Living in Point du Jour, Lyon

Point du Jour is the plateau west of the Fourvière hill, in the 5e Arrondissement, right up against the boundary with Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, which is a separate commune and not part of Lyon. The name on its own is ambiguous in this part of France, so it is worth being precise: this is the Lyon one, in the 5e. It was country until the middle of the twentieth century, a place of large properties and second homes for Lyonnais families, and it was built over from the 1950s onwards in the grounds of those estates.

What it is

A calm, green, mostly post-war residential quarter, with blocks of flats standing in gardens, older villas between them and a proper local centre around the avenue du Point du Jour and the market square. It is more of a functioning small town than most Lyon quartiers: the town hall of the 5e Arrondissement is here, along with a public library, a theatre and a sports ground. The rue des Aqueducs recalls what came before all of it, the Roman aqueduct of the Gier that ran into the city along this plateau, whose arches still stand a little further east at Trion.

Who lives here

Families, and the age profile that goes with them. Couples with children in three and four room flats, a large number of owner-occupiers, older residents who have been in the same block since it was built, and a strong contingent of households working in the centre who wanted space and a garden view. Private and public schools are well represented and pull families in. Students are rare, and shared flats are not the local model, so rooms come up in family flats and houses rather than in student stock. Rents are middling for Lyon, cheaper than the 6e or the peninsula but not cheap.

What it's like during the day

Residential and unhurried. The market sets up on the square twice a week and is the moment the quarter gathers. There are children in the parks, people walking dogs, and a stream of buses down the avenue. Because the plateau sits behind the hill, the noise of the city does not reach it, and there is more sky and more greenery than anywhere else this close to the centre. The library and the theatre give it a cultural life that most outer quartiers do not have.

What it's like in the evening

Quiet, and it means it. A handful of restaurants and cafés around the centre, theatre performances, and then nothing. This is not a quarter people come to at night, and it is not one you leave lightly either, since going out means a bus down and a bus back. Households here tend to organise their evenings around the car or around staying in.

Getting around

The single most important fact: there is no metro and no tram. Point du Jour runs on buses, and they are the reason it works at all. Lines from the square run down to Perrache, where metro line A starts, north to Gorge de Loup and Valmy on metro line D, and out west into Sainte-Foy and the hills. In a straight line the Place Bellecour is under three kilometres away, but the Fourvière hill sits between, so the trip is longer than the map suggests and depends on the bus. Cycling into the centre is downhill on the way in and a serious climb on the way home. A lot of residents keep a car, and unlike the centre there is somewhere to put it.

Eating and shopping

Enough, and pleasantly old-fashioned. The market twice a week, bakeries, a cheesemonger, butchers, a couple of supermarkets and a line of small shops along the avenue, plus restaurants that serve the neighbourhood rather than visitors. It covers daily life comfortably. For anything specialised, and for real choice, you go down into the centre, which is the standing trade-off of living up here.

When NOT to pick it

Wrong if you do not want your daily commute to depend on a bus, because it will. Wrong if you are a student or want an active evening within walking distance. Wrong if you like dense old streets, since the building stock is mostly modern and set back in greenery. Wrong if you value being able to walk home from the centre, which the hill makes impractical. It is the right choice if you want space, air, schools and a real neighbourhood centre while staying inside Lyon, and if you drive or are happy with the bus. If you want the same green calm with a metro, look north to Gorge de Loup or Vaise; if you want the 5e with old stone and everything open late, look east to Vieux Lyon.