Lyon Airport: Saint Exupéry
Lyon is France's second city, and Lyon Saint Exupéry airport (formerly
known as Lyon Satolas, and airport code LYS) is one of the main
provincial airports in France. It serves a whole sector of central and
central eastern France, and is the most convenient major airport for
the Rhone Alpes region of France, and parts of the neighbouring regions of Burgundy, Franche Comté and Auvergne. It is very easily accessible from the cities of Lyon, Grenoble, Chambery, St. Etienne and Valence.
► Lyon airport hotelsThere are two hotels actually on the airport at Lyon Saint Exupéry, the four star NH Hotel and the two star Kyriad hotel.. The next closest hotel is the ** Campanile, 4 km from the terminal buildings.. but there is no free shuttle. Otherwise, choose a hotel in or near Lyon.
► Location and access:
Lyon St. Exupery airport is situated some twenty kilometres to the east
of the city of Lyon, just to the north of the Lyon-Grenoble motorway.
It is also easily accessible from the Lyon-Geneva /
Lyon-Bourg-en-Bresse motorway, as well as from other motorways in the
area.
► Access to Lyon airport by fast tram
The airport offers easy and rapid access to and from the centre
of Lyon on the Rhonexpress light-rail link in just 29 minutes, with
services every 15 minutes. The Rhonexpress airport shuttle takes you
directly to Lyon Part-Dieu station, Lyon's main train station.
► Access to Lyon airport by TGV train
St. Exupery Airport also has its own high-speed rail line,
offering direct TGV connections with Paris, Provence, Annecy,
Valence, other parts of southern France, and even Turin. However,
TGV services are far more frequent from Lyon Part-Dieu station.
► Car parking
The Airport has parking space for over 6000 cars, though rates are
relatively expensive. There are private operators offering car parking
a short distance from the airport, at considerably cheaper rates.
Of the official airport car parks, Lyon airport's "e-Park" is
cheaper than other airport parkings (45 € for up to 1 week, 55 for up
to 2 weeks + reservation fee).
Finding clear information on Lyon airport's official site is not easy – and the site is notoriously lacking in transparency on parking tariffs.
For dropping off and picking up, the very-short-stay carpark (signposted "Depose Minute"),
located in front of Terminal 2 (photo right), offers 20 minutes
FREE parking, but after that the rates are exorbitant, 1 euro every
four minutes extra. Be warned! This parking area is just a few
metres from the terminal building, so twenty minutes is quite long
enough to accompany someone into the terminal, say goodbye, and return
to one's car, or else meet an arriving visitor at a pre-arranged time.
► Car hire and rental
The major car-hire companies all provide full services at this airport;
smaller local suppliers also offer services at Saint Exupéry, often at
cheaper rates - though check out a range of car hire companies first.
► The terminals
Lyon is a provincial airport, so terminals are not far apart. The three
terminals can be easily reached on foot from the "depose minute" car
park, and from each other.
► Checking in
The Airport authorities recommend checking in at least one hour before your flight is due to depart.
Flights
Lyon Saint Exupéry airport has developed considerably in recent years.
► There are scheduled flights to many countries in Western and central Europe, and Scandinavia, including flights to London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.
► There are regular flights to and from New York (Air France / Delta), and Montreal and Toronto (Air Transat).
► Several companies operate scheduled flights to the Mediterranean area (Europe, North Africa) and to Eastern Europe..
► Easyjet has established a hub at Lyon, with a dozen regular destinations and other seasonal ones.
There are also a large number of charter flights serving holiday destinations.
Further information:
Official Lyon Airport website (rather slow)
| Hotels in Lyon
Click here for a choice of hotels in and around Lyon
***
***
|
