10 Things to Do in Lyon in April

Visiting Lyon in April is a wonderful experience, because spring brings pleasant weather and the city comes alive to offer you a wide variety of activities to enjoy.

One of the best things to see and do in Lyon during this month is to enjoy the city's International Fair, but I also recommend exploring the botanical gardens and having a picnic in the meadows of Fourvière for the spring season. April is also a good time to taste gastronomy and visit museums.

One of the main events you definitely can't miss if you visit Lyon in April is the Lyon International Fair, which is no less than 50 years old. It is a fair that attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world and is set up in the city for three days to provide entertainment for locals and visitors.

Inside the fair you can get a taste of Lyon's cuisine before signing up for one of the best gastronomic tours in Lyon, but you will also have the opportunity to attend music, theater and dance performances. In the middle of the show you will be able to buy handicrafts, arts and local products. Without a doubt, this Lyon International Fair is the perfect place and time to experience the local Lyon culture.

Details of interest

• Price: you will have to pay between 15 and 20 euros per ticket for one day.
• Date and time: it takes place from the second week of March to the first week of April. Activities are generally available between 9:00 and 19:00 every day.
• Address: takes place every year at the Parc des Expositions de Lyon.

The Lyon-Charbonnières Rally is an automobile event that has been held annually in Lyon for over 80 years, making it one of the city's most important sporting events. It is a rally with several stages distributed in about 400 kilometers of mountain roads, which is undoubtedly one of the best activities to do in Lyon.

If you are a car lover then the Lyon-Charbonnières Rally is definitely for you, considering that this event attracts thousands of fans every year. Within the competitions you will have the opportunity to see the best drivers driving the most incredible cars in the middle of a very exciting atmosphere.

Details of interest

• Price: you will have to pay around 20 euros per person to enjoy this event. Children and young people under 16 years old can enter free of charge.
• Date and time: it is usually held during the last week of April and lasts about three to four days. These competitions usually take place between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on all days.
• Direction: the race starts in Lyon and the competitors make a route of about 400 kilometers through rural roads in the Rhone-Alpes region.

A true window for urban music and culture is the Reperkusound Festival, an annual event held in Lyon during the first week of April in the city. If you are a lover of urban music , you will love to enjoy this festival that brings together rap, hip-hop, funk, soul and jazz artists from around the world.

In the middle of the music festival, these artists take the opportunity to present their work live. But it's not all about music, you will also have the opportunity to enjoy art exhibitions and activities for children. If you have already done some of the best tours of Lyon and now you want to know and enjoy how the urban life is lived in the city, I recommend you to go to this spring festival.

Details of interest

• Price: you will have to pay an entrance fee of around 12 euros per person, while young people under 16 get free admission to the festival.
• Date and time: the event takes place during the first week of April and the show usually starts around 16:00 and runs until midnight.
• Address: this festival is held in one of the city's parks, but the exact location may vary from year to year.

If you love fine spirits, there are two things you must do in the city in April: sign up for one of Lyon' s best wine tours and go to the Lyon Biere Festival, an event dedicated to craft beer. It focuses on presenting different types of craft beer from all over France and beyond.

During the event you can taste craft beer, and at the same time you can enjoy live music. You will be able to attend conferences, workshops, competitions and other activities that take place within the event. Although it is not one of the best activities for children, they are also welcome, but they must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Details of interest

• Price: you will not have to pay any cost to go and enjoy this Festival.
• Date and time: usually the event takes place during the third week of April.
• Address: this exhibition is available at the Le Sucre concert hall.

Taking advantage of the spring weather, there is one activity that I recommend you to do during your visit to Lyon in April and that is to visit the botanical gardens of the city, which are usually open between 8:00 to 17:00. The special thing about going to these places during the month of April is that in this season the flowers show all their splendor.

Inside these botanical gardens you can learn about the history of botany and the biological diversity that exists in different climates. Visiting the botanical gardens in Lyon during spring will help you to get to know and photograph some of the most beautiful exotic and lush plants in these spaces.

Details of interest

• Price: you will be able to enter the botanical gardens for free, although in some cases you may be asked to pay an entrance fee.
• Date and time: these spaces are generally open between 8:00 and 17:00 every day.
• Address: the botanical gardens are distributed throughout the city, so you have many options to choose from.

If you're a fan of crime stories and thrillers, you can't miss the Quais du Polar festival in Lyon. It is an annual event where artists share with the attending public, books and detective films. In addition to that, you will have the opportunity to participate in conferences and workshops with authors and experts in the field.

It is certainly one of those activities that you should include in your Lyon itinerary in 1 day if you go to the city in April and you are a fan of the detective genre. If you're still missing information to know that it's a good idea to take a stroll through the fair, you should know that authors of the stature of Fred Vargas, Franck Thilliez, Jean-Christophe Grangé and Jean-Michel Nicollet have presented their work at the festival.

