Via Rhodana (Lyon)

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Church of Saint-Nizier, Lyon (Rhône) / La Roche-de-Glun (Drôme), starting point of the Via Rhodana to Arles
• Length: 116.2 km; Lyon → Arles together with the Via Rhodana 356.0 km
• Duration: 6 stages; with a rest day in Vienne, one week
• Elevation: ↗ 293 m / ↘ 349 m
• Highest point: 200 m at km 67.1, on a short hilly stretch between Limony and Serrières; otherwise the route stays between 113 and 170 m
• Landscape: City riverbanks, the industrial belt south of Lyon, then steep slopes with vineyard terraces, orchards and Rhône floodplains
• Waymarking: The association's scallop-shell markers, in places shared with the ViaRhôna bike route
• Traces of St. James: Saint-Nizier in Lyon, in front of which a pilgrim commandery with a St. James chapel once stood; a St. James window in the ambulatory of Saint-Maurice Cathedral in Vienne
• Accommodation: Hotels, gîtes and chambres d'hôtes, plus accueils jacquaires for a donation; no pilgrim albergues in the Spanish sense
• Connecting routes: Via Lugdunum in Lyon, Via Gebennensis crosses at Chavanay, Via Rhodana and Via Adresca in La Roche-de-Glun
• Best time: March to June and September to October
• Associations along the way: whole route: Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques

Overview

The Via Rhodana (Lyon) is the Way of St. James that links Lyon with the Mediterranean, and over these 116.2 kilometers it does exactly one thing: it goes south with the Rhône. You start on the square in front of Saint-Nizier in the middle of the Presqu'île, cross the Saône and leave the city past the confluence of the two rivers. From then on, the river is your direction. At the end of your first week you're standing in La Roche-de-Glun, where two feeder routes converge and the Via Rhodana to Arles begins.

In between lies more history than you'd expect from a river valley. Vienne was the capital of the Allobroges, a Roman city and an archbishop's see; one of its archbishops became pope in 1119 and lent his name to the most important book of the Camino. Past Vienne begin the steep slopes of Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu, and in Tournon a castle stands above the river, facing the hill of Hermitage. You'll barely rack up any elevation: 293 meters of ascent over 116 kilometers, which some Pyrenean routes manage before breakfast.

Other Names

Via Rhodana is Latin for "Rhône Way," after Rhodanus, the Roman name of the river. The name was given by the Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques (ARA, also known as Compostelle en Rhône-Alpes); in its color system the Via Rhodana is the Chemin bleu (blue way) and the Via Adresca the Chemin vert (green way). In the association's guide this section is simply called "Lyon – Glun, par la rive droite du Rhône" (Lyon – Glun, along the right bank of the Rhône). In German you'll find it as the Jakobsweg Lyon – Arles or Rhône-Jakobsweg. With the ViaRhôna bike route it often shares the riverbank, but not the pace.

The association describes the Via Rhodana with two starting points, Lyon – Arles and Gillonnay – Arles. Camino Ninja divides the route where the paths really meet:

• Via Rhodana (Lyon) — the feeder from Lyon along the Rhône to La Roche-de-Glun, the subject of this page
• Via Adresca — the feeder from Gillonnay on the Via Gebennensis via Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye to La Roche-de-Glun, and from there on through the Vivarais to Le Puy-en-Velay
• Via Rhodana — the shared section from La Roche-de-Glun to Arles

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

This route is ideal if you're in Lyon and want to reach the Mediterranean: you get off the train and start walking, no bus, no detour. It suits you if you like flat, even days, if you're walking several days in a row for the first time, or if you want a week to wind down after a mountain route. And it suits you if you like Roman stones and wine more than solitude.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you're looking for nature without noise. The Rhône Valley is France's main transport corridor: the A7 highway, two railroad lines, the Feyzin refinery on the opposite bank, chemical plants in Pierre-Bénite, the Saint-Alban nuclear power plant across the river from Chavanay. It's also not for you if you need a pilgrim community: you'll meet more ViaRhôna cyclists than people with a shell. And if you hate hard asphalt, be aware that riverside paths, levees and back roads make up most of the route.

Route & Landscape

Lyon to Vienne (km 0–36.2): From Saint-Nizier you cross the Saône and follow its right bank downstream, past the foot of Fourvière, to where it flows into the Rhône. From here you stay on the right bank of the Rhône: Oullins lies just under 1 km off the route, then come Pierre-Bénite, Irigny, Vernaison and Grigny-sur-Rhône, a belt of suburbs and industry. In Givors (km 24.1) the Gier flows in, and after that things get quieter; Loire-sur-Rhône stays about 1.2 km off to the side. Just before Vienne you cross the Rhône into the old town on the left bank and leave it again over the river to Sainte-Colombe.

