Village · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes · Altitude 250 m

Pérouges

A walled weavers’ town on a hilltop near Lyon, cobbled end to end, with a liberty tree in the square and sugar galette in every oven.

Why go

Pérouges is what film-makers reach for when they need the seventeenth century without building a set. The whole walled town fits on a small hill above the Ain plain: river-stone cobbles, half-timbered houses, a fortified church that is part of the rampart. It almost died in the nineteenth century, which is why it survived intact. Come in the evening, after the day-trippers from Lyon have gone, and you will have the lanes to yourself.

History

People were living on this hill long before the town: archaeologists have found traces going back to the Chalcolithic. Local tradition says the name comes from settlers from Perugia in Italy, a story better treated as legend than as history. What is certain is that by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Pérouges was a fortified market town on the border between rival powers, and its inhabitants won charters of liberties from their lords.

The town changed hands between the Dauphiné and Savoy in the fourteenth century before settling under Savoy. In 1468 troops of Louis XI, coming from the Dauphiné, attacked it; behind its double wall Pérouges held out, and a plaque over the lower gate still celebrates the victory. In 1601, by the treaty of Lyon, the Bresse and Bugey, Pérouges included, became French.

For three centuries the town lived from weaving, above all hemp. When that trade died in the nineteenth century, and new roads and the railway passed it by, the population drained away; by 1911 only a few dozen people still lived inside the walls and houses were being pulled down for their stone.

That year a committee for the defence of old Pérouges was founded in Lyon. It bought and restored houses, brought craftsmen back and turned the ruins of the Maison des Princes into its headquarters. Film crews followed: Monsieur Vincent in 1947 and The Three Musketeers in 1961 among them. Today the town is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, and still very much lived in.

Member of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. The Plus Beaux Villages de France by train →

What to see

Place du Tilleul

The central square is named after the lime tree planted as a tree of liberty just after the Revolution. Around it stand the finest timber-framed and corbelled houses of the town, including an old inn that has served as a film set more than once.

The fortified church

Sainte-Marie-Madeleine is built into the town wall, and it shows: high, nearly blind outer walls that took part in the defence of the town, and a wall-walk along the top of one aisle. Inside, the restored furnishings make it a small museum of religious art.

Porte d’En-Bas and the rue des Rondes

Enter by the lower gate, look up for the plaque recalling the siege of 1468, then follow the rue des Rondes, which circles inside the walls past old weavers’ houses. The river-stone cobbles are hard on thin soles; the views out over the Ain plain towards the Bugey hills make up for it.

Maison des Princes and the town museum

Rebuilt from ruins by the preservation committee from 1952, the Maison des Princes is the committee’s home, with the town museum, a watchtower and a garden alongside. It is the place to understand how Pérouges was nearly lost and then saved.

Galette de Pérouges

A thin, buttery tart of flour, egg, lemon zest and a crust of sugar, best eaten warm, often in the square under the lime tree. It is the town’s signature, sold all over the old town, and you will smell it baking long before you see it.

Climate

Météo-France normals 1991-2020, station Amberieu (250 m, 14.2 km away). Sunshine: Amberieu station (14.2 km).

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
High °C	6.5	8.4	13.5	17.1	20.9	25.0	27.5	27.3	22.4	17.1	10.8	7.0
Low °C	-0.1	0.0	2.6	5.5	9.5	13.0	14.7	14.4	10.9	8.1	3.5	0.8
Rain (mm)	85	70	75	87	106	89	86	83	106	118	118	94
Rain days	11	10	10	10	11	10	8	8	9	11	11	12
Sunshine (h)	68	98	170	194	220	252	288	261	189	122	73	55

When to go →

Timeline

1236? Inhabitants obtain a charter of liberties
1329 The Dauphins grant a first charter during their brief rule
1468 The town repels Louis XI’s troops from the Dauphiné
1601 Treaty of Lyon: Bresse and Bugey, and Pérouges, become French
1911 Committee for the defence of old Pérouges founded in Lyon
1961 The Three Musketeers filmed in the town

Uncertain or disputed

The origin of the name from settlers from Perugia is a tradition, not established fact.
The early charter dates differ between sources: one gives 1236 for the first communal liberties, another dwells on the Dauphins’ charters from 1329.
Figures for the nineteenth-century depopulation vary widely between sources, so we give none.

Crowds: Busy at peaks. Sunny weekends from spring to autumn bring day visitors from Lyon by mid-morning; come on a weekday, or stay into the evening when the lanes empty. (editorial judgement)

Protected food & drink from here

AOP and IGP products whose official area includes this commune (INAO). Regional food: AOP & IGP →

Meat & charcuterie

Volailles de l'Ain IGP · poultry

Wine

Coteaux de l'Ain IGP

Festivals within 15 km

From the Ministry of Culture’s national list; it gives a season, not dates.

Festival	Discipline	Season
Bourk’en’spray Bourg-en-Bresse	Visual & digital arts	6 Sep – 31 Dec
Dagneux aime la musique Dagneux	Music	21 Jun – 5 Sep
Festival d'humour Villieu-Loyes-Mollon	Theatre, dance & street arts	6 Sep – 31 Dec
Festival du film d'animation Meximieux	Film	6 Sep – 31 Dec
Les herbes folles Meximieux	Film	1 Jan – 20 Jun
Les musicales du Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes	Music	21 Jun – 5 Sep
Leym'fest Leyment	Music	21 Jun – 5 Sep
Printemps de Pérouges Saint-Vulbas	Music	21 Jun – 5 Sep
Salon des auteurs de Meximieux Meximieux	Books & comics	6 Sep – 31 Dec
Sylak Open Air Saint-Maurice-de-Gourdans	Music	21 Jun – 5 Sep

Also in this part of France

3h43 Lake & mountains · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Annecy Canals, a prison on an island and a lake clear enough to swim in, with the Alps standing right at the end of the street.

2h38 Village · Burgundy–Franche-Comté Arbois Pasteur’s home town, capital of Jura wine: vin jaune, a river running under houses, and a limestone gorge just beyond the last street.

2h05 Town · Burgundy–Franche-Comté Beaune A walled wine town with the most famous roof in Burgundy, a medieval hospital for the poor, and the Côte’s great vineyards at the edge of town.

5h32 Mountains · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Chamonix-Mont-Blanc The valley where mountaineering was born: Mont Blanc over the rooftops, a glacier by rack railway, and a cable car to nearly 3,850 metres.

Sources

Original text. Train times computed from SNCF timetables (ODbL); climate Météo-France; products INAO; festivals Ministry of Culture. Methodology.