Using an eSIM in Lyon

What Lyon is like on a phone

People come to Lyon to eat first of all, then for conferences, and students stay the year. A trip here turns on booking a table, finding somewhere to park and catching an onward train to the Alps or the south. Two rivers split the city and two hills squeeze it, so you change altitude more often than you expect. Street-level service is consistently good; the old-town buildings with passageways cut straight through them are where the network changes fastest.

When you land

Lyon Saint-Exupéry (LYS) connects to the city by an express tram that runs directly to Part-Dieu station, while high-speed trains from Paris or Marseille put you at Part-Dieu or Perrache. Switch the line on while you wait for your bag, because you buy the tram ticket before boarding and some machines have a long queue. The ride in keeps service throughout since the whole route is above ground; only the moment you enter the big station hall does the speed dip briefly.

Where coverage changes

The peninsula between the rivers and the quaysides run smoothly all day. The old quarter at the foot of Fourvière has five- and six-storey buildings pressed together and passageways cut through them — the traboules — where the signal disappears almost as soon as the door closes behind you. The basilica on the hilltop does well, since it looks down over the whole city. The metro line that tunnels under the hill has stretches that stay quiet until the next platform.

What a day here costs in data

A normal Lyon day runs about 700MB to 1.2GB, because distances are short and the map goes on and off rather than staying open. What actually adds up is holding several restaurant pages open at once and reading long reviews before deciding. Photographing every course and firing it straight into a group chat quietly adds a couple of hundred megabytes a day. On days you take an onward train, allow for re-checking the platform several times over.

Districts travellers ask about

• Vieux Lyon — The main old-town streets are fine, but the dark covered passageways through the buildings have nothing — screenshot your route before you start exploring them.
• Presqu'île — The shopping spine between the rivers has the steadiest service in the city, with riverside benches that make it easy to clear a photo backlog.
• Croix-Rousse — High on its slope with steep streets: fine on the main roads, but the narrow stairways between buildings often leave the map guessing which level you are on.
• Part-Dieu and Confluence — The modern blocks around the station and the point where the rivers meet both perform well — the obvious places to work between trains.

Day trips out of the city

• Pérouges and the medieval villages — Northeast of the city the road crosses open farmland with good service; inside the walled village itself the very narrow cobbled lanes weaken it in short patches.
• Beaujolais wine country — The roads climbing between the vineyards keep service almost throughout because the country is open, but the underground cellars at the estates usually have none — agree your timings in advance.
• Annecy and the alpine lake — The train runs towards the mountains and starts meeting tunnels and valleys where the connection breaks up; down by the lake in town it is open and works well again.