Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse

Lyon's legendary covered food hall — the essential stop for Lyonnais charcuterie and cheese

Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, on the Cours Lafayette near Part-Dieu, is the city's great covered food market — a temple to Lyonnais gastronomy and the essential first stop for anyone serious about eating in the city. Around sixty stalls sell the products that define the local food culture: quenelles (delicate fish dumplings), rosette de Lyon (cured pork sausage), Jésus de Lyon (large, coarsely textured pork sausage), pink praline tarts, Saint-Marcellin and Saint-Félicien cheeses, fresh truffles in season, and Beaujolais wine.

The atmosphere is extraordinary — professional chefs and home cooks shop alongside tourists, and the vendors are demonstrably proud of what they sell. The market opens Tuesday to Sunday until 7pm, unusual for a French market of this type.

things to do market
A story
Paul Bocuse opened his three-Michelin-star restaurant in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or in 1965 and over the following decades became the defining figure of modern French cuisine. After his death in 2018, the market was renamed in his honour. Bocuse had strong feelings about Les Halles: "If you want to understand Lyonnais cooking," he said, "start here."