Your French Language trip to Lyon
Improve your French and soak up the culture in the Gaul capital
Do you need a plan for your group’s stay in Lyon?
For mixed groups:
- Children aged 13 and over
- Adults… no age limit
- Minimum group size: 10
Flexible trip designed for children and young adults
- Departures available all year round
- Half-board accommodation: home stay, youth hostel etc.
- Including public transport and transfers
A 100% tailor-made stay
With or without French lessons
Length of stay to suit flights and budget
Activities and trips to suit you: culture, sport, games etc.
“This is the second trip that I have planned with VAL in two different places in France. I’m very happy to have established this relationship with Valérie Serim. She is extremely reliable, trustworthy with very good organizational and communication skills. She also has a good sense of humour. I will be glad to continue to plan my future trips with her.”
Nicolas Folio, French teacher
4 reasons to study French language and culture in Lyon
1. Lyon, the capital of French gastronomy
You can’t learn French without learning about French food!
Fuel up on brain food at the city’s classic eateries, bouchons, and the Halles Bocuse food market.
2. A city with a legacy for manufacturing and craftsmanship
Its architecture, independent shops, vibrant culture and craftsmanship set it apart from the rest! Get creative as you perfect your French in Lyon!
3. Go with the flow
The city stands at the junction between the Rhône and Saône rivers. Soak up the laidback lifestyle and all the culture bursting from the riverbanks!
4. Location, location, location
It has an international airport and lies close to iconic regions such as the Alps, Savoie and Beaujolais. New experiences and adventures are yours for the taking!
Our language trip options:
indulge your inner culture in Lyon
Our language stay programmes and details
With French lessons
The perfect balance between French lessons and cultural activities to EXPERIENCE French language and CULTURE on an immersive break in Lyon.
- Tailor-made 5-15 day stay.
- 2 hours of French lessons every weekday, usually in the morning.
- Cultural and recreational afternoon trips: guided tours of museums, monuments or historical landmarks, market trips, tastings, cookery classes, photo challenges, food tours, perfume making workshops and more.
- Half-board: Including 2 group meals per day (host family and/or travel group), 1 meal at your leisure per day.
- Accommodation in a host family (2/3 students per family), residence or hotel (multiple rooms).
Without French lessons
A programme entirely devoted to French CULTURE: tours, excursions and experiences on an immersive language break in Lyon.
- Tailor-made 5-15 day stay.
- Cultural and recreational trips: guided tours of museums, monuments or historical landmarks, market trips, tastings, cookery classes, photo challenges, food tours, perfume making workshops and more.
- Free time to soak up the city.
- Half-board: Including 2 group meals per day (host family and/or travel group), 1 meal at your leisure per day.
- Accommodation in a host family (2/3 students per family), residence or hotel (multiple rooms).
“Immersive language learning (language immersion) means an intensive course where all activities in and outside school are in the target language.”
Dictionnaire de didactique du français (2003)
Transport and accommodation
Transport and transfers
All our stays include airport transfers (Lyon Saint Exupéry Airport) and public transport tickets for all travellers (valid from Monday morning to Sunday night)
Vacances Actives Linguistiques provides a free place for 1 group leader per 15 students (same bed and board basis as students with free tours and activities).
Accommodation
We provide the following half-board accommodation options:
- Host family (the best for a real immersive experience), 2-3 students per family
- 2 or 3* hotels, apartment hotels or youth hostels (multiple rooms)
Our tailor-made tours and activities
Our trips, workshops and themed walks (sample list)
Museums
- Musée des Confluences
- Atelier des Soieries silk workshop
- Louis Lumière Museum
- Fine Arts Museum
- Textile Arts Museum
- Automobile Museum
- Le Petit Musée de Guignol
- Gadagne Museum
- Lugdunum Museum
- Musée de l’Imprimerie
- Tony Garnier Museum (murals)
- Cinema and Miniature Museum
- Medical Museum
- Maison des Canuts
- Musée des Moulages
- La Sucrière (contemporary art)
Fun-filled workshops and classes
- Baking workshop
- Culinary arts workshop
- Cookery class with a chef
- Paul Bocuse workshop
- Passementerie workshop
- Silk weaving workshop
Guided tours
- Lyon old town (Traboules)
- Lyon bouchons (traditional restaurants)
- Traboules (covered passageways) in Croix Rousse
- Presqu’île
- Halles Paul Bocuse market
- Le Mur des Canuts murals and other famous frescoes
- Atelier des Soieries silk workshop
- Roman Theatre and Notre Dame de Fourvière
- Lyon city centre
- Le Vaporetto boat to Ile Barbe
- Rhône boat trip
- Abode of Chaos
- Parc de la Tête d’Or (picnic, weather permitting)
- Medieval Lyon and La Sucrière
- Walk in the “Lyon des Truands”
- New York of the Rhône
- South Lyon (Vaise Fort and Champignonnière de Caluire)
Themed experiences
- Lyon specialities
- Wine tasting (Beaujolais)
- Treasure hunt
- Photo challenge
Our day trips in and around Lyon
(inc. admission and transport, 10 hr day trip subject to destination)
- Pérouges, medieval town
- Annecy, the Venice of the Alps
- Chambéry, home to the Dukes of Savoie
- Vienne, Gallo-Roman ruins
- Le Puy en Velay, on the Way of St James
- La Balme Caves
- Beaujolais gold stone houses
- Bourg en Bresse
- Yvoire and boat trip
Our French schools and courses
Our French teachers in Lyon and our partner guides
Vacances Actives Linguistiques has built strong relationships with French language schools in Lyon famous for their consistency and high standard teaching. They provide a comfortable and modern set-up for students of all ages in central Lyon, near cultural activities and public transport.
We choose our teachers for their teaching skills, energy and interpersonal skills with foreign students. All our guides and chauffeurs are certified to teach French as a foreign language and adapt their speech to suit all abilities.
French class in our partner Lyon schools
Is your mission to help your students gain confidence in speaking and improve their French? Get the best of both worlds with our experienced teachers: soak up the culture and improve your French. We provide a French level test at the start of the stay to put students in the right class for their ability. The weekly timetable is up to the students.
French lessons are optional (check out our “cultural breaks”) and tend to be in the morning. Outings and activities take place in the afternoons.
Students receive their own course certificate stating their class attendance and the level they’ve achieved at the end of their course.
