A hospital from 1184 until 2010, now a hotel behind Soufflot’s 375-metre riverside façade and its dome.
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Overview
Eleven Eighty-Four
A hundred and forty-four rooms and thirty-five suites inside a UNESCO-listed monument.
The Hôtel-Dieu was built in 1184, became a working hospital in the 15th century, and did not stop being one until 2010 — Rabelais was its chief physician in 1532. The riverside wing was designed by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, the architect of the Paris Panthéon, and runs for 375 metres along the Rhône beneath the dome that finished the building in the 18th century. The conversion kept the bones: the 144 rooms and 35 suites have the exceptional ceiling heights the wards were built with, and most of them look out over the river.
The ceilings are the tell. The rooms were hospital wards, and the extraordinary ceiling heights are original. Nothing built as a hotel in Lyon has them.
1184
Building Begun
144
Rooms
35
Suites
375m
Riverside Façade
Rooms
Ward Ceilings, River Windows
High beamed ceilings kept from the hospital, and views over the Rhône.
Deluxe River Room — InterContinental Lyon
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Original Ceiling HeightsThe rooms keep the extra-high beamed ceilings of the hospital wards they replaced.
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Rhône ViewsMost rooms face the river along the length of Soufflot’s 18th-century façade.
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A Deliberate RestraintThe interiors reference the hospital rather than disguise it, in muted greys and warm woods.
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Under the DomeThe building’s great dome sits directly above the public rooms and the bar named for it.
Experiences
Lyon, and Its Table
The gastronomic capital of France, and a UNESCO old town behind it.
Food
Les Halles Paul Bocuse
The covered market that made Lyon’s reputation, best walked before noon.
Heritage
Vieux Lyon
The Renaissance old town across the Saône, and its hidden traboule passageways.
View
Fourvière
The basilica on the hill, and the whole city laid out beneath it.
Local
The Bouchons
Lyon’s own restaurant form — small, loud, and entirely unconcerned with fashion.
Walk
Presqu’île
The peninsula between the two rivers, and the hotel’s immediate neighbourhood.
Onward
Beaujolais
Forty-five minutes north into the vineyards, for a day among the growers.
Dining
Epona, and Le Dôme
A restaurant named for a Celtic goddess, and a bar beneath the dome itself.
01Epona, the hotel’s restaurant, named for the Celtic goddess of horses
02Le Dôme, the bar set directly beneath the building’s great dome
03Terrace seating on the Rhône through the warmer months
04Private dining within the restored historic rooms
Le Dôme Bar — InterContinental Lyon
Location
On the Presqu’île
On the Rhône, in the centre of Lyon, inside a UNESCO World Heritage site.
On the Presqu’île, the peninsula between the Rhône and the Saône.
Within the UNESCO-listed historic centre of Lyon.
A short walk to Place Bellecour, Les Halles and the old town across the river.
Roughly 35 minutes from Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport; two hours from Paris by TGV.
Rail
Two hours from Paris by TGV to Lyon Part-Dieu.
Drive
Fifteen minutes across the city to the Presqu’île.
Arrive
Check in, then a drink under the dome before walking out to dinner.
Lyon
Eight Hundred Years, and Then a Hotel
Soufflot’s façade, ward ceilings, and the Rhône out of the window.