Pullman Lyon Review: Good Hotel, Weird Location

Rating: 4/5 (Property itself is new and generally quite nice; location in Lyon is a bit subpar, though)

Price Paid: ~$150USD per night booked through Booking.com (I generally don’t book through OTAs but when there are no points deals / loyalty plays, I generally resort to them. Booking had the cheapest prices for my dates)

Introduction

I was on a relatively last minute summer trip to France and needed a hotel in Lyon. This hotel looked like the nicest property for the price on my dates in peak summer, so I went ahead and booked it. I also chose it out of convenience because it’s right next to (basically connected) to the main train station in Lyon (Lyon Part Dieu). Furthermore, if doing daytrips to nearby lakes / Annecy, Hertz rental car (and a bunch of other car rental options) are ~1 block~ away, which makes this hotel super convenient.

All in all, this hotel itself is great, especially if you’re using it as a home base for day trips. However, if your goal is to explore Lyon itself, I would recommend another hotel directly in the city center to make the most of your time here.

Also, important to note for the increasingly brutal french summers: this hotel has great air conditioning. Accommodations in general in Europe don’t come with A/C by default, and my trip was during a record heatwave. The daily highs were in the 100Fs (~38 Celsius), so good air conditioning was a lifesaver.

In this post, you’ll find:

Getting to the Hotel & Check-In

I was arriving by train from Paris (Gare de Lyon in Paris to Lyon Part Dieu… kinda confusing?). The train ride was nice and took around 2 hours. I booked my ticket via Omio, which I recommend for easy train bookings in Europe in general vs trying to navigate the local website(s).

It took me a sec to find the hotel, and then I realized I just needed to look up. Note that there was a ton of construction right in front of the hotel when I visited, but it was just wrapping up – I’m sure it’s all gone by now.

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Room and Property Review

The hotel itself is super modern in design. Pullman is an upscale brand under the Accor umbrella. Think Hyatt Centric / Westin equivalent in terms of property notching. Lyon is generally a tier 2 city for France, which means rates here are quite a bit more affordable than say Paris or the south of France. In peak summer, rooms here were running at $150/night, which is pretty great for a hotel this nice.

Check-in was fairly quick once my room was ready. Note that I arrived at 11am, but the check-in time of 3pm was unfortunately strictly enforced due to high occupancy. Not a problem for me since the lobby was nice and I needed to work, but definitely something to consider if arriving early. Note there is a restaurant and bar in the lobby, and you can also just hang out for a coffee if you want.

My room for this stay was on the fourth floor. The hallways in the hotel are a bit dark. The ground lighting is nice and everything generally feels upscale with the wood paneling.

I booked a “Superior King Room”, which is just the name of their lowest tier standard room. I was shocked by how big it was. The room was carpeted which I don’t love (much prefer hardwood floors), but other than that everything felt very upscale and new.

The room was unfortunately a connecting room, but I didn’t hear any noise from neighbors during the trip. All across the hotel, the lighting accents are very well done. This room was no exception.

The king size bed was massive and super comfy. There were also three chairs and a small desk in the room. I did have to work a bit during my first day, and the wifi was good enough to support high-quality zoom calls with the US, which I was slightly worried about.

The room has a huge TV, and dark curtains which is nice for summertime when the sun rises at ~5AM.

The views from the fourth floor were nothing special; down below you can see a small courtyard where you can hang out. It was 100 degrees during the day, so no one in their right minds would go out there. Also note you can pay extra for “deluxe” rooms that feature an outdoor terrace; you can see those on the bottom left. I was tempted to book one for my stay but was glad I didn’t given it was so brutally hot outside.

The bathroom looked aesthetically nice, although I don’t know who designed that shower. As you can see, there’s zero partition. Which means that it’s very hard to keep water from getting everywhere. I don’t know how something like that can be overlooked but it’s fine.

Interestingly, the toilet is in an entirely separate room from the shower. I actually think this is a good idea that we should copy in the US, especially for people / groups traveling together. More efficient. Less awkward? lol.

Side Note: Is Lyon Worth Visiting?

One thing to note on Lyon itself – is it worth visiting? In my opinion – kind of, although it’s not a standout city in France if you have limited time. Otherwise I’d recommend just sticking to the usual circuit i.e (a) Paris and (b) the South of France (Nice, Eze, Antibes, etc). It’s a cool historic city, but feels the same as a lot of historic European cities: highly walkable, good restaurants, charming architecture, a river through the city center, lots of churches.

One great thing about Lyon, though, and one of the main reasons I visited, was to check out the countryside nearby. I rented a car for ~2 days and drove around to nearby lakes and nature areas: namely Annecy (way too touristy in the summer) and Lac d’Aiguebelette (way quieter and a hidden gem; see below).

Conclusion

The Pullman Lyon itself is a great hotel that is hard to beat on a price to value basis. The hotel is very well-designed and feels premium all around. Rooms are huge and the service was friendly. The only downside to consider is the location; being next to the train station is convenient, but it takes ~15-20 minutes to get to the city center. This matters if you only have a few days and your priority is seeing Lyon itself. However if you plan on mixing Lyon + daytrips, then this hotel is perfect.