Via Lugdunum (L'Arbresle)

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: L'Arbresle station (227 m) → junction with the Via Lugdunum on the southern edge of Saint-Martin-en-Haut (803 m)
• Length: 31.1 km
• Duration: 2 stages, or 1 long day for fit walkers
• Elevation: ↗ 1,074 m / ↘ 499 m
• Highest point: 884 m at km 22.0, on the plateau west of Yzeron near Le Thiollet
• Landscape: The Brévenne valley, old mining slopes, the pass of Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, woods and pastures on the plateau of the Monts du Lyonnais, the castle rock of Rochefort
• Waymarking: Yellow scallop shell on a blue background; from Saint-Martin-en-Haut on, the signs of the Via Lugdunum
• Traces of St. James: An inn of Savigny Abbey for pilgrims in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid; in the chapel of Rochefort, a stained-glass window with a pilgrim figure
• Accommodation: A hotel in L'Arbresle, guest rooms at the Couvent de la Tourette (0.8 km off the route), gîtes around Yzeron, an accueil jacquaire and a campground in Saint-Martin-en-Haut
• Connecting routes: In Saint-Martin-en-Haut the Via Lugdunum to Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville, continuing there on Trier – Le Puy to Le Puy-en-Velay
• Best time: May to October; in winter the plateau gets snow more often than Lyon down below
• Associations along the way: whole route: Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques

Overview

The Via Lugdunum comes from Geneva and runs straight through Lyon: old town, Saône, then a long stretch of suburbs all the way up to Chaponost. If you want to start in Lyon without spending a day crossing its outskirts, take the train to L'Arbresle and set off from there. At the station a signpost reads "Compostelle 1760 km"; the author of the route description did the math and came up with 1,683. So you start with 77 kilometers for free.

After that, things turn rural fast. After an hour along the Brévenne, you climb old mining paths up to the pass of Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid. Up top you walk across a plateau of pastures and woods, with views as far as Mont Blanc on a clear day, and come past the castle rock of Rochefort to Saint-Martin-en-Haut. A good 30 kilometers, almost 600 meters higher than where you started—and not a single traffic light after Sain-Bel.

Other Names

Via Lugdunum (L'Arbresle) is a working name used by Camino Ninja. We name feeder routes after the main route they lead to, with the starting point in parentheses. So this isn't the Via Lugdunum itself; it takes you there.

The Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques (ARA) lists it as the "chemin de raccordement de l'Arbresle à Saint-Martin-en-Haut", a connecting path, and names it after the man who devised it: "Chemin Jean Biver". It's meant as a nature-friendly alternative to the urban start in Lyon: from Lyon and from L'Arbresle alike, it's about 30 kilometers to Saint-Martin-en-Haut.

Who It's Ideal For—and Who It's Not So Ideal For

This route is ideal if you're arriving in Lyon and want to take the Via Lugdunum to Le Puy, but would rather begin in green countryside than on sidewalks.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you're looking for a gentle first day. Between Sain-Bel and Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid you climb about 500 meters over a good eight kilometers, and there's no shop or café along the way. It's also not for you if you expect pilgrim hostels a day's walk apart: beds are scarce on the plateau, so you plan your night the day before, not that evening.

Route & Landscape

From L'Arbresle to Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (km 0–12.0): From the station you walk south along the Brévenne, past La Balme in the municipality of Éveux (km 1.7), and on to Sain-Bel (km 3.6). Then the climb begins: on an old mine track past Saint-Pierre-la-Palud, which lies 0.7 km off the route, up to remnants of the Roman road and onto the pass of Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (km 12.0, 757 m).

From Saint-Bonnet to Saint-Martin-en-Haut (km 12.0–31.1): Via the Col de Malval and the hamlet of Les Jumeaux (km 15.1), you reach the Crêt de Piraluron and the plateau. At km 15.7 the route splits. The main track stays west on the high ground, via Le Thiollet (km 21.0) and the highest point (km 22.0, 884 m). The Yzeron variant, also waymarked, runs via Goutte Chérine and Les Esselards through the village and rejoins the main track at km 22.8. At about 6.9 instead of 7.1 kilometers it is even slightly shorter, and it is the only place along the way with a shop, a stamp and beds; it is not drawn on the Camino Ninja map. Then you pass the Croix Perrière (km 24.9) and Le Gazanchon (km 25.7) on your way to Rochefort (km 27.8) and down to Saint-Martin-en-Haut (km 29.4). The last 1.7 kilometers lead to the southern edge of town, where you meet the Via Lugdunum.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

The two stages are a Camino Ninja suggestion following the split the ARA also recommends: one long climbing day, one short day across the plateau. Distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 31.1 km.

1. L'Arbresle → Le Thiollet (21.0 km) — the Brévenne valley, the long climb to Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid and the high plateau; beds are few and scattered, so book ahead.
2. Le Thiollet → Saint-Martin-en-Haut, Via Lugdunum junction (10.1 km) — over the highest point, past the Croix Perrière to Rochefort and on to the junction.

If you're fit and start early, you can walk the 31.1 kilometers in one day, about eight to nine hours with breaks. Nothing is technically difficult; after rain the forest paths on the climb get slippery.