Vienne to La Roche-de-Glun (km 36.2–116.2): On the right bank come Saint-Cyr-sur-le-Rhône, Ampuis with the Côte-Rôtie, and Condrieu (km 49.1), where the slopes grow steep and the vineyard terraces narrow. At Chavanay (km 55.7) the Via Gebennensis crosses your path. Via Saint-Pierre-de-Bœuf and Limony you reach the highest point before Serrières, then continue via Champagne, Andance and Sarras through orchards to Arras-sur-Rhône and Vion. In Tournon-sur-Rhône (km 108.2) you cross the Rhône to Tain-l'Hermitage and continue on the left bank; Mauves, on the opposite bank, stays 0.7 km off the route. Your goal is the Rhône island of La Roche-de-Glun.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We show the route in six stages. Distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 116.2 km; stage towns are places with accommodation.

1. Lyon → Givors (24.1 km) — the Saône, the confluence, then the suburbs along the right bank; the toughest day.
2. Givors → Condrieu (25.0 km) — via Vienne at km 12.1 of this stage; if you have time, split the day in Vienne and stay for half a day.
3. Condrieu → Serrières (19.4 km) — via Chavanay and Saint-Pierre-de-Bœuf, briefly up to the highest point (200 m).
4. Serrières → Sarras (20.4 km) — via Champagne and Andance, flat through orchards.
5. Sarras → Tournon-sur-Rhône (19.3 km) — via Arras-sur-Rhône and Vion to the castle on the river.
6. Tournon-sur-Rhône → La Roche-de-Glun (8.0 km) — across the Rhône to Tain-l'Hermitage, along the left bank to the island; a short day that many combine directly with the first stage of the Via Rhodana.

There are no real climbs. What wears you out are the long, shadeless riverside levees and the hard surface underfoot; in summer the mistral can help, as it usually blows from the north, so from behind.

The Pope of the Codex Calixtinus Was Archbishop of Vienne for 31 Years

In 1088 Guy de Bourgogne, a son of the Count of Burgundy, became Archbishop of Vienne before the age of 30. He held the post for 31 years. On February 2, 1119, the cardinals at Cluny elected him pope, and on February 9, 1119, he was crowned in Vienne: as Callixtus II. His family had close ties to Spain. His brother Raymond of Burgundy had married Urraca, heiress to León and Castile, and their son, the future Alfonso VII, was Callixtus's nephew.

For Santiago, the man from Vienne was a stroke of luck. In 1120 he transferred to Compostela the dignity of the old archdiocese of Mérida; the diocese of Santiago became an archdiocese. And then there's the book: the Codex Calixtinus, the Liber Sancti Jacobi with its sermons, miracles, liturgy and the famous pilgrims' guide, bears his name because each part is prefaced by a letter attributed to him. He didn't write it; the collection was compiled only one or two decades after his death in December 1124. It bears his name to this day all the same. Every pilgrims' guide since the 12th century travels, in a small way, under the name of an Archbishop of Vienne.

The present cathedral grew from around 1120 over the building in which Callixtus was crowned. Innocent IV consecrated it on April 20, 1251, and the last stone of the façade was set in 1529. From October 1311 to April 1312 the Council of Vienne met here and, under Clement V, decided to suppress the Knights Templar. And in the ambulatory a small reward awaits attentive pilgrims: a 16th-century stained-glass window in which St. James and St. Maurice frame the kneeling donor.

Highlights Along the Way

• Saint-Nizier, Lyon (km 0.0) — Gothic church from the 14th to 16th centuries, on the first list of Monuments historiques in 1840; the crypt commemorates the martyrs of 177. In front of the church stood a pilgrim commandery with a St. James chapel; today a plaque on a pharmacy recalls it.
• Lyon — since 2013 the association has been setting brass scallop-shell studs into the pavement, marking the pilgrim route through the city.
• Vienne: Temple d'Auguste et de Livie (km 36.2) — Roman temple from around 25 BC, inscription "ROMAE ET AUGUSTO CAESARI DIVI F"; later a church, a Temple of Reason, a courthouse and, from 1822, a museum.
• Vienne: Saint-André-le-Bas — abbey church built on Roman walls; in 1152 master builder Guillaume Martin began the remodeling and the cloister, and his name still survives in an inscription.
• Vienne: the Pyramid — not a pyramid at all, but the center of the racetrack in the 2nd-century Roman circus; a legend made it the tomb of Pontius Pilate.
• Ampuis and the Côte-Rôtie (km 43.2) — Syrah on steep terraces; legend has it that a lord of Maugiron divided the slope between his two daughters: "L'une était blonde comme les blés et l'autre était brune comme le jais." (One was blond as wheat, the other dark as jet.) Wine fair since 1928.
• Condrieu (km 49.1) — Viognier appellation since 1940; in the 1960s fewer than 12 hectares remained, today there are more than 130. In the middle lies the tiny Château-Grillet appellation, at 3.4 hectares.
• Andance (km 81.2) — Marc Seguin's suspension bridge from 1827, blown up on August 30, 1944, rebuilt in 1946.
• Tournon-sur-Rhône (km 108.2) — castle from the 14th to 16th centuries with a museum; the Collège, founded in 1536 by Cardinal François de Tournon, is considered the second-oldest lycée in France, and in 1863 Stéphane Mallarmé came here as an English teacher. Seguin's bridge of 1825 was demolished in 1965; the footbridge of 1849 beside it now serves pedestrians and cyclists.
• Tain-l'Hermitage — the vineyard hill of Hermitage, named after a legendary hermit. Victor Hugo wrote of the opposite bank: "Et que Tournon récolte au flanc de son vieux mont." (And what Tournon harvests on the flank of its old mountain.)

