Answering the Eiffel Tower
Built a few years later, when cities competed to show their engineering.
Yann Caradec from Paris, France — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Romainbehar — CC0 · This picture belongs to Xavier Caré. Please credit : Xavier Caré / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA. If you would like special permission to use, license, or purchase the image please contact me to negoti — CC BY-SA 4.0 · This picture belongs to Xavier Caré. Please credit : Xavier Caré / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA. If you would like special permission to use, license, or purchase the image please contact me to negoti — CC BY-SA 4.0
A metal tower on the Fourvière hill beside the basilica, built at the end of the nineteenth century, and clearly and deliberately resembling the Eiffel Tower in its structure. The resemblance is no accident: it went up a few years after the Eiffel Tower, at a time when French cities competed to demonstrate their engineering. This tower is far shorter, but its position on the hilltop makes its summit the highest point in Lyon in terms of elevation above sea level. A decisive practical point to know before climbing up: the tower is closed to visitors and cannot be ascended. It works today as a telecommunications transmitter and has no open viewing platform. Anyone arriving expecting to go up will be disappointed. What genuinely rewards the trip is what surrounds it: the basilica's esplanade metres away gives the best panoramic view over the whole of Lyon, and it is free and open. The tower itself is an element in the view rather than a destination.
Built a few years later, when cities competed to show their engineering.
Far shorter than the Eiffel Tower, but the hill lifts its summit above everything.
The basilica esplanade beside it gives the city's best panorama, free.
Fourvière hill, beside the basilica, Lyon
Fourvière Museum of Sacred ArtA small museum within the complex of the basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, sh2 minutes walk4.1
Basilica of FourvièreThe Basilica of Fourvière crowns Lyon's white hill and shows from the whole city2 minutes walk4.9
Gadagne MuseumsTwo museums in a single Renaissance mansion in the heart of Vieux Lyon: the muse5 minutes walk4.4
Lugdunum MuseumLugdunum is Roman Lyon's memory: a museum buried in the Fourvière hill beside th5 minutes walk4.7
The Traboules of Old LyonThe traboules are Lyon's architectural secret: covered passages cutting through 5 minutes walk4.7No. The tower is entirely closed to the public and works as a transmission facility. There is no viewing platform and no visitor lift. This is worth knowing before going up to Fourvière so you do not build the wrong expectation.
The basilica esplanade on Fourvière, free and open, looking over the city, both rivers and as far as the Alps on clear days. Go up on the funicular from Vieux Lyon using an ordinary public transport ticket.