Vieux-Lille
First-timersThe old town: gabled brick streets, the best restaurants, boutiques and estaminets. Handsome and pricey.
Lille city guide
Things To Do In Lille
Flemish in feel and French by border: gabled brick houses, beer served in taverns rather than bars, and Europe's largest flea market once a year.
5
Hostels in the city
8.6
Average, from 1,187 reviews
80 min
From London by Eurostar
2 million
Visitors to the Braderie over one weekend
1667
When Louis XIV took the city from the Spanish
A Flemish city that ended up in France
Lille was Flemish, then Spanish, then French from 1667, and the architecture never caught up with the politics. The Grand Place is ringed with Flemish Baroque gables, the Vieille Bourse is a seventeenth-century merchants' exchange built around a courtyard, and the whole old town is red and ochre brick rather than pale stone.
It drinks like Flanders too. The estaminet — a Flemish tavern serving beer, carbonnade and welsh — is the local institution, and the northern brewing tradition means proper beer lists in a country that mostly does not bother.
The Palais des Beaux-Arts is the second-largest fine art museum in France after the Louvre, which surprises people.
On the first weekend of September the whole city becomes the Braderie, Europe's largest flea market, with about two million visitors and mussel shells piled outside every restaurant.
Two days, and it is eighty minutes from London and an hour from Paris.
Where to stay
A compact brick centre between two stations, walkable throughout.
Grand Place and centre
Transport and valueAround the main square: the Vieille Bourse, both stations, shops and most of the beds.
Wazemmes
Markets and cheap eatsSouth-west: a diverse working quarter with the city's best market and the cheapest food.
Vauban and the university
Students and nightlifeWest near the citadel: student bars, a big park and cheaper rooms.
Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 5 top-rated hostels. Map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Things to do
Things to do in Lille
The Palais des Beaux-Arts, about €7, is the second-largest fine art museum in France and holds Rubens, Goya, Delacroix and a set of eighteenth-century relief maps of fortified cities that are worth the ticket alone.
Walk Vieux-Lille. Flemish Baroque gables, brick and stone banding, and the Vieille Bourse — a merchants' exchange of 1653 built as twenty-four houses around a courtyard, now full of secondhand book stalls every afternoon. Free.
The Piscine at Roubaix, twenty minutes by metro and about €11, is an art deco swimming pool converted into a museum, with sculpture standing along the former bath. It is the best thing in the region.
The Citadelle, a Vauban star fort still in military use, sits in a large park that is free to walk.
Then get into an estaminet and order a carbonnade, which is beef slow-cooked in brown beer.
Free things
Free things to do in Lille
Vieux-Lille and the Grand Place cost nothing and are the point of the city.
The Vieille Bourse courtyard is free and holds secondhand book and record stalls most afternoons, plus chess players.
The Citadelle park is free and large, with the Vauban fortifications and a zoo that charges very little.
Wazemmes market on Sunday mornings is the biggest in the city and free to walk — produce, clothes, North African food and a genuine cross-section of Lille.
The Braderie on the first weekend of September is free to attend and turns the entire city into a flea market for about thirty-six hours.
Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Lille
Northern food, which means Flemish rather than French. Carbonnade flamande — beef braised in brown beer with gingerbread and mustard — is the dish, at €15 to €20.
Welsh is the other one: a slab of cheddar melted in beer over ham and bread, usually with chips, and it is as heavy as it sounds.
Moules-frites is the Braderie ritual, when restaurants compete to build the tallest pile of shells outside their door over the weekend.
Maroilles is the local cheese, washed-rind and genuinely pungent, and it turns up in tarts and sauces.
Beer is the drink — Ch'ti and the northern breweries, plus Belgian imports from across the border — at €4 to €6.50. A lunch formule is €13 to €18.
Nightlife
Going out in Lille
Student-heavy and beer-led. The Rue de Gand and Rue Royale in Vieux-Lille have the bars and the estaminets, and Rue Masséna near the university is the cheap student strip.
Beer is the point: proper Flemish and Belgian lists at €4 to €6.50, which is unusual in France and worth taking advantage of.
Cocktails are €8 to €12, and Vieux-Lille costs a euro or two more than Wazemmes or Vauban.
Term time from September to June is when the city is at full strength — there are around a hundred thousand students here.
The metro runs to about half past midnight, later at weekends.
Getting around
Getting around Lille
Metro, tram and bus run on one ticket at about €1.80, with day tickets. The metro is fully automated and was among the first driverless systems anywhere.
The centre is walkable and the two stations are five minutes apart — Lille-Europe for Eurostar and TGV, Lille-Flandres for domestic and regional trains. Check which one your ticket says.
Eurostar reaches London in eighty minutes, Brussels is thirty-five minutes by train, and Paris an hour at €20 to €60.
That position makes Lille unusually good as a stop between three countries rather than a destination at the end of a line.
Roubaix and Tourcoing are on the metro, which is how you reach La Piscine.
Costs
What Lille costs
Good value for northern Europe. Dorms are €20 to €35, a lunch formule €13 to €18, and a beer €4 to €6.50.
A day is €45 to €80.
Museums are cheap: the Palais des Beaux-Arts is about €7 and La Piscine about €11, both of which would cost double in Paris.
The Braderie weekend in early September is the exception — beds book out months ahead and prices rise sharply for two million visitors.
Being an hour from Paris and eighty minutes from London makes it a genuinely cheap add-on to a trip to either.