Two Roman Roads and a Pilgrim Way

Under Agrippa, the Roman road from Lyon to Arles, the Via Agrippa, was built in the 1st century BC along the left bank via Vienne and Valence; in the 2nd century it gained a sister on the right bank, the Voie d'Antonin. The Via Rhodana (Lyon) takes the sister's route: today the A7 and the main railroad line run on the left, leaving room on the right for riverside paths. You cross the river only where it's worth it, to Vienne and to Tain, where in 1825 Marc Seguin strung one of the first suspension bridges in continental Europe.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Most start in Lyon itself, which is easy to reach by TGV and by plane. Others arrive already on foot:

• Via Lugdunum — from Geneva via Nantua and Ambérieu to Lyon, about 170 km; it then continues west toward Le Puy, while you turn south in Lyon
• Via Gebennensis — from Geneva to Le Puy-en-Velay; it crosses your path in Chavanay, where you could switch from it onto the Rhône route

Continue the pilgrimage?

In La Roche-de-Glun you choose between the Mediterranean and the Massif Central:

• Via Rhodana — 239.8 km across the Rhône to Châteaubourg and along the right bank through the Ardèche and the Gard to Arles; Lyon → Arles is 356.0 km in total
• Via Adresca — the first 6 km or so together with the Via Rhodana to just past Châteaubourg, then west via Saint-Péray, Vernoux and Saint-Agrève into the Vivarais and on to Le Puy-en-Velay; about 134 km from La Roche-de-Glun

In Arles the Via Tolosana begins, leading via Toulouse to the Pyrenees; in Le Puy the Via Podiensis, the most-walked Way of St. James in France.

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and app. 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. The association was founded in 1993, is based in Lyon, waymarks some 2,000 kilometers of Camino routes in the region and issues the credencial to its members. Plan your days in advance; the easiest way is right in the Camino Ninja App, where you can put together your stages and plan suitable accommodation at the same time.

Season and accommodation. The route is at its most beautiful in spring and fall. In July and August the heat builds up on the shadeless levees, and hotels along the ViaRhôna are often full of cyclists. Besides hotels, gîtes and chambres d'hôtes there are accueils jacquaires, families who host pilgrims for a donation. Their addresses are in the association's guide, "Compostelle en Rhône-Alpes: chemins de Saint-Jacques, Lyon-Arles, Gillonnay-Le Puy-en-Velay" (2023 edition, 208 pages, French and German).

What the journey will cost you

Plan on 45 to 65 € per day (Camino Ninja estimate, as of October 2026). In Lyon a dorm bed in a hostel costs from about 25 to 30 €, a simple double room in Vienne or Tournon 70 to 100 €; gîtes run 15 to 25 € per person, and at accueils jacquaires you give a donation, usually 20 to 30 € including dinner (as of October 2026). For six stages that comes to about 280 to 400 €, not counting travel to and from the route. The association's guide costs 17.50 € (as of October 2026).

Getting Here

To the start: You can reach Lyon by TGV from Paris, Geneva or Frankfurt via Mulhouse; long-distance trains stop at Lyon Part-Dieu and Perrache. From Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport, the Rhônexpress tram takes about 30 minutes to Part-Dieu. To get to the church of Saint-Nizier, take Metro line A to Cordeliers; from there it's just a few steps.

From the finish: La Roche-de-Glun has no train station. The nearest is Tain-l'Hermitage–Tournon, about 8 km north, with TER trains to Lyon and Valence; Valence-Ville and Valence TGV are about 10 to 15 km south. You can also join midway at Givors, Vienne or Tain-l'Hermitage, all on the railroad line along the left bank.

• French rail: sncf-connect.com — TGV to Lyon, TER Lyon–Vienne–Tain-l'Hermitage–Valence
• Lyon public transport: tcl.fr — Metro line A to Cordeliers