The Road to Bordeaux Above, Lyon's Water Below

Over the pass of Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid ran the Roman voie d'Aquitaine, from Lugdunum to Burdigala, from Lyon to Bordeaux. In the Middle Ages, Savigny Abbey, documented since 819, kept a chapel of St. Bonnet up here and an inn for pilgrims and travelers. From 1735 the estate belonged to the Blanc family. Antoine Blanc de Saint-Bonnet (1815–1880), a Catholic philosopher, turned the inn into a château, and in 1849 he wrote a book titled "De la douleur" (On Pain). After the climb from Sain-Bel, it reads like a commentary.

And while the road ran up top, the water flowed below. On the Yzeron variant, from the Crêt de Piraluron you follow the line of the Yzeron aqueduct for about three kilometers—one of Lyon's four Roman aqueducts, built under Augustus. It tapped its main spring at about 720 meters below Yzeron and carried the water to the western edge of Roman Lyon, today's Point-du-Jour district, at about 268 meters. Hardly anything of the underground channel is visible. You're walking over a water main that supplied a city 2,000 years ago—the very city you just left by train.

Highlights Along the Way

• L'Arbresle (km 0) — small town on a spur above the confluence of the Brévenne and the Turdine, fortified around 1060 by Abbot Dalmace of Savigny; remains of the keep, and the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste with a choir window from about 1488 to 1494. Barthélemy Thimonnier was born here in 1793; in 1830 he filed the first patent for a sewing machine.
• Couvent Sainte-Marie de La Tourette, Éveux (0.8 km off km 1.7) — the Dominican priory by Le Corbusier, designed from 1953, built 1956 to 1960, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016. The friars still live there and take in guests, by reservation.
• Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid (km 12.0) — mountain pass with a château, a chapel and wide views in three directions; once a pilgrim inn of Savigny Abbey.
• Crêt de Piraluron — knoll on the edge of the plateau, with a menhir according to the ARA; the aqueduct stretch starts here.
• Yzeron (waymarked variant between km 15.7 and 22.8) — village with a shop and a stamp. In 1158 the army of the Count of Forez put the troops of the Archbishop of Lyon to flight here.
• Rochefort (km 27.8) — medieval fortified hamlet on a rocky spur, with a castle ruin probably from the 13th century, restored around 1417. The 13th-century chapel of Notre-Dame, abandoned in 1823 and restored from 1850, holds a 15th-century stained-glass window, protected since 1904, showing a pilgrim with staff and book; the ARA identifies him as St. James. There's also a stone Pietà from around 1500, protected since 1981.
• Saint-Martin-en-Haut (km 29.4) — main town of the Monts du Lyonnais, with a church of blue granite built from 1886 to 1889.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

L'Arbresle is a starting point, not a crossing: no other route in Camino Ninja leads here. Almost everyone arrives by train from Lyon. If you're already coming from Geneva on the Via Lugdunum, you don't need it. If you'd rather head south from Lyon to the Mediterranean, take the Via Rhodana (Lyon) instead, which follows the Rhône to La Roche-de-Glun.

Continue the pilgrimage?

At the end you're standing on the Via Lugdunum, at its km 201.4. From there it goes on like this:

• The Via Lugdunum via Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise, Saint-Galmier and the Forez plain, just under 50 kilometers more to Saint-Georges-Haute-Ville
• There, onto the Trier – Le Puy route to Le Puy-en-Velay; according to the ARA, it's about 128 kilometers from Saint-Martin-en-Haut to Le Puy
• From Le Puy on the Via Podiensis

Preparation & Practical Information

Season. May, June and September are the most beautiful; in late fall the plateau is often foggy.

Waymarking and route description. Follow the yellow scallop shell on a blue background. The ARA provides the description of the Chemin Jean Biver, with maps and accommodation, as a PDF, available via chemins.compostelleenrhonealpes.fr. It describes the variant through Yzeron; the Camino Ninja map shows only the main track across the plateau.

Accommodation and credential. L'Arbresle has a hotel, and the Couvent de la Tourette offers single rooms by reservation. On the plateau there are a few gîtes and guest rooms, several of them on the Yzeron variant; in Saint-Martin-en-Haut an accueil jacquaire (a private pilgrim host) and a campground take you in. The easiest way to plan this is right in the Camino Ninja App, where you put together your stages and plan suitable accommodation at the same time. 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's best to order it online in advance so it reaches you in time for the start of your trip.

Supplies. You can shop in L'Arbresle and Sain-Bel, then not again until Yzeron (variant) or Saint-Martin-en-Haut.

What the journey will cost you

Plan on 60 to 90 € per day for bed, dinner and breakfast, according to a Camino Ninja estimate (as of October 2026). At the Couvent de la Tourette, dinner, a single room and breakfast together cost about 67 to 84 € (as of October 2026). At the accueil jacquaire you give a donation. For two days that comes to about 130 to 190 €.

Getting Here

• Getting to the start: L'Arbresle is on the Lyon–Roanne line, with hourly TER trains from Lyon Part-Dieu or Perrache; the Tram-train de l'Ouest lyonnais also runs from Lyon Saint-Paul via Sain-Bel, with some trains ending in L'Arbresle. Sain-Bel station lies right on the route at km 3.5.
• Getting back from the finish: A regional bus, most recently line 2Ex, runs from Saint-Martin-en-Haut to the Gorge de Loup bus station in Lyon. Check the line and timetable before you travel.
• Timetables: ter.sncf.com