We have an upcoming trip mid-April for our first visit to Lyon. Needless to say, would appreciate any restaurant recommendations, at any level of dining from bouchon and bistro to haute cuisine. (We are staying four nights at the Intercontinental Hotel Dieu, and walking distance or easy metro/taxi from the hotel a plus.) Also interested in hearing about favorite places to visit in town, as well as any day trips/tours you might recommend: Dijon? Bourgogne? Any and all suggestions welcome. TIA.

I was there last fall for one night on the way to Annecy and enjoyed that hotel. For one dinner (at least), you should go to an unpretentious bouchon for quenelles. I'm not sure there's a huge difference across them. I went to Les Fines Gueules.

Dijon would be a fine excursion if you have an extra day. You could also go to Annecy (which I can't get enough of ) for the day. Assuming you don't mind 90 minutes or so each way in a train for either trip.

I was in Lyon in December 2024 and also stayed at the IC Hotel Dieu. Nice hotel, great breakfast. I only had a few days there so didn't do any day trips but these were a few highlights:

We had an excellent meal here: https://www.lesenfantsterribleslyon.fr/ - it was an easy walk from the hotel on a street with many restaurants but came recommended and the foie gras ravioli was to die for.

I also really enjoyed the Paul Bocuse food hall: https://www.halles-de-lyon-paulbocuse.com/

If you're interested in history, the resistance museum was interesting and very well done, a long-ish walk from the hotel but the Uber we took to return there was inexpensive: https://www.chrd.lyon.fr/musee/resis...history-centre

There's also a small history of Lyon museum in the old town but there wasn't much English there - most exhibit descriptions were only in French. I know enough of the language to understand some of it but it wasn't very extensive and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you have limited time there.