Car Rental - Lyon

With its scenic location in eastern-central France, Lyon offers the chance to experience the very best of the country’s food and culture.

Situated at the meeting point of two rivers – the Rhône and the Saône – its picturesque surroundings make it a popular tourist city. As the third largest city in France, it’s also a busy industrial and commercial center.

With excellent road connections to other parts of France, car rental in Lyon is the perfect way to get around during your stay. We have several Hertz collection points located around the city, including car rental at Lyon Airport, for maximum convenience if you’re flying in.

When you book with us there are no hidden charges to pay, and our best price guarantee means that, should you find cheaper Hertz car rental in Lyon, we’ll refund the difference.

Known worldwide for its gourmet food and wine, the city of Lyon offers an amazing range of restaurants as well as many architectural highlights and historic places to explore. Using it as a base, you can also explore the countryside and many other attractions in this charming part of France – all from the comfort of your Lyon rental car.

There are many impressive monuments to see around the center of Lyon. While it may be smaller than Paris’s iconic Notre Dame, Lyon’s cathedral is no less beautiful.

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière is an impressive 19th century structure on a hilltop overlooking the city, so you can enjoy views of the surrounding areas and even the Alps in the distance. You can reserve tickets online to take one of its 90-minute rooftop tours. There’s plenty of parking nearby for you to leave your Lyon rental car too.

Also well worth a visit is the Musée des Confluences, a huge modern glass and metal structure set between the Rhône and Saône. From the outside it’s a hugely impressive sight, and if you venture inside you’ll find several fascinating exhibitions including a natural science display that traces life on earth all the way back to the Big Bang.

Lyon is perhaps most famous for its cuisine, and you’ll be truly spoilt for choice if you’re looking for traditional French food. Thanks to the city’s location in the heart of France, Lyonnaise chefs have access to the very best regional produce, including fresh vegetables from Charolais and fish from Savoy.

It’s also just a few miles from the famous wine region of Beaujolais and, of course, there are numerous local cheeses produced nearby. Local markets including Les Halles de Lyon and La Croix Rousse offer the chance to buy some top-quality produce, while in the evening you can dine at one of the Michelin-starred restaurants in the city.

A traditional Lyonnaise restaurant is known as a bouchon and is usually a small, family-run bistro. Here you’ll find filling homemade foods such as duck pâté, sausages and roast pork, all served in a homely, rustic atmosphere. If you’re feeling adventurous, try the tablier de sapeur, a specialty made from beef tripe.

As befits a major French city, Lyon is rich in culture too. The Musee des Beaux Arts can easily occupy a whole day of your time, although it’s much more manageable than its Parisian counterpart, the Louvre. Here you’ll wander past pieces by Picasso and Monet, stunning sculpture by Rodin and also antiquities from across the globe. Fascinating changing exhibitions keep things fresh. Paid street parking is widely available nearby for you to leave your holiday car rental.

For a refined evening out in sumptuous surroundings, snaffle a ticket or two for the Opera de Lyon. This lovely 19th century building was given a sympathetic late-20th century touch-up and it hosts an internationally renowned program.

Car rental in Lyon is your key to unlocking the very best of this vital city, a place of pride, culture and cuisine. And, if you have time left, the rest of France awaits…

As you’d expect in one of Europe’s biggest countries, the towns and cities of France are connected by an excellent road network and Lyon is no exception.

Autoroutes (the French equivalent of highways) are a good way to travel quickly and directly across large parts of the country. Most of these roads are owned and operated by private companies so tolls will apply. The other main roads in France are National Roads - or Routes Nationales - which are usually two-lane highways and do not have tolls.

To reach Paris when you rent a car in Lyon, it’s a 289-mile drive north via the Autoroute A6. This route takes you through the Burgundy Mountains, making it a beautifully scenic journey. Lyon is also less than two hours’ drive from the Swiss city of Geneva, which can be reached by driving along the A42 and A40 with sensational views of the Alps along the way.

Less than four hours’ drive to the south in your Lyon rental car - via the A7 - lies France’s second biggest city, Marseille, a Mediterranean port home to the enormous Stade Vélodrome soccer stadium as well as many designer hotels, museums and galleries. This route also offers access to the beautiful coastline of the south of France.

In Lyon itself, the city is split in two by the Rhône, with long avenues – such as Avenue Berthelot and Cours Gambetta – making the center reasonably easy to navigate. Free on-street parking can be tricky to find, but there is metered parking and plenty of large parking lots to leave your Lyon car rental.

The speed limit on French motorways is 130 km/h (80mph) which is lowered to 110 km/h (68mph) when it rains. Seatbelts are essential for the driver and all passengers, while mobile or cell phone use while driving is illegal.