Is Lyon a good base?

I%26#39;ll be visiting Lyon in late Mar/early Apr. I%26#39;ll be travelling with my mother who%26#39;s in her early 60s.

Our interests are art, nature and gastronomy. I%26#39;m thinking of spending 4 to 5 days in Lyon. Apart from seeing the city, I%26#39;m also thinking of using it as a base to do day trips to places such as Annecy and Avignon. Unfortunately, we won%26#39;t have the benefit of our own transport and will be using public transport to do the day trips.

My question is: Is Lyon a good base to explore the region? Seeing that places such as Avignon are about 2 hours away and Lyon having some excellent rail/air connections, we thought this might be a good idea. Or is spending 4 hours on the road (assuming it%26#39;s 2 hours each way) precious time lost on day trips?

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Lyon is definitively a good base, especially if you don%26#39;t drive but use public transportation. But I would say don%26#39;t plan more than 2 day trips as Lyon deserves a 2-3 days stay.

Avignon is a 1 hour and 2 minutes only train ride (for the quickest ride) to one hour and 23 minutes with the TGV (high speed train). No way that a car drive would compete with this!

For example :

- Lyon Part-Dieu departure : 9:07 am

- Avignon arrival : 10:09 am

Getting to Annecy is not as fast as there is no TGV, but it is still perfectly doable for a day trip as it is a 2 hours ride.

For example :

- Lyon Part-Dieu departure : 9:30 am

- Annecy arrival : 11:30 am

Check schedules and fares here :

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/

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Thanks, that was helpful. I, too, think that Lyon deserves a full 2 to 3 days.

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