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France · Rhône-Alpes

Saint-Étienne: how to get there and around

Airports, stations, ports, where the hotels are and what the numbers say, from public data rather than a brochure.

Saint-Étienne is a city of 176,280 people in France (Rhône-Alpes), 529 m (1,736 ft) above sea level. The nearest large airport is Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS), 63 km (39 mi) from the centre. It has 5 railway stations on record, including Gare de Saint-Étienne-Châteaucreux.

Key facts

Population176,280
Elevation529 m (1,736 ft)
Area80 km²
Time zoneEurope/Paris (UTC+2 now)
CurrencyEuro (EUR)
Dialling code+33
Driving sideRight
Plug typesEuro, Type E
Postal codes61 codes, 42000 to 42969 CEDEX 9
UN/LOCODEFREBU
Coordinates45.434, 4.39
Saint-Étienne

Open Saint-Étienne in Google Maps

Daylight in Saint-Étienne runs from about 8 h 46 min a day in late December to 15 h 44 min in late June (computed for 45.43° latitude), which matters more than the forecast when a day is built around one flight or one crossing.

Getting there

Saint-Étienne is served by 2 airports with scheduled flights within 100 km. The closest large one is Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS), 63 km (39 mi) from the centre, whose 13,124-ft runway is long enough for long-haul wide-body aircraft. The alternatives are Grenoble Alpes Isère Airport (GNB, 74 km).

Flights to Saint-Étienne: every airport, routes and times

By rail: stations on record include Gare de Saint-Étienne-Châteaucreux, Gare de Saint-Étienne-La Terrasse, Gare de Saint-Etienne-Bellevue, Gare de Saint-Étienne-Le Clapier, Gare de Saint-Étienne-Carnot. Trains to Saint-Étienne

Buses to Saint-Étienne · Driving and car hire

What people come for

Most-visited sights in Saint-Étienne with published visitor numbers (Wikidata)
SightVisitors a yearYear
Saint-Étienne Mine Museum58,7982019
Musée d'Art et d'Industrie de Saint-Étienne31,2042018
Departmental archives of Loire6822022

The busiest is Saint-Étienne Mine Museum at 58,798 visitors in 2019. Figures are the latest each site has published, so they are not all for the same year.

Tours, tickets and day trips from Saint-Étienne

Nearby cities, and how to get between them

Twin towns and sister cities: Coventry, Wuppertal, Luhansk, Ferrara, Granby, Windsor, Geltendorf, Toamasina, Nof HaGalil, Des Moines, Annaba, Ben Arous, Katowice, Kavala.

Common questions

Which airport serves Saint-Étienne?

Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS), 63 km (39 mi) from the centre, plus 1 other airport with scheduled flights within 100 km.

How big is Saint-Étienne?

About 176,280 people live in Saint-Étienne, across 80 km² (GeoNames and Wikidata).

What time zone is Saint-Étienne in?

Europe/Paris, currently UTC+2.

What currency is used in Saint-Étienne?

The Euro (EUR). Traffic drives on the right.

Which cities are near Saint-Étienne?

Milan (374 km), Marseille (250 km), Turin (261 km), Genoa (376 km), Lyon (50 km).

Where these facts come from

  • GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, elevation, time zone, postal codes
  • Wikidata (CC0): area, sister cities, visitor numbers, heritage listings, stations and ports
  • OurAirports (public domain): airports, runways
  • Natural Earth (public domain): map outlines

Data compiled 13 September 2026. Hotel figures are from our booking partner’s catalogue on that date. Journey times on this page are estimates from distance, not timetables; check the operator before you rely on one.