Charly offers three family-friendly heritage trails and three signposted nature trails with information panels. There are also historic buildings, landscaped grounds, and routes with specific distance and duration details. This gives you options when planning your trip, from architecture and nature to routes of varying lengths.

Choose a trail by duration and scenery

The Parcours des Hauts de Charly is a 5 km circular trail with a stated duration of 1 hour and 40 minutes. It links roads and paths through orchards, with views of the Château de Charly along the way. The Parcours de l’Étang de Virieux is also a circular trail: it is 3.2 km long, with a stated duration of one hour, and passes through green spaces. By the water, pollarded willows provide a setting for relaxation.

The Parcours du Plateau is a 3.3 km route with a stated duration of one hour. It combines roads and paths. In terms of time, both the Parcours de l’Étang de Virieux and the Parcours du Plateau are listed as taking one hour; the Hauts route is listed as taking 1 hour and 40 minutes. The routes also differ in character: orchards and views of the Château define the Hauts route, while the Étang route combines green spaces with relaxation by the water.

The church and Domaine as cultural highlights

The Domaine Melchior Philibert dates from the 14th century. The entire estate has been listed in the inventory of Monuments Historiques since 2003. Its landscaped grounds include a park, a viewpoint, the remains of French gardens, orchards, a kitchen garden, a pond, and a small wood. The estate thus brings together its history and a variety of landscaped and natural areas.

The Église de Charly is a Romanesque church dating from 1225, with a Gothic choir added around 1555. Its wall paintings are by Jean-Baptiste Frenet, from the 19th century; the stained-glass windows were created by Raphaël Lardeur and Robert in the 20th century. Its architectural history thus brings together Romanesque and Gothic architecture with artworks from two later centuries.

The three family-friendly heritage trails focus on notable public and private buildings, as well as rural and small-scale heritage. They therefore have a different focus from the nature trails: here, buildings and different forms of heritage are at the heart of the experience, while the nature trails offer an educational exploration of the municipality's natural heritage using information panels.

Explore nature and cultural events

The care of the Plateau des Étangs also brings together several themes. Charly works with Irigny, Vernaison, Saint-Genis-Laval, and the Métropole de Lyon to maintain and enhance the area. The Plateau des Étangs is classified as an Espace Naturel Sensible for its landscape, ecological, wildlife, flora, and agricultural richness.

At the Domaine Melchior Philibert, the Théâtre municipal Melchior presents an annual municipal cultural season featuring performances, conferences, concerts, and film screenings. If you want to plan your trip around a particular event, check the specific event dates. When choosing where to stay in Charly, you can first decide what matters most to you: historic architecture, the Domaine's grounds, nature trails, or a cultural event.

Discover more destinations: Amplepuis, Saint-Bonnet-Le-Troncy, Saint-Fons, Soucieu-en-Jarrest, Le Bois-D'oingt, Saint-Didier-Sur-Beaujeu, Chaponnay, Champagne-au-Mont-d'Or.

For the broader travel guide: Rhône.