The Ideal Souvenirs From Lyon

What to bring back from Lyon? Check out my list of The 13 Ideal Souvenirs and choose something special for yourself!

When you are visiting a new place and when you like it very much you want to bring back a small piece of this place with yourself. I am sure when you are in Lyon, you will fall in love with the city and it will be hard to leave. You will, for sure, want to bring a piece of Lyon with yourself. But what to choose and take back home that will cheer you up when you realize you are no longer in Lyon? I agree, it is difficult as Lyon is such a various place. It is beautiful and unique in different areas and offers so much. There are: the rich history of the city, the monuments and museums you probably visited, there is a modern part, and there is all this top quality food, there is a cultural aspect of Lyon and there are some very famous people coming from Lyon. So what would give the best the atmosphere of Lyon? Well, I think it will mostly depend on what you like and what is important for you. But I would like to help you with some ideas for souvenirs I found here in Lyon and I think they represent the city very well. And now depending what you like you can choose the ideal souvenir for yourself!

The 13 Ideal Souvenirs to take back from Lyon!

1. A bottle of good local wine! Because Lyon is the Capital of Food as you know by now. There will be a some food gift ideas you might consider to buy. So, let’s start with a bottle of good local wine. Lyon is located next to vine rich area of Beaujolais and Valee du Rhone. So you can get a bottle of the wine from those regions, either by visiting the vineyards or simply getting them at the local Lyonnais shop or the very well-known Auchan supermarkets. Theyalwayshaveabigselection of regional wines and at a very good price.

   

2. Something for cheese…but no cheese I am afraid! Because travelling back home with the amazingly good tasting French ‘fromage’ can be a disaster. You need to remember it will SMELL (good or bad but strong!). So, if you travel far away, you should not bring the cheese back but maybe you can consider to choose and buy a cheese board…this will always remind you of the French love for cheese, their good taste and products. If you really, really want the regional cheese back at home (for example the very famous and good: St Marcelin and St Felician there is actually a solution for you! You can order those Lyonnais best quality cheeses online. So it will actually be delivered straight to your home, without all that hassle with the luggage.

   

3. The same case is with the saucisson. It is very typical and top quality speciality on here but it can smell a lot as well. So either you pack it very, very well or you can’t take it. The interesting fact is that it is stored not in a fridge so even if you travel far away it will survive and will be perfectly ready to eat…there is only the smell…For the best quality Lyonnais Saucission you might want to visit Les Halles De Lyon and Sibilia or very good one Charcuterie Bonnard.

   

4. Some safer food gifts options are sweets of course. Everyone loves chocolate, right? And Lyon has quite a few chocolate specialities. You can take them home easily and enjoy when remembering Lyon. So here you are, the sweets that are only to be found in Lyon indeed. Coussin de Lyon so sweets made of green marzipan, dark green netting and a chocolate ganache flavored with Curacao. Then my favourite ones The Quenelle de Lyon (but not the bouchon’s one but in a sweet version of quenelles!) So these are chocolate pralines covered with white chocolate with a sprinkle of mocca. Lastly, there is Sarment du Beaujolais, for all of us that like alcohol sweets.

   

5. And now something pink…a package of Pink Pralines. I am sure you have seen loads of pink in the Lyonnais pastries and boulangeries, haven’t you? So these are the tiny caramelised almonds coated with a pink sugar and they are very sweet! Some people love it, some people hate it but this is definitely Lyonnais specialities. They add it to traditional Lyonnais desserts like Tarte aux Pralines or Brioche Praline (which by the way the best one and very traditional one you can get from Jocteur) but I am afraid you cannot bring it back home. You can at least buy a package of Pink Pralines to take home. You can bake a cake and add few of them or you can enjoy on its own. Either way, you will be sure it’s a taste of Lyon!

   

6. A book of Little Prince by Antonine de Saint Exupery who was born and lived here in Lyon. A very good book indeed. But there are also related to Little Prince souvenirs and so how about a mug or pen or set of coasters. You can buy them locally or again choose and order online on here. So, this is something you will use every day and it will remind you about the status of the author which you probably passed few times on the Bellecour Square. The Little Prince story is about the friendship to the you might consider to bring it with you and give to your very best friend indeed. I got it one myself from a friend and I felt very special!

