Via Lugdunum

At a glance

• Start / finish: Geneva, by Cornavin station → Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville (Loire), junction with the Trier – Le Puy route
• Length: 251.0 km
• Elevation: ↗ 4,514 m / ↘ 4,463 m
• Highest point: 925 m at km 61 between Charix and Nantua; lowest point 162 m in Lyon (km 168)
• Duration: 12 stages, about 12–14 days
• Countries: around 20 km in Switzerland (canton of Geneva), then France (Ain, Rhône, Loire)
• Waymarking: in the Ain a yellow shell on a blue square, in Lyon brass studs with a stylised shell in the paving; between Lyon and Le Puy GR 765
• Character: low mountains first, a big city in the middle, hill country at the end – almost all the elevation gain is in the first five stages and the Lyonnais stages
• Connections: at Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville onto Trier – Le Puy (km 805.0 there) and the Chemin de Cluny, on to Le Puy-en-Velay and the Via Podiensis; in Lyon the Via Rhodana (Lyon) branches off along the Rhône to La Roche-de-Glun, continuing on the Via Rhodana to Arles; near Saint-Martin-en-Haut the Via Lugdunum (L'Arbresle) also joins, a rural feeder route from L'Arbresle station
• Best time: May to early October
• Associations along the way: whole route: Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques

Overview

The Via Lugdunum is the second route that sets off from Geneva towards Le Puy – and the lesser known one. Its sister, the Via Gebennensis, starts about a kilometre away and turns south, through Savoy and the Isère. The Via Lugdunum, by contrast, keeps to the Rhône, slips across the border at Chancy and then heads where it hurts: up into the Jura foothills, over the cluse of Nantua with its lake, through the steep vineyards of Cerdon and down into the Ain valley. A local newspaper summed up the difference between the two routes in one sentence: “Plus sauvage encore que la précédente” – even wilder than the first.

After that the route changes key. Beyond Ambérieu it flattens out, Pérouges sits on its hill like a film set (it is one, too), and you walk to Lyon along the Côtière via Montluel and Miribel. Lyon is the heart of this route and gives it its name: Lugdunum was the Roman city that was once the centre of Gaul. Beyond the Saône you climb up through the old town, follow the remains of Roman aqueducts and walk into the Monts du Lyonnais, up to more than 800 metres.

The last days belong to the Forez: Saint-Galmier with its Badoit spring, the Loire plain, the priory of Saint-Romain-le-Puy on its basalt cone. At Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville the Via Lugdunum ends after 251.0 kilometres – not because the goal has been reached, but because three routes meet here. Le Puy is then still a good three days away. It does not connect Geneva with Le Puy, but Geneva with Lyon, and Lyon with all the others.

Other names

Via Lugdunum is a Latin name for a modern route: Lugdunum is Roman Lyon, so the name simply means “the way through Lyon”. The Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques, also known as Compostelle en Rhône-Alpes, sorts its routes by colour and lists this one as the Chemin rouge, the red route; its guidebook is called “Compostelle Genève – Lyon – Le Puy”. In Lyon it is often just called the Voie de Lyon, and from Lyon onwards it carries the number GR 765. In German-language sources you will also find it as Jakobsweg Genf – Lyon – Le Puy.

Ideal for whom – and for whom not

This route is for you if you want variety and can handle solitude. In just under two weeks you walk from the Geneva countryside over Jura passes, through vineyards, the Ain valley and the plain, right through a big city with a UNESCO-protected old town and back out into hill country. It also suits you if you want to experience Lyon on foot rather than as a place to change trains, and it is easy to split into sections because the railway runs almost parallel between Geneva and Lyon.

To be honest, though, it is not for you if you are looking for a pilgrim community. On the Via Lugdunum you walk alone most days, accommodation is sparse and often private. It is also not for you if tarmac bothers you: the way into and out of Lyon is suburbs. And if you don't want climbs right at the start, you should know that the most strenuous days of the whole route lie between Collonges and Nantua.

