All activities / Culinary / Cooking / Lyon
Culinary / Cooking in LyonFR
France's gastronomic capital: Paul Bocuse's city, the bouchon tradition, the Halles market that bears his name, and cooking schools carrying his direct lineage.
Why here
Lyon is where French gastronomy calls home: Paul Bocuse's city, with the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse as its market-temple and the bouchon, the workers' bistro tradition of quenelles and pots of Beaujolais, as a living food culture that exists nowhere else. The teaching carries his lineage directly: the Ecole de Cuisine Gourmets by Institut Lyfe, the school Bocuse founded as Institut Paul Bocuse, runs amateur classes capped at eight on Place Bellecour plus English-language immersion programs, while Plum Lyon has taught market-to-table classes in the Croix-Rousse since 2007 with six students at a time. You shop the market in the morning and cook it by noon, in the city that invented taking that seriously.
Best months
Year-round; spring and autumn have the best markets, and November adds Beaujolais nouveau and the run-up to the Fete des Lumieres. Classes book out weeks ahead in autumn.
Getting there & around
Fly to Lyon (LYS) or take the two-hour TGV from Paris. Both schools are central; book two to six weeks ahead.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate
Schools & guides (2)
Ecole de Cuisine Gourmets by Institut Lyfe
SchoolThe amateur school of the institute Paul Bocuse founded, teaching classes of eight at Place Bellecour plus English immersion programs at the Ecully campus.
Plum Lyon Teaching Kitchen
SchoolEnglish-language market-to-table classes of six in the Croix-Rousse, teaching since 2007, with five-day immersive culinary weeks.