2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics: Lyon, capital of ice, with the Alps as a backdrop

Update as of 30 September 2026 : a official Alpes 2030 press release of 18 September 2026 confirms hockey at Halle Tony Garnier and the Décines-Charpieu Arena (LDLC Arena), and curling, figure skating and short-track at Eurexpo. Long-track speed skating is planned at Thialf, in Heerenveen in the Netherlands. Competition schedules, ticketing arrangements and operational transport plans have yet to be specified.

Lyon, capital of ice for the 2030 Games

• Halle Tony-Garnier : ice hockey — the legendary Gerland venue transformed into an Olympic rink.
• LDLC Arena, in Décines-Charpieu : ice hockey too — a venue that will host the Ice Hockey World Championships from 2028, a full-scale rehearsal two years before the Games.
• Eurexpo, in Chassieu: curling, figure skating and short-track — and the Main Media Centre of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We serve Eurexpo every trade fair week and have done for years.

Around the venues, a whole ecosystem is taking shape in the metropolitan area: the Lyon Olympic Village will be built at La Saulaie, on the Oullins-Pierre-Bénite side, and the organising committee has set up its headquarters in Décines, a short walk from Groupama Stadium — a stadium cited among the options for hosting the opening ceremony, whose venue the committee is only just starting to plan. The only ice discipline moved elsewhere: long-track speed skating, which will take place in Heerenveen, in the Netherlands, as France has no speed skating oval.

From one venue to another: journey times our drivers know by heart

The question every delegation, newsroom or agency will ask: how long between the airport, the station, the hotels and the venues? Here are our benchmarks from the field — outside peak times and outside event arrangements — on journeys we already make every week:

• Saint-Exupéry Airport → Eurexpo : about ten kilometres via the A43, about 15 minutes — the Main Media Centre will practically be on the route of international arrivals.
• Saint-Exupéry → LDLC Arena (Décines): about 20 minutes via the eastern bypass, off-peak.
• Part-Dieu Station → LDLC Arena : 20 to 30 minutes depending on the time — the eastern Lyon area fills up quickly in the evening rush hour.
• Part-Dieu → Halle Tony-Garnier (Gerland): about 15 minutes via the Rhône quays.
• Eurexpo ↔ LDLC Arena : about 15 minutes via the eastern bypass — the key route between the hockey rinks and the Media Centre.
• Eurexpo → Halle Tony-Garnier : 20 to 30 minutes via the ring road, depending on traffic.
• Lyon → Courchevel : about 2 h 30; Lyon → Val-d'Isère : about 3 h — details on our resort links.

During the Games, journey times may lengthen depending on security perimeters, drop-off points and pedestrian flows. As competition schedules have not yet been published, no precise evening return can be announced. A team with equipment or a group spread across several venues should allow margins and adapt its transport plan to the official instructions to come.

The key dates and programme

• Winter Olympics: 1–17 February 2030 — 126 events and about 3,000 athletes.
• Winter Paralympics: 1–10 March 2030.
• A historic first: this will be the first winter edition to reach gender parity among athletes.
• Three new additions to the programme: freeride (ski and snowboard), ski mountaineering and synchronised skating.

And activity does not start in 2030: in the seasons before, test events, site visits, filming and federation visits will multiply between Lyon and the resorts — each time with teams to move.

In the mountains, venues our drivers know by heart

• Haute-Savoie — La Clusaz (cross-country skiing) and Le Grand-Bornand (biathlon, at the Sylvie-Becaert stadium): the Aravis massif, in this article's cover photo, about two hours from Lyon via Annecy.
• Savoie — Courchevel (alpine ski speed events: downhill and super-G, team combined, plus ski jumping on the 1992 hill), Val-d'Isère (technical events: giant slalom and slalom, on the Bellevarde face) and La Plagne (bobsleigh, luge and skeleton on the track inherited from Albertville 1992).
• Hautes-Alpes — Serre Chevalier and Montgenèvre (freestyle skiing, snowboarding), with an Olympic village in Briançon.

These roads are ours: Lyon ↔ ski resort links are part of our daily life each winter, from the Tarentaise to the Aravis, as are journeys to Grenoble and Chamonix. We know what a mountain pass in February, a rental changeover Saturday and a high-speed train arrival at Chambéry station involve — and we charge the fixed price quoted, whatever the conditions.

2030 Paralympics: Lyon's ice hub at the heart of the arrangements

From 1 to 10 March 2030, the Lyon venues will host para ice hockey and wheelchair curling — the detailed allocation between venues will be specified by the organising committee —, while La Clusaz will host para biathlon and para cross-country skiing, and Courchevel para alpine skiing and para snowboarding. For a transport operator, the Paralympics are a demanding challenge: absolute punctuality, individualised care, coordination with companions. This is precisely the work we do all year round on our assistance missions, where each passenger has specific needs documented before the ride.

Businesses, agencies, federations: why to get organised now

Who will be on site in February-March 2030? Delegations and teams, sports federations, sponsors and their hospitality programmes, media from around the world based at the Main Media Centre in Eurexpo, event agencies, local authorities and their guests. They will all have the same problem at the same time: people to move reliably between the airport, hotels, Lyon venues and the mountains — in a metropolitan area whose accommodation and transport will be under pressure as they were in Paris in 2024. Organisations that have lived through major events know this: serious transport contracts are signed years in advance, not weeks.

• Contractually fixed prices : the amount confirmed at booking is the amount invoiced, even on a ceremony evening.
• Hourly chauffeur hire : one or more chauffeur-driven vehicles dedicated to your teams, for a day of site visits or two weeks of competition.
• Shuttles and recurring rides : planned rotations between hotels, venues and stations, with real-time tracking of each vehicle.
• Consolidated invoicing : a single monthly invoice, broken down by cost centres, department or event.
• Business portal : your employees book for themselves within a framework you control — our business offer explains how it works.

Already preparing for 2030 — or simply for the build-up seasons ahead? Let's talk early: a conversation now costs nothing and gives you one less logistical piece to carry. Write to us at contact@onlyvtc.fr or call 06 67 25 84 26 — documentation and framework terms on request.

ONLY VTC has been transporting travellers in Lyon since 2016 — Saint-Exupéry airport, stations, Eurexpo, LDLC Arena, Groupama Stadium and Alpine resorts. A transport project around the 2030 Games? contact@onlyvtc.fr or 06 67 25 84 26.

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