Lyon

Is Lyon safe?

Yes, for most visitors, as long as you watch your phone and your car. Lyon has few murders: the Rhône département, which includes the city and its suburbs, recorded 33 homicide victims in 2025, about 1.7 per 100,000 people, much the same rate as Paris. Its roads are fairly safe for a city its size.

Theft is the problem. In 2025 police recorded 39 thefts from people per 1,000 residents, close to Paris (45) and twice the rate in Marseille, and 6.1 violent thefts per 1,000, the highest of the French cities we score. We rate Lyon 75, a little below Nice (76) and Paris (79). Our France page covers the rest of the country.

Phones, bags and cars

Most crime a visitor meets in Lyon is theft, and it clusters where people shop and travel. Interior Ministry figures by arrondissement show the pattern:

• The Presqu'île, between the Rhône and the Saône. The 2nd arrondissement, which includes Place Bellecour, Rue de la République and Perrache station, recorded 3,732 thefts from people in 2025, more than one for every ten residents. The 1st, around Place des Terreaux, is also high.
• Part-Dieu, the main station and shopping centre in the 3rd arrondissement, with 5,354 thefts from people in 2025.
• La Guillotière in the 7th, where 779 violent thefts were recorded in 2025, more than in any other arrondissement.

Recorded violent thefts in the city jumped 75% in 2025, to 3,166, with rises of 72% to 78% in every arrondissement, while Paris and Marseille stayed flat. A rise that uniform may partly reflect a change in how cases are recorded, so we do not read too much into one year. But Lyon's rate was already above Marseille's in 2023 and 2024.

Cars are a particular target. Police logged 12,109 thefts from vehicles in 2025, about 23 per 1,000 residents and more than three times the Paris rate. If you arrive by car, use a guarded car park and leave nothing in sight.

Carry a cross-body bag, keep your phone in your hand or a front pocket on trams and the metro, and be careful with it at café terraces on the Presqu'île.

The October 2026 riots

On 17 October 2026 a cost-of-living protest drew about 20,000 people in Lyon. Violence broke out on its fringes: a tourist office building was burned down and more than 150 shops in the Presqu'île were damaged, many of them looted. The prefect imposed a night curfew on part of the Presqu'île from 19 October, from 9pm to 6am, and renewed it nightly for a week. There were more clashes on 24 October, when police used tear gas to break up about 10,000 people trying to march outside a banned zone. The curfew was not renewed on 26 October, though the prefecture kept extra police in the area and banned another protest.

It shows how quickly a march can turn. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says demonstrations in France can start with little warning. If you see police lines forming or shops pulling down their shutters, leave the area.

The FCDO also says terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in France, including in crowded places. The risk to any one visitor is small.

Lyon at night

Lyon has never been included in the EU's survey of city residents, so we use Marseille, the nearest French city in the 2023 wave. There, only 43% of residents said they feel safe walking alone at night in the city, one of the lowest shares in Europe, though 71% felt safe in their own neighbourhood. Lyon's homicide rateHomicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary is lower than Marseille's (1.7 against 2.7 per 100,000 by département), but it has more violent street theft per resident, so we take two points off rather than add any.

In practice most visitors spend their evenings in Vieux Lyon, on the quays of the Rhône and in the Presqu'île. Vieux Lyon and Fourvière, in the 5th arrondissement, recorded about 2.6 violent thefts per 1,000 residents in 2025, well under half the city average. The area around Guillotière and the stations is where to take more care late at night. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warns about drink spiking in France; keep your drink in sight.

Roads, air and floods

Lyon's roads are fairly safe for a big city. The national accident database records 31 deaths in the city from 2023 to 2025, about 2.0 per 100,000 people a year, against about 1.5 in Paris and 5 in Nice. Pedestrians were 12 of the 31 dead, and three of the people killed in 2025 were riding e-scooters. Watch for bikes and scooters on the cycle lanes along the quays.

Fine-particle pollution is moderate: the WHO's database gives about 11 µg/m³ of PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary for 2021, and nitrogen dioxide is similar to Madrid's. Cars need a pollution sticker in central Lyon from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary notes.

Natural hazards are limited. Lyon is in seismic zone 2 of 5 (low). The bigger risk is flooding where the Rhône and the Saône meet: the city has had 24 natural disaster declarations since 1982, nearly all for floods and mudslides, most recently in June 2023. Check Vigicrues flood warnings if you are staying by the river.

How we scored it

Traffic (86), health (84) and natural hazards (84) are Lyon's strong factors. Violent crime (82) sits a little below Paris because of the city's high violent theft rate and the October 2026 riots. Theft and scams (59) and walking at night (57) are the weakest: thefts run close to the Paris rate, and the night score starts from Marseille's low survey result, less 2 points.