Route & landscape

You start in Geneva by Cornavin station and head west via Cartigny and Avully to Chancy, the westernmost tip of Switzerland; at Pougny you are in France. At Collonges the Rhône valley narrows into a cluse, above which Fort l'Écluse is built into the rock; after that you climb via Confort and the Valserine valley near Saint-Germain-de-Joux and Charix into the foothills of the Jura. At km 61 you reach the highest point of the route at 925 metres before descending to the Lac de Nantua. Via Labalme and Cerdon you reach the Ain valley and, past the Château des Allymes, Ambérieu-en-Bugey.

From here it is flat: across the Ain plain you walk to Pérouges, then along the Côtière via Montluel and Miribel to Lyon, where the route reaches its lowest point at km 168 at 162 metres. Via the Presqu'île, the Saône and the old town you climb out to Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon and via Chaponost and Thurins into the Monts du Lyonnais, up to a good 800 metres near Saint-Martin-en-Haut and Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise. Then the route drops into the Coise valley to Saint-Galmier, crosses the Forez plain and the Loire near Rivas and Craintilleux, and ends on the edge of the Monts du Forez at Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville.

Stages, terrain & difficulty

The 12 stages below are a Camino Ninja suggestion, set at places on the route with accommodation; the kilometres come from the Camino Ninja map and are calibrated exactly to the 251.0 kilometres of the full route, while the elevation gain per stage is calculated from the point elevations on the map and rounded. Three short days are intentional: Nantua after the Jura climb, Lyon for arriving, and Saint-Galmier after the Monts du Lyonnais. Nothing is technically difficult; the strenuous parts are Jura stages 2 and 3, the descent to Ambérieu and the day up to Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise.

1. Geneva → Collonges (26.3 km) — Through the Geneva countryside via Cartigny, Avully and Chancy, across the border at Pougny; ↗ approx. 370 m. Your first night is already at French prices.
2. Collonges → Saint-Germain-de-Joux (24.7 km) — Below Fort l'Écluse, via Confort and Trébillet into the Valserine valley; ↗ approx. 750 m, the first real mountain day.
3. Saint-Germain-de-Joux → Nantua (15.5 km) — Via Charix to the highest point of the route (925 m), then steeply down to the lake; ↗ approx. 590 m. Short, to leave time for the abbey church and quenelles.
4. Nantua → Cerdon (20.5 km) — Via Port, Saint-Martin-du-Frêne, Maillat and Labalme into the vineyards; ↗ approx. 380 m, ↘ approx. 540 m.
5. Cerdon → Ambérieu-en-Bugey (24.8 km) — Via Jujurieux and the Ain valley, up to Brey-de-Vent and the Château des Allymes, then down into the plain; ↗ approx. 660 m, ↘ approx. 740 m.
6. Ambérieu-en-Bugey → Pérouges (22.2 km) — Flat via Saint-Denis-en-Bugey, Rignieu-le-Désert and Meximieux; the goal is the fortified old town on the hill.
7. Pérouges → Miribel (24.2 km) — Via Faramans and Pizay to the Côtière, through Montluel, La Boisse and Beynost; easy and pleasant walking.
8. Miribel → Lyon (13.9 km) — Via Neyron to the Rhône and into the city, hardly any climbing; the afternoon belongs to Saint-Nizier, Saint-Jean and Fourvière.
9. Lyon → Thurins (22.2 km) — Montée du Gourguillon, Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Beaunant, aqueducts near Chaponost, then up into the hills; ↗ approx. 500 m.
10. Thurins → Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise (18.3 km) — Via Tiremanteau and just past Saint-Martin-en-Haut to a good 800 m; ↗ approx. 650 m, the mountain day of the Monts du Lyonnais.
11. Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise → Saint-Galmier (14.7 km) — Via Les Bruyas and Les Bayards down into the Coise valley; Saint-Galmier lies about 800 m off the route.
12. Saint-Galmier → Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville (23.7 km) — Across the Forez plain via Rivas, Craintilleux and the Loire, past the priory of Saint-Romain-le-Puy to the junction.

In total 251.0 kilometres according to the map, just under 4,500 metres of ascent and descent each. The stage to Thurins, Thurins itself and Saint-Galmier lie up to 0.8 kilometres off the route, Saint-Martin-en-Haut even around 1.6 kilometres – factor in the walk to your bed. If you are very fit, you can combine days 7 and 8 or 10 and 11 into days of more than 30 kilometres; if you walk more slowly, split stage 5 at Jujurieux.