Safety
Staying safe in Lille
Lille is a safe city and the crime affecting visitors is petty theft.
Pickpocketing happens around both stations, on the metro and in the Wazemmes market crowds.
The area around Lille-Flandres and parts of Moulins are scruffier at night without being dangerous.
The Braderie is the one genuine crowd event: two million people over a weekend, streets closed, and dense enough that bags should be worn in front and groups should agree a meeting point rather than relying on phone signal, which struggles.
Welsh and carbonnade are heavy, and northern beers run stronger than they taste — Belgian imports across the border are frequently 8 or 9 per cent. Emergency number is 112.
Day trips from Lille
Two countries and a mining basin, all within ninety minutes.
Brussels
A different country for the afternoon: the Grand Place, art nouveau and better chips.
Arras
Two Flemish Baroque squares, tunnels under the city used in the First World War, and the Vimy Ridge memorial nearby.
Ghent or Bruges
Medieval Flanders proper, and closer from here than from most of France.
What's on
What is on while you are there
Europe's largest flea market takes over the whole city in early September.
Staff pick
18 Nov – 30 Dec
Lille Christmas Market (Marché de Noël de Lille)
Each winter, Lille transforms into a festive wonderland as the Christmas Market fills the city center with sparkling lights, charming wooden chalets, and the…
Staff pick
1–4 October
Lille Street Food Festival
Discover a world of flavors at the Lille Street Food Festival, where food lovers gather to sample an array of creative street eats from…
Staff pick
25 October
Marathon International
The Marathon International de Lille in Lille, France, is a celebrated road-running event that unites marathon, half-marathon, and 10 km races on the same…
Staff pick
13 Nov – 4 Dec
NEXT Arts Festival
NEXT Arts Festival in Lille, France, is a renowned international event that brings together innovative theater, dance, and performance art from across Europe. Spanning…
Staff pick
30 Sep – 11 Oct
University of Lille Science Festival
The University of Lille Science Festival offers a unique opportunity to explore the latest in scientific discovery through interactive workshops, engaging conferences, and open…
Staff pick
4 October
Worlds Apart
Experience the excitement as Worlds Apart, the beloved pop group that defined the 90s, reunites for a special anniversary tour. Fans can look forward…
Staff pick
8 October
Alex Cameron
Experience the unique storytelling of Alex Cameron as he brings his sharp wit and modern crooner style to the stage. Known for his catchy…
Staff pick
8–10 October
PLK
PLK, one of the most streamed French artists worldwide, brings his electrifying live show to Lille, delivering the energy and innovation that have made…
Hostels
Where to stay in Lille
A modest scene near the centre and the stations, cheap except in Braderie week. Live from Hostelworld.
Central Lille
Dorms from €26 a night
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Eklo Lille
Dorms from €20 a night
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CÀLM Appart’ & Hostel
Dorms from €23 a night
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Sustainable
JOST Hostel Lille Wazemmes
Dorms from €28 a night
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Sustainable
Auberge de Jeunesse HI Lille Stéphane Hessel
Dorms from €19 a night
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When to go
May, June and September. Early September is the Braderie, which is either the reason to come or the reason not to.
Jan
Cold, grey and wet. Cheapest, and estaminet weather
Feb
Still grey. Students in and bars busy
Mar
Improving slowly
Apr
Showery and lengthening
May
Excellent. Terraces on the Grand Place
Jun
The best month. Long evenings and everything open
Jul
Warm. Students gone and some places closed
Aug
Quietest month, with many independents shut
Sep
Superb, and the Braderie fills the first weekend
Oct
Autumn and good value. Term back in full
Nov
Grey and wet. Christmas market opens at the end
Dec
Christmas market on Place Rihour and a lit Grand Place
Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets:
quiet
busy
peak
Average highs. Lille is the wettest and greyest of the major French cities, which is part of why so much of its life happens indoors in taverns.
What your trip will cost
Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in euros.
Braderie weekend runs well above these. The doing line is low because the museums here are unusually cheap.
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- Beds—
- Food and drink—
- Getting around—
- Doing things—
Lille travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
What is the Braderie?
Europe's largest flea market, on the first weekend of September. About two million people, the whole city centre closed to traffic, and a tradition of restaurants competing to build the tallest pile of mussel shells outside their doors. It is free, it is extraordinary, and every bed in the city books out months ahead.
Is Lille worth a stop?
Yes, particularly given where it is — eighty minutes from London, an hour from Paris, thirty-five minutes from Brussels. Two days covers it, and it costs noticeably less than any of those three.
Why does it look Flemish?
Because it was. Lille was Flemish, then Spanish, and only became French in 1667. The gabled brick architecture, the beer culture and the food all predate the border moving.
What is an estaminet?
A Flemish tavern — wood, brick, long beer lists and heavy northern food. Order a carbonnade flamande, beef braised in brown beer, or a welsh, which is cheddar melted in beer over ham and bread. Both are enormous.
Which station do I arrive at?
Lille-Europe for Eurostar and TGV, Lille-Flandres for domestic and regional services. They are five minutes apart on foot, so a mistake costs you nothing but confusion.
Is the Palais des Beaux-Arts worth it?
At about €7, yes. It is the second-largest fine art museum in France after the Louvre, and the eighteenth-century relief models of fortified cities in the basement are worth the ticket by themselves.
What is La Piscine?
An art deco swimming pool in Roubaix, twenty minutes away on the metro, converted into a museum with sculpture standing along the former bath. About €11, and the best single thing in the region.
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