Chic Cour des Loges (2-8 rue du Boeuf, 04 72 77 44 44, www.courdesloges.com, €230-€480) was created from four fully restored Renaissance buildings, decorated in ultra-contemporary style. Of note are its huge beds and great bar snacks. Libertel Beaux-Arts (73-75 rue du Président Edouard Herriot, 04 78 38 09 50, www.accorhotels.com, €123-€142) lives up to its name: many rooms were decorated by local artists. The Collège Hotel (5 place St Paul, 04 72 10 05 05, www.college-hotel.com, €105-€135) is a fashionable new addition to Lyon’s hotel crop, built in an old school.

In the budget range, there’s the iconic Hôtel des Artistes (8 rue Gaspard Andre, 04 78 42 04 88, www.hoteldesartistes.fr, €85-€115), which has a long history of housing various singers and actors performing next door at the Théâtre des Celestins, and the self-catering studios of Cercle Villemanzy (21 Mont St-Sébastien, 04 72 00 19 00, €59-€73). For regional romance 15 miles north of Lyon, Château de Bagnols (Bagnols-en-Beaujolais, 04 74 71 40 00, www.bagnols.com, €440-€635) is a 13th-century chateau-hotel.

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