Interesting details

• Price: you will not have to pay anything to enjoy the Festival's events.
• Date and time: usually held during the first week of April and between 14:00 and 22:00.
• Address: the exhibition is held every year at the Parc des Expositions de Lyon.

Without a doubt the Kidexpo is one of those activities that I recommend you include in your list of things to see and do in Lyon with children, considering that it is an annual event dedicated to children and teenagers that attracts more than 200,000 people every year. Although it has a fall edition in Paris, it also opens its doors in Lyon for the month of April and lasts for three days.

Kidexpo is an event open to the public where children of all ages can enter to enjoy all the activities inside. Games, workshops, exhibitions and concerts are some of the activities you can enjoy. The event happens as part of the Lyon International Fair and the best thing about this experience is that it covers topics as varied as education, health, culture, sports and technology.

Details of interest

• Price: admission is free for all the public, so you will not have to pay anything to enter to enjoy the shows.
• Date and time: it takes place during two days of the third week of April.
• Address: it takes place at the Parc des Expositions de Lyon.

Another thing you definitely have to do in April, taking advantage of the spring weather, is to go and enjoy the meadows of Fourviere, which are much nicer during the spring months. To make your visit complete, I recommend you to bring something to have a picnic in the meadows.

It is a very nice option to do in April thanks to the cool weather that is still present during the month. Another thing you will appreciate in these parks in Fourviere is the fauna and flora, which you will also want to photograph. You should know that there are many ways to get to the park by public transportation.

Details of interest

• Price: There is no entrance fee to enter the fields and meadows of Fourviere.
• Date and time: the fields are open between 8:00 and 18:00 every day.
• Address: they are located on the Fourviere hill in the city of Lyon.

If you love photography and recreating good memories, you will surely love to visit one of the most important monuments of the city which is the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere. It is undoubtedly a spectacle of places, but visiting it during the month of April is one of the best decisions you can make.

The Basilica has in its interior a viewpoint from which you can see the whole city with a privileged panoramic view. So one of the best times to take these pictures is undoubtedly the month of April, in the middle of spring.

Interesting details

• Price: the entrance to the Basilica is free, so you will not have to pay anything extra to enter.
• Date and time: you can visit this monument during the whole month of April, as long as you go between 9:00 and 18:30 from Monday to Saturday, or from 13:00 to 18:00 on Sundays.
• Address: you can find the Basilica on the Fourvière hill in Lyon.

Also considering the weather in Lyon during spring, definitely one of the best things you can do in the month of April is to board a cruise on the Rhone, so you can take advantage of the panoramic views to take enough pictures and admire the breathtaking scenery of Lyon and the Rhone.

The golden olive groves and charming villages along the river will be part of the scenery you will be able to see throughout the cruise. You will also have the opportunity to choose to go on a cruise that offers an excursion to Lake Geneva, which is south of the city.

But it's not all about the scenery that you will see during the cruise, you will also be able to enjoy the regional French cuisine while cruising along the mighty Rhone.

Details of interest

• Price: A cruise on the Rhone could cost you between 500 and 1500 euros per person.
• Date and Time: You will be able to cruise out in the morning and return in the late afternoon to the city of Lyon.
• Direction: Cruises generally depart from the Lyon Cruise Station which is located in the southern part of the city of Lyon.

During the spring in Lyon, temperatures rise a bit, although they are still cool enough not to wear such summery clothes. The highest temperatures do not usually exceed 24°C, but the lowest temperatures can go as low as 9°C, without dropping below that ceiling.

With these temperatures, spring weather in Lyon still forces you to wear covered clothing, although it is a good time to enjoy more of the weather, sun, breeze and scenery that the city of Lyon has to offer.

In Lyon during the month of April, the number of tourists in the city increases considerably. This is a month when the season starts to be considered high because the weather allows tourists to come to the city to get to know it better without the limitation of winter weather.

In addition, the city organizes a lot of activities to entertain locals and visitors, taking into account that during the first days of April Easter is celebrated, which is an ideal time to enjoy the tourist attractions in the city. This is one of the main reasons why the number of tourists increases for this date.

The temperature in Lyon during this time of the year is supposed to remain cool without feeling cold at all, which is why some of the things you should include in your suitcase if you are going on this trip to Lyon in April include light and comfortable clothes for mild weather, an umbrella, sunglasses and comfortable shoes for walking around the city.

Since it is a spring climate, it is logical to think that you should include in your suitcase a couple of warm clothes for the evenings and also for very cold days. I recommend you take with you a backpack to store personal items and a waterproof bag for rainy days.