Highlights

• Palais des Beaux Arts
• La Piscine – Musée d’art et d’industrie André Diligent de Roubaix – beautiful museum at an old swimming pool
• Église Saint-Martin, Roubaix
• Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Lille
• Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille Cathedral at Lille – very modern architecture
• La Vieille Bourse and the Central Square
• Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse
• Gare Saint Sauveur art centre
• Beffroi de Lille – usually has a queue
• Citadelle de Lille– nice park for walking or running
• Zoo de Lille
• Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain et d’art brut
• Saint Maurice Catholic Church at Lille

Before you go

• The Lille tourism office website has a lot of useful information and the people in the physical office are very helpful
• The Lille city pass is convenient but probably not value for money unless you use the bus tour (13 euros)
• Museums are free on the first Sunday of each month. Also science-related museums are free during the Fête de la Science (Festival of Science) which is usually during October
• Many smaller shops are closed on Sundays
• In general, people speak some English and menus are available in English
• There are two large rail stations near each other Gare Lille Europe for international trains including the Eurostar, and Gare Flandres for mostly domestic travel

Transport

• The easiest way to get from London to Lille is by Eurostar train from St Pancras station to Gare Lille Europe. It’s just 1.5 hours, and a comfortable journey from city centre to city centre. There are also domestic trains from other French cities to Gare Flandres
• There are no direct flights between London and Lille. Therefore it is not a great option, as it can take many hours. However, there are some flights to Lille Airport. Most are from within France but there are some flights from Italy, Spain and North Africa.
• Within Lille, there is a metro system run by Ilevia. It is noted as the first driverless public transport system in Europe! The day pass is just 5 euros, as of October 2022. And a single ride is 1.70 euros. There are also bikes, local buses and taxis. However, for the city centre, it is easily walkable.
• The Lille Tourism office runs a city bus tour to see the surrounding sights

Accommodation

• On my first visit to Lille, we stayed on the outskirts at the Mercure Lille Marc en Baroeul. It was a great setting near a small river. The rooms were large and the bathtub was huge! The staff were very friendly and we enjoyed chilling out in the bar. There was a grand piano and baby-foot (foozball)! Great place to stay if you have a car.
• For the second visit, I stayed more centrally at the Grand Hotel Lille. The staff were friendly staff and I had a clean, comfortable room with a bed and desk. The blackout curtains were really good! On the negative side, the wi-fi was incredibly slow. I had to use 4G from my phone most of the time. Also, I was on a non-smoking floor but I could smell that some people were smoking
• And on a third visit, we stayed at the Hôtel Saint-Maurice, just next to the church of the same name. It was a basic room with a tiny bathroom, but it was comfortable and quiet. The location was also very central!

Food

Local Specialties

When I arrived in Lille, I looked up the local specialties. The first thing that appeared in my search was Le Welsh, which is a typical food at the Estaminet (pub). It is a piece of bread covered with a lot of cheese, an egg and beer sauce. Although it is quite heavy, it is delicious and an ultimate comfort food. We had it at Le Chat qui Fume, which is a friendly pub with a good variety of local pub fare and burgers. There is an area in the north of the city, Rue de Gand, which has a lot of Estaminets all serving this type of Northern pub food.

Michelin Restaurants

In addition to the local cuisine, there are some fancier French restaurants such as Le Restaurant du Cerisier. I had a wonderful tasting menu at the Michelin-starred restaurant by Chef Mathieu Boutroy. The highlights were the Cepe (mushroom), lobster, and the pumpkin dessert. Downstairs, they also have a more casual Brasserie.

Another fancy meal was at Bloempot, which specialises in local ingredients from Flanders. My favourite course was dessert, which was a selection of four different creations. The meal was very healthy and had a variety of flavours, with plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. The main course was the largest pork “gyoza” I have ever seen, so there was an Asian twist for some dishes too!

International Cuisine

Additionally, there are many international cuisines to choose from in Lille. We enjoyed a delicious and huge Greek meal at L’île de Crète. Service was very friendly and welcoming. The mezze platter was huge and delicious. And the grilled octopus for my main course was deliciously tender and tasty. I even found Mexican food at the Kitchen Market, and the Mestizo tacos were quite tasty. The photo doesn’t really do them justice since they look a bit messy after I carried them back to the hotel. Finally, I had an authentic Ethiopian meal from Habesha. Lots of food and very affordable, plus it is great for vegetarians.

Snacks

For quick meals, there are many sushi places including Sushi Chiwa. The sushi is not amazing but it is good for the price. And sometimes it is nice to have a lighter meal. Falafel Lille is good for quick Mediterranean food and salads. And for savoury or sweet crepes, Brutus was a great choice. They also have a large variety of ciders, apple or pear, and even serve cider cocktails.

Patisseries and Chocolatiers

Of course, we can’t forget about the patisseries and chocolatiers in the city. There are so many to try and I did try quite a few! My favourite was Pâtisserie Croquet, which has pastries and breads that are unbelievable. The viennoisserie, croissants and pain au chocolat, are excellent and crisp. And the eclairs and other cakes are delicious and beautifully-presented.

L’Ogre de Carrouselberg is most known for its petits pouchins, small cream-filled choux pastries. However, their croissants are also beautiful and delicious. They sell out of a lot of pastries during the day, so go early.

Boulangerie Mathieu is full of exceptional breads and pastries. My favourite is the Saint-Honore. Picture mini cream puffs stuck together in a small tower using caramelised sugar. Yum!

Pâtisserie Le Colibri is located within the Hotel Colibri. Although it is a small place, it has a nice selection of patisseries and cakes. The cookie from Le Colibri was delicious with extra almond paste and nuts on top. In addition, they made a Lille specialty called pain de sucre, which is a bready pastry with caramelised sugar.

Pâtisserie Confiserie “Brier” is a great place to buy fresh sandwiches on excellent, fresh baguettes. They also have a variety of French pastries, and I especially liked their almond pear tart.

If you want to try a more organic patisserie, then Juliane Natural Patisserie has a small selection of desserts. Unfortunately, when I went there were only 2 or 3 things to choose from. However, the lemon hazelnut meringue tart was exceptional, so I would definitely go back earlier in the day next time.

Finally, for chocolates there are many fine chocolatiers in the city centre. In fact, I was wondering if this is because Lille is located quite close to Belgium, which is of course famous for its chocolate. I tried chocolates from Guillaume Vincent which had unusual flavours and decorations. And Chocolat de Beussent-Lachelle is another cute chocolate shop with nice chocolates and bars. There were also some unique flavours including speculoos (spiced biscuits).