Lyon Food Tours: Bouchons & Les Halles Paul Bocuse
Lyon is France’s food capital, the city of the bouchon, the old workers’ tavern serving quenelles and andouillette, of Paul Bocuse and his covered market, and of the mères, the women cooks who made its reputation. Compare the top-rated food tours below, then read our notes.
Formats: food walking tours of Vieux Lyon and the Croix-Rousse with six or more tastings and wine; bouchon tours; sunset tours that build to a full meal; visits to Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse; cooking classes.
What you will taste: quenelle de brochet, andouillette, saucisson brioché, salade lyonnaise, Saint-Marcellin cheese, praline tart, and Beaujolais or a Côtes du Rhône from the vineyards nearby.
Price and time: roughly 85 to 130 dollars for three to four hours, food and wine included.
The bouchon
Lyon’s institution is the bouchon, a small, convivial tavern that grew from the kitchens of the silk workers, serving hearty offal-and-pork cooking with a pot of Beaujolais. The classics are the quenelle, a poached dumpling of pike in a crayfish sauce; andouillette, the tripe sausage that divides people; saucisson cooked in brioche; and salade lyonnaise, frisée with bacon and a poached egg. A food tour steers you to the real bouchons, which carry an official label, and away from the tourist imitations.
Paul Bocuse and the mères
Lyon’s modern fame rests on Paul Bocuse, the chef who defined French cuisine for a generation, and on the mères lyonnaises before him, the women cooks whose restaurants trained the city’s kitchens. Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, the covered market named for him, is the temple: charcuterie, cheese, the pink praline tarts, oysters and quenelles under one roof, and the start of many tours.
The wine and the classes
Lyon sits between Beaujolais to the north and the northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu, to the south, so the wine on your tour is excellent and local. Cooking classes in the city teach the bouchon dishes and the quenelle; they are fewer than the food tours but worth it for keen cooks.
Frequently asked questions
What is a bouchon?
A traditional Lyon tavern serving the city’s rich pork-and-offal cooking with local wine; look for the official bouchon label to find a real one.
Is Lyon really France’s food capital?
It has the strongest claim: the bouchons, Paul Bocuse, the mères, the market, and two great wine regions on its doorstep.
What is the pink praline tart?
Tarte aux pralines, a Lyon speciality made with bright pink sugar-coated almonds, sold at every bakery and in Les Halles.
How we choose
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