   

7. And now some more cheesy (but not cheese eatable gifts!) souvenirs you can bring from Lyon. I mean they can be silly and useless but I need to mention them here. So, some people hate them some people will not leave a place without getting one. For me…I am not the big fan but I do collect one type of these cheesy souvenirs…fridge magnets. They are ideal when you visit many places, have a big fridge and travel with a small luggage (or a big suitcase filled with clothes and cosmetics ;-). Anyway each place and Lyon will have a big selection of Lyonnais Souvenirs which you can get in the Souvenirs Shops all over Lyon. You can have a look here and get the feel what is around.

   

8. My Lyonnais Specialities Cookbook which you can download here for free and use to make your own Lyonnais Specialities back at home. What is also good isthatitdoesnotrequire too much space in your luggage.

   

9. Photos…that should be cheaper for you, it will take little space in your luggage and for me these are my favourite souvenirs from places I visit! So just take as many photos as you wish, save on your wallpaper or develop back at home.

   

   The very good souvenir out of photos will be the PhotoBook which you can create yourself online and which will summarise your visit to Lyon! I always use the Colorland which is a Polish Online Photo Service as they have always been very reliable, helpful, competetive and even if i tend to live in other country like UK or France I am contacting them to get the Photobooks created cause they deliver internationally and are very quick, efficient. Their customer service replies to any of your (mine…) small questions instantly. Check out Colorland FB for example and here you are a small tip…they give very good voucher codes to use so you can get your Photobook really cheaply yet very good quality…

   

10. Nikasi Beer – as this is the very first brewery which has been set up in Lyon in 1997. It is very famous and popular as for the Country of Wine; Nikasi Beer is really tasty and unique in its flavours. Their beers have been recognized and rewarded many times during the last 10 years. They got the gold medal at the Brussels Beer Challenge in 2013. So if you like beer, this is ideal gift for you! You can get a proper big or small bottle of beer with the glassandtheNikasi Goddess logo.

    

11. Real Wooden Guignol Puppet which you can easily find in the Vieux Lyon Puppet Boutique. But do you know the Guignol Puppet? It  is the most well known puppet in France and was created by Laurent Mourguet in 1808. He was a silk worker, then he became dentist and to distract his patients he has been performing scenes with his one hand and his own made glove – puppet! He was the first person to pioneer this technique. Then more puppets were introduced and the technique improved. They have eventually been manipulated by strings. After some time when the shows were performed as a part of a traveling puppet troop they finally settled down in Lyon and created Le Caveau des Célestins Theater. So I mean Guignol is an important figure in Lyonnais history and the real wooden puppet is a very good souvenir from Lyon!

    

12. Silk from Lyon! Lyon’s history is tied up with the story of silk and the silk weavers. Established by Louis XI in the 1460s, by 18^th century, Lyon has been well known and respected across the whole Europe for its silk production and trade. Maybe you have already visited the silk weavers district located in the Croix Rousse. If not, make sure you go and learn the story of Lyon silk-making at the Maison des Canuts. There are many beautiful boutiques which offer a nice selection of quality silk, hand printed scarves, dresses etc in the Croix Rousse. For example the Tousoie Boutique. You can also admire and order online. There’s a good shop for silk scarves and items associated.

    

13. Lastly but also very importantly you might consider getting a typical ONLYLYON merchandise from their boutique. So in the first place I didn’t like the idea of getting even more cheesy souvenir made by the town. But once I had a look at their selection, I have been very much impressed! So now I would really like a cool cheesy T-shirt and because I am addicted to making notes and Lyon I would like this notebook also! …They are really creative and fun, aren’t they?

    

So I would say there are quite a few ideas on what you can bring back from Lyon. I hope you can choose at least one or two ideal souvenirs for yourself. But if you can add anything else, that would be great. I would be interested in hearing your comments and suggestions. But in the meantime…go sightseeing in Lyon, enjoy and finish off with some souvenir shopping!