Lyon: Local Specialties Food Tour & Wine Workshop｜France

Spend two hours discovering the Croix-Rousse like a true Lyonnais, with me, a local sommelier, as your host and guide. Up on the hilltop plateau where Lyon's Canuts once wove their silk, locals still shop, sip and play today.

Your walk starts at the Gros Caillou, the panoramic lookout at the top of the hill, with the whole city unfolding at your feet. From there we stroll across Place de la Croix-Rousse, past plane trees, café terraces and the easy rhythm of neighborhood life, then into the Grande Rue, the old village high street that gives the quarter its character.

This is a tasting walk, not a museum tour. As a sommelier, I'll take you from shop to shop and explain each Lyonnais specialty as you taste it: what it is, how it's made, and why it matters. At the butcher's shop you'll handpick your own charcuterie, from rosette to saucisson and other local cured meats. Next door at Maison Pralus you'll try the legendary rose praline, one of Lyon's most iconic sweets. At the cheese shop you'll choose a regional cheese with the cheesemaker's advice. Between stops we wander the quiet residential lanes of the plateau, away from the busy main street, for a glimpse of the Croix-Rousse few visitors ever see.

The walk ends at Cave Tabareau, a beloved local institution, where the experience becomes a proper educational wine workshop. As your sommelier, I'll lead you through a curated tasting of Rhône Valley and local wines, teaching you how to read a glass step by step and how to pair the wines with the charcuterie, cheese and treats you gathered along the way, so you leave able to build a Lyonnais board of your own. You’ll leave as a true expert on the world capital of gastronomy!