Driving in Lyon

France: 1 scheme to know about before you drive in.

The short answer for Lyon

Lyon has one driving restriction on our books: the Zone à Faibles Émissions mobilité (ZFE-m) de la Métropole de Lyon (low emission zone). What is a low emission zone?

What it means for your car

Petrol or LPG. A petrol car first registered before 1 January 2006 is banned, because it is Crit'Air 3 or worse. Crit'Air 2 covers petrol and hybrid cars from 2006 to 2010 and is still allowed; Crit'Air 1 covers petrol cars from 1 January 2011 onwards. For motorcycles and other powered two-wheelers the line falls elsewhere — those first registered between 2004 and 2006 are Crit'Air 3 and are banned.
Diesel. A diesel car first registered before 1 January 2011 is banned, because it is Crit'Air 3 or worse — the step that took effect on 1 January 2025 caught diesel cars first registered between 2006 and 2010. A diesel car from 1 January 2011 onwards is Crit'Air 2 and may still enter. Heavy goods vehicles and light commercial vehicles of category N reached this point earlier: Crit'Air 3, 4, 5 and unclassified were already excluded before the 2025 step.

Sources last read on 2026-09-11, from Métropole de Lyon. The next scheduled check is 2026-12-11.

The schemes, one by one

• Zone à Faibles Émissions mobilité (ZFE-m) de la Métropole de Lyon Low emission zone

  Lyon bans, it does not charge. Since 1 January 2025 a Crit'Air 5, 4, 3 or unclassified vehicle may neither drive nor park inside the zone, which in plain terms means a diesel car first registered before 1 January 2011 and a petrol car before 1 January 2006. It runs 24 hours a day, every day.

  Read the national news carefully before you assume this has gone away: an article abolishing France's low emission zones was passed by the Assemblée Nationale, the Sénat and the joint committee, and then struck down by the Conseil constitutionnel on 21 May 2026 before it could be promulgated. The Métropole says so on its own site — the Lyon scheme is still in force.

Driving to Lyon?

Starting from

Check the route to Lyon

Lists the schemes on the road you would take, and when you would reach them.

Before you set off

France also has a national requirement

• Certificat qualité de l'air (vignette Crit'Air)Every vehicle class the nomenclature covers — cars, two-wheelers, tricycles and quadricycles, light commercial vehicles and heavy vehicles including buses and coaches. The class depends on the vehicle type, its engine and its Euro emission standard, and once assigned it is valid for the whole life of the vehicle.

This is owed on the country's roads, not inside this scheme. What France asks, with the source

Other cities in France

• Saint-Étienneabout 49 km away, 1 verified scheme
• Annemasseabout 119 km away, 1 verified scheme
• Clermont-Ferrandabout 134 km away, 1 verified scheme
• Montpellierabout 250 km away, 1 verified scheme
• Marseilleabout 277 km away, 1 verified scheme
• Nancyabout 341 km away, 1 verified scheme

And 8 more in France