A route named after its halfway stop

Most Ways of St James bear the name of their destination or their starting point. This one is named after a city you reach on the eighth day and leave again on the ninth – at kilometre 172 of 251. But what a city: in 43 BC Lucius Munatius Plancus founded the colony of Lugdunum, in 12 BC the federal sanctuary of the Three Gauls was consecrated here, to which the envoys of the Gallic tribes came every year, and Emperor Claudius was born here. The verse attributed to Seneca about the city of the two rivers reads: “Je vis au pied d'un mont doré par l'Orient, deux fleuves réunis en un large torrent”. You walk right between those two rivers.

In front of the church of Saint-Nizier, built over a cemetery from the days of Lugdunum and associated with the martyrs of 177, stood the pilgrims' commandery and a chapel of Saint-Jacques; between 1461 and 1512 the city council held its meetings in the church's St James chapel. Today a sign above a pharmacy recalls the commandery. Since 2013 the association has been setting brass studs with a stylised shell into Lyon's paving – building works swallowed some of them, and they were reset between the Presqu'île and Sainte-Foy. The arrows on the studs converge, pointing towards Santiago.

Then comes the climb, and Lyon's tourist office puts it drily: “La mise en jambe commence ici avec la montée du Gourguillon.” The warm-up begins with the steepest lane in the old town. One thing deserves honesty, though: a medieval pilgrim road from Geneva via Lyon to Le Puy is not documented – around 1135 the Codex Calixtinus names four routes through France, one starting in Le Puy, one with the Via Tolosana in Arles, none in Geneva. The Via Lugdunum is a modern link on very old roads.

Highlights along the way

• Fort l'Écluse — the fortress in the Rhône cluse near Collonges, a good 700 m off the route, extended in 1827–1841 with an upper fort reached by a staircase cut into the rock – 830 or 1,165 steps, depending on the source.
• Lac de Nantua and the abbey church of Saint-Michel — Nantua grew up around a monastery founded in 671 that passed to Cluny in the 10th century; Delacroix's “Martyre de Saint Sébastien” hangs in the Romanesque church. By the lake: quenelles with Nantua sauce made from crayfish butter.
• Cerdon — rosé sparkling wine made by the “méthode ancestrale” on steep vineyard slopes, the coppersmith's workshop from 1854 (now a Monument historique) and the Mémorial des maquis de l'Ain et de la Résistance.
• Château des Allymes — built around 1310 by the Dauphin Jean II, about 650 m up above the Ain plain; 800 metres opposite stood the Savoyard castle of Luisandre.
• Pérouges — weavers' town on its hill, one of the “Plus Beaux Villages de France” since 1988, fortified church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine from the 15th century, filming location for several “Three Musketeers” films.
• Saint-Nizier, Lyon — Gothic church over a cemetery from the days of Lugdunum, with the chapel of Saint-Jacques and the vanished pilgrims' commandery on the square in front.
• Primatiale Saint-Jean — built from 1175 to 1480, seat of the “Primate of the Gauls”, with an astronomical clock from the 14th century.
• Saint-Galmier — in 1837 Auguste Badoit leased the Fontfort spring here, from 1848 the water was bottled, and until 1954 it was sold only in pharmacies. “Elle jaillit naturellement gazeuse” – at a constant 16 °C.
• Priory of Saint-Romain-le-Puy — on a basalt cone around 80 metres high above the Forez plain, Benedictines probably since the 6th century, church from around the year 1000 with reused Roman stones.

Borderland before it was pilgrim land

For the first five days you walk through a landscape where borders ran for centuries. Fort l'Écluse closed off the Rhône cluse; in 1293 Amédée V of Savoy bought the castle for 2,100 livres, and in 1601 it became French. From 1282 to 1355 a war raged between the Dauphiné and Savoy, whose traces you can see near Ambérieu: around 1310 the Dauphin planted the Château des Allymes 800 metres in front of the Savoyard castle of Luisandre. Only the Treaty of Paris in 1355 moved the border to the Rhône and the Guiers. Two castles within shouting distance – and today you simply walk between them.

