Lyon

Like a montage of films and a medley of movie sets, Lyon is as dynamically beautiful and alluringly energetic as any of the movies made possible by its most revered sons, the Lumières. With a kaleidoscopic array of wonders it enthrals visitors between crumbling Roman amphitheatres, the exquisite cathedrals of Fourvière and St Jean, webs of winding traboules, and one of the largest Renaissance centres in the world.

This is also a city of lights and illumination, and the illustrious glow of the architecture bordered by squares bedecked with fountains delivers an altogether magnificent after dark aesthetic to the town; bolstered to dizzying heights once every year with the onset of the iconic Festival of Lights. Of course there are interesting museums and galleries too, with many Lyon tour guides pointing visitors to the acclaimed exhibitions of the Musee Miniature et Cinema, or the grand Musee des Beaux-Arts.

And when the city gets just a little too much, the wonders of high-perched Rhône-Alpes are just on the doorstep, complete with all their concomitant ski fields and the soaring glaciers of Chamonix against the silhouettes of the snow-tipped French mountains.