Top events in Lyon this week

Where to go in Lyon: events, concerts and shows worth your night

Lyon is France’s food capital and its second city for culture: an opera house with a black barrel vault by Jean Nouvel, a Roman theatre that hosts a summer festival, a contemporary art biennale, and a night that spreads along the two rivers. Below is where to go in Lyon for a night out, with addresses, and what tends to be on when.

Concerts, opera and dance in Lyon

The Opéra de Lyon (1 place de la Comédie, opera-lyon.com) stages opera and one of Europe’s best ballet companies from September to July, with free jazz in the foyer and cheap tickets on the day. The Auditorium (149 rue Garibaldi) is home to the Orchestre National de Lyon; touring rock and pop play the Halle Tony Garnier, a 1914 iron hall in Gerland, and Le Transbordeur across the Rhône in Villeurbanne. The Théâtres Romains de Fourvière take the Nuits de Fourvière festival on the hill each summer.

Lyon nightlife: the Presqu’île, the Croix-Rousse and the river barges

The Presqu’île between the rivers has the bars around the Rue Mercière and the Opéra, and the Croix-Rousse slopes above them the student bars; the péniches, the barges moored along the Rhône near the Guillotière bridge, are Lyon’s floating clubs, busiest from spring to autumn. Vieux Lyon is for dinner in a bouchon. The Metro stops around midnight, later on Fridays and Saturdays.

Museums and galleries in Lyon for an evening

The Musée d’Art Contemporain (Cité Internationale, 81 quai Charles de Gaulle) stages the city’s contemporary shows beside the Tête d’Or park; the Musée des Beaux-Arts on Place des Terreaux is the big fine-art collection, and the Musée des Confluences, the crystal at the meeting of the rivers, does science and civilisations with late opening on Thursdays.

Lyon festivals and events by season

• Winter: the Fête des Lumières, four nights of light installations across the whole city around 8 December, and the Christmas market on Place Carnot.
• Spring: Quais du Polar, the crime-fiction festival, in April, and the Nuits Sonores electronic festival in May.
• Summer: the Nuits de Fourvière in the Roman theatres from June to July, the Fête de la Musique on 21 June, and Tout l’monde dehors, the city’s free summer programme.
• Autumn: the Lyon Biennale of contemporary art or dance, alternating each September, the Lumière film festival in October, and the opera and concert seasons opening.

Things to do in Lyon tonight and this weekend

The listings above are the live version of all this: every concert, show, club night and exhibition on in Lyon tonight, tomorrow and this weekend, with times, prices and tickets, updated every hour.