Pérouges experienced the same from the other direction: in 1468 the town withstood an attack from the Dauphiné and was rewarded with 20 years' exemption from taxes. And Nantua has held the Médaille de la Résistance since 1947: these mountains were maquis country. Before pilgrims were counted on this route, tolls, soldiers and losses were counted here.

How pilgrims reach this route

The most natural approach is on foot from Switzerland: if you have come along the Swiss Way of St James from Lake Constance to Geneva, in Geneva you have the choice between two routes to Le Puy – the Via Gebennensis through Savoy, the Isère and the Pilat, or the Via Lugdunum across the Jura, the Bugey and Lyon. Both start in Geneva about a kilometre apart and separate immediately; if you want to see Lyon, take the Via Lugdunum. Thanks to the railway you can also join at Ambérieu or Lyon.

Walking on?

At Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville three routes meet: the Via Lugdunum joins the Trier – Le Puy route here (km 805.0 of 887.7 there), which on this section coincides with the Chemin de Cluny (no Camino Ninja page yet). In Camino Ninja the Via Lugdunum therefore ends here; to Le Puy-en-Velay you continue on the Trier – Le Puy route, around 83 kilometres more. The association's guidebook, on the other hand, describes the Via Lugdunum in one piece all the way to Le Puy, around 315 kilometres in total. The route doesn't stop, it just changes its name.

In Le Puy the Via Podiensis begins, the most walked Way of St James in France, via Conques, Cahors and Moissac to the Pyrenees; from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port the Camino Francés takes you to Santiago de Compostela.

Preparation & practicalities

The best time is May to early October. The Jura section only reaches a little over 900 metres, but it is often wet and slippery in spring, and the few places to stay in small villages usually don't open until spring. In high summer the Ain plain and the Côtière are hot and short on shade.

Accommodation is the real planning issue. Besides hotels, gîtes and chambres d'hôtes there are the accueils jacquaires: private families who take in pilgrims for a donation, often with dinner – their addresses are only in the association's guidebook. At the finish, right at the route junction, the gîte jacquaire of Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville has 9 places with half board on a donation basis. So plan your days in advance – the easiest way is directly in the Camino Ninja app, where you put your stages together and plan suitable accommodation along with them.

As on all French routes, you need a pilgrim passport (credencial) to stay in pilgrim accommodation and to receive the Compostela at the end. It is best to order it online in advance so that it reaches you in time for the start of your journey; members of the association get it free of charge through its local delegations. The association created and waymarked the Via Lugdunum and maintains around 2,000 kilometres of routes in the region in total. Its guidebook “Compostelle Genève – Lyon – Le Puy” (the red guide) is the most reliable source for addresses and opening times.

What the route costs you

From the French border onwards the route is inexpensive: accueils jacquaires and the gîte in Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville work on a donation basis, otherwise gîtes and chambres d'hôtes cost the usual French rates; in villages without a restaurant, half board is often the only option. Reckon on €40 to €60 a day, rather more in Lyon (Camino Ninja estimate, as of October 2026). For 12 stages that comes to around €500 to €750, not counting travel there and back. Only Geneva is expensive – arrive early and set off straight away. The association's guidebook costs €16 in the association's shop (as of October 2026).

Getting there

To the start: Geneva has Genève-Cointrin airport, a few minutes by train from Cornavin main station, and direct trains from all over Switzerland as well as TGV services from Paris and Lyon. The route starts practically at the station. For sections, the Geneva – Lyon railway line via Bellegarde and Ambérieu is ideal: it accompanies the first half of the route, and between Ambérieu and Lyon the regional trains also stop at Meximieux-Pérouges, Montluel and Miribel.

From the finish: only about two kilometres before Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville lies Saint-Romain-le-Puy station, with TER connections to Saint-Étienne and on to Lyon. From Lyon you continue by TGV, and Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport lies outside the city.

• Getting to the start: fly to Genève-Cointrin or take the train to Genève-Cornavin (long-distance services from Switzerland, TGV from Paris and Lyon).
• Joining along the way: stations on the Geneva – Lyon line (Bellegarde, Ambérieu-en-Bugey, Meximieux-Pérouges, Montluel, Miribel) and Lyon Part-Dieu.
• Getting home from the finish: TER from Saint-Romain-le-Puy to Saint-Étienne and Lyon; from Lyon TGV and Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport.