Lille is the main city in the north of France, the center of a large
agglomeration. Located 14 km from the Belgian border, it combines French
life and Flemish architecture well, compensating for the lack of major
attractions with a pleasant atmosphere, as well as a good location at
the intersection of high-speed railways connecting the most important
cities of Western Europe.
The city stands on a plain as flat as a
table, stretching from Paris itself to the shores of the English
Channel. The name comes from the French l'île — an island on the Del
River, now transformed into an extensive network of canals. The
population of Lille is relatively small and corresponds to an average
provincial city, but there are a dozen more around, and together they
form the Lille agglomeration with a population of over a million people.
If you add here Kortrijk and Tournai, located on the other side of the
Belgian border, you will get an agglomeration comparable in size to
Brussels. The rhythm of life in Lille is by no means provincial. The
accumulation of people, cars, and infrastructure gives away a large city
— one of the main ones in the country.
Written sources first
mention Lille in 1066. Like any European city, it had a diverse medieval
history, but there are almost no monuments of that time, although
several streets in the center, now known as Vieux Lille (Old Lille),
have well preserved the medieval atmosphere. In the late Middle Ages,
Lille became an important trading center. Until the 17th century, it was
part of the Flemish state formations, but the French Kingdom did not
abandon hopes of taking over the city, and in 1667 Louis XIV finally
realized these hopes. Since then, Lille belongs to France.
In the
19th century, Lille became the center of the textile industry and
acquired a pretty architecture that successfully combines the traditions
of French and Flemish architecture. Being in the center of the events of
both world wars, the city suffered minimal damage from the fighting,
preserving many historical buildings. Another difficulty — the decline
of textile production — Lille also survived relatively easily, taking a
course towards the construction of business centers and the development
of modern technologies: for example, in 1983, the world's first fully
automated subway was launched here, and, in addition, the world-famous
"Auchan" originated from Lille.
Tourists visit Lille relatively
rarely: there are dozens of UNESCO-marked places within a radius of a
couple hundred kilometers, against which few people think of going to
the former industrial city. This is partly true, because the Gothic
cathedrals of Amiens and Reims, the centers of Ghent and Bruges will
impress you and be remembered for a lifetime, and Lille will just leave
a pleasant impression. However, architecture lovers will have something
to do here: bizarre experiments at the junction of Flanders and France
were not limited to the beginning of the 20th century, also affecting
the interwar period, and just this, modernist (for lack of another word)
architecture is especially unusual here. There is also a very good art
museum in Lille, with which it is quite possible to stay in the city for
a day. Hotels are usually cheaper than Belgian ones, and there are more
of them, so Lille is also very suitable as a base for exploring the
Yuneskov Kortrijk and Tours. And there is also one UNESCO site — the
Beffroy (bell tower) of the town hall — in Lille.
Large square (Place General de Gaulle, Grande Place, Place du
Général-de-Gaulle)
The Old Exchange (Vieille Bourse). One of the
most beautiful buildings in Lille. It was built in 1652-1653 as a
palace. With the construction of the Chamber of Commerce and
Industry building in 1910, the exchange became known as the Old One.
The Citadel of Vauban (from the metro station République -
Beaux-Arts about 10 minutes on foot). Military fortification of the
first half of the XVIII century in the area of Vauban-Eskem
Botanical Garden (Jardin des plantes)
Palace of Fine Arts (Palais
des Beaux-Arts de Lille; pictured on the right) Wikidata element,
Place de la République (République - Beaux-Arts). ☎ 33 (0)3 20 06 78
00. Mon: from 14 to 18, on other days: from 10 to 18. The largest
art museum in France outside Paris. It was founded in 1792 and
opened in 1809. Quite a decent collection, although, as often
happens in France, the primary artists (exhibited, among others,
Tintoretto, Boates, Rubens, El Greco and Goya, as well as the full
range of French paintings up to Picasso) mixed with second- and
third-rate ones. If you want to see the museum in a meaningful
amount of time, try to separate them. Also leave time for a
wonderful collection of ceramics.
By plane
Lille Airport accepts mainly domestic flights: Lyon,
Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Strasbourg. The absence of flights to
Paris excludes Air France connections. However, nothing prevents you
from just flying to Paris, from where, directly from Charles de Gaulle
airport, a high-speed train runs every hour. You can also fly to
Brussels, but there you will first have to go to the city and only from
there by train to Lille.
Lille Airport (Aéroport de Lille, IATA:
LIL). The airport is located in Lescaines, a suburb of Lille, 7 km
southeast of the center. The terminal is compact and modern, with a
couple of sandwich cafes inside and Your's restaurant open almost all
day, where they serve a la carte. A special bus runs to the airport
every hour from the railway station (stop at the Euralille shopping
center). The journey takes 20 minutes, travel: €8 one-way and €10 round
trip, tickets from the driver. A taxi to the center of Lille costs
€25-30.
By train
High-speed lines to Paris (1 hour), Brussels
(35 minutes) and London (1.5 hours) make Lille one of the most
conveniently located cities in Europe. Trains run twice an hour in the
direction of Paris, towards Brussels and London — with an interval of
1-2 hours. Please note, however, that direct trains Paris–London and
Paris–Brussels do not call at Lille.
Numerous regional trains
also run towards Belgium to Kortrijk, Tournai, Namur. The first two
cities are part of the Lille agglomeration, so tickets are slightly
cheaper than usual. Using these trains and making a transfer, you can
get to Brussels in 1.5 hours and about €20. High-speed trains reduce
travel time to 35 minutes, tickets on pre-sale cost the same €20, but on
the day of departure they will already cost from €30.
There are
two train stations in Lille, located 5-7 minutes walk from each other.
Regional trains, as well as high-speed trains with a terminal in Lille,
arrive at Flandres station. International high-speed trains and domestic
TGVs heading to Dunkirk and Calais arrive at Europe station. Trains to
Paris are equally likely to depart from either of the two stations.
Lille Flandres ( Gare Lille-Flandres). A beautiful building of
the second half of the XIX century with an elegant landing stage and
characteristic red brick, with which the classic facade of light stone
contrasts: it looks slightly alien in Lille and, indeed, was introduced
from the outside, and was originally the facade of the Paris Gare du
Nord. The interior consists entirely of various cafes, including
McDonalds with inexpensive desserts and coffee. If you want a burger,
it's better to go to rue de Tournai and look (also in the station
building) for the Holy Moly Gourmet Burger cafe — an almost perfect
burger (see Food). There is also a Carrefour supermarket and various
brasseries offering hot food throughout the day. In addition, right
inside the station there is a tiny Marks& Spencer shop with delicious
pastries and freshly squeezed orange juice. The train station is a
5-minute walk from the central square of Lille.
Lille Europe (
Gare Lille-Europe). The new station, opened in 1993 specifically for
high-speed Eurostar trains connecting London with Paris and Brussels.
The station is 5-7 minutes walk from the old one, but the contrast
between them is striking: the old one is relatively small and cozy,
built of red brick, and the new one is huge and gloomy, made of glass
and concrete. There are, however, a couple of cafes and even an entire
Irish pub where you can somehow pass the time. At the southern end of
the building is the only luggage storage in the whole of Lille (7:30 –
20:00; €5.50 for 10 hours, €9.50 for 24 hours). Boarding trains to
London takes place from a separate platform and is preceded by a
security check, so you need to arrive at the station at least half an
hour before departure. If you are not going to London, then while
waiting for the train, take a look at the local metro station: the walls
of its lobby are painted with images of famous European attractions,
because the station itself was conceived as a gateway to continental
Europe for residents of Great Britain.
By bus
Buses run
several times a day to Paris via Charles de Gaulle Airport, as well as
to Brussels. Buses are 2-3 times cheaper than high-speed trains, but
about the same amount slower: 1.5 hours to go to Brussels, 2.5 hours to
Paris airport, 3.5-4 hours to Paris itself.
Bus stop (131
Boulevard de Turin) (Lille Europe train station, upper level). The most
common bus stop, where there are no timetables. It is better to take
tickets in advance via the Internet.
By car
Motorways connect
Lille with Paris (220 km), Reims (200 km), Dunkirk (80 km), Ghent (75
km), Brussels (110 km). If you are coming from Flanders (for example,
from Ghent), keep in mind that Lille will be marked as Rijsel on the
signs, and not always with a translation. There are very narrow streets
in the city itself, and parking spaces, as usual, are not enough, so
leave the car anywhere and use the subway. Many suburban stations have
intercept parking.
In good weather, you will not need transport at all: the sights are
within walking distance from the train station, hotels also tend to the
city center. If the weather is bad, or you need to go to Ukraine, buses,
trams and subways operate in Lille. All types of transport are serviced
by the operator Transpole, the site has timetables and even a route
planner, although the interface leaves much to be desired, and the
claimed English translation is practically absent.
Tickets
(prices 2022):
for one trip — €1.70 (transfers can be made within an
hour)
short trip — €1.10 (no more than three stops by tram or metro)
24—hour ticket - €5.10
The easiest way to buy a ticket is at a
vending machine at a tram stop or metro station. You can record a ticket
on a paper card (+€0.20 to the cost) or on a rechargeable plastic card
(deposit cost: €2). The machine will offer both options, and it is not
always easy to understand which one is being discussed — be guided by
the price. You can record several trips on any card at once.
The
metro consists of two lines. There are 18 stations on the first one, and
as many as 44 on the second. The lines intersect with each other twice:
at the stations Gare Lille-Flandres (closer to the center) and Porte des
Postes. Trains run from 5:30 to midnight. If this is not the first
subway in your life (which is most likely), you can't call two miserable
cramped carriages a train, but in the first carriage you will find a
small surprise: the absence of a driver's cabin and a free view of the
track. The metro is fully automatic, which is why transparent walls are
installed at all stations separating the tracks from the platform.
During rush hour, the traffic interval is reduced to a minute (evaluate
the work of automation!), at other times it reaches 3-4 minutes, but it
is almost always crowded in cars, and it is almost impossible to sit
down simply because there are very few seats.
If the metro lines
at least cross through the center, then the only tram line starts at the
Lille-Flanders station and immediately goes to the outskirts, where it
bifurcates and eventually leads to the cities of Roubaix and Tourcoing
on the Belgian border. The tram is about the same size as a subway
train, but the views from the window are more interesting.