself. The Bastille cable car, one of the world’s first urban cableways, dating to 1934, lifts you straight to panoramic views of the Belledonne, Vercors and Chartreuse ranges, and the Musee de Grenoble covers Egyptian antiquities through Renoir and Monet if the weather turns uncooperative. This is genuinely the single-day Alps trip from Lyon that works; Chamonix is not, with no direct train and drive times upward of two and a half hours each way, and does not belong on a day-trip list at all.
Is Beaujolais doable without a car?
Not comfortably. Public transit reaches the edge of the region but not villages like Fleurie or Morgon, so a car or an organized tour is the practical way to taste more than one domaine without also having to drive yourself afterward.
Is Perouges worth a full day?
No. It is walkable end to end in a few minutes, so a half day, including the train connection or a short drive, covers it. Pair it with a lighter morning or a longer route rather than a dedicated round trip for the village alone.
How long does the Annecy day trip actually take?
About four hours of travel round trip, since direct services run 1h50 to 2h15 each way. Treat it as a full day on its own rather than something layered onto another destination on the same schedule.
Spread the two full-day trips, Annecy and Grenoble, across the week rather than stacking them back to back. Both involve well over two hours of travel each way, and running them consecutively leaves you with no actual rest day before the flight home. If your schedule forces the choice, keep Grenoble over Chamonix every time; the cable car and the Alpine views are the same basic payoff for a fraction of the travel time, and nothing about a five day trip justifies burning an entire day on transit alone.