The place: Lille is small enough to wander around, in a weekend.
There are two parts to Lille: the old town, which has narrow cobbled streets,
and lots of interesting small shops, and the new town where the large
shops, such as Printemps and the usual chain stores can be found. For
those who want to explore, there’s a castle and some museums, but
wandering around the Old Town is a must.
Why go to Lille? It’s a pretty town, close to London, good
for shopping, eating and relaxing. There is a good supermarket, Carrefour,
very close to the Lille Europe and SNCF railways stations, where you can
stock up on cheese, wine, chocolate – whatever takes your fancy!
The food is always good, so it is a part shopping, part relaxing and part
gastronomic destination! Most of the hotels are within walking distance
from the Lille Eurostar station.
Hotels: the poshest is the Carlton, in the Old Town, which does
not ever seem to offer discount rates, but there are lots of hotels to
chose from. Hotels seem to be either close to the train stations, close
to the main square or in the Old Town. If you can, go for the latter.
The Hotel Continental is a budget place often used by British tour operators,
it’s ok, between the main square and the railway stations, but on
a busy main road. Hotel Bellevue says it is a 3 star, it’s a little
quirky, but the rooms are usually large and it’s behind the main
square. Hotel Art Deco Romain says it is 500m from the Lille Europe station,
it may be, but you need to get a tram to get there, and whilst it’s
only 2 stops, it is not easy to walk to, plus the rooms are cupboard sized.
La Treille in the old Town is highly recommended.
Prices: fantastic, especially for eating out and drinking. Most
of the restaurants offer at least one prix fixe menus i.e. you get to
chose a starter, main course and often a desert. Some include wine or
a glass of champagne to start. These range from 15 Euros to 50 Euros,
and you can usually be guaranteed excellent food, whatever the price.
The Beetle’s favourite restaurant is called L’Alcide, which
is close to the main square and can be pricey a la carte, but do good
prix fixe menus, there’s also La Renaissance which does very cheap
but good prix fixe menus (a recent 3 course dinner for 2 plus beer cost
£15 a head). The Carrefour at the Lille Centre Commercial close to the
train stations is a huge supermarket, and the prices there are far better
than those in the UK for almost everything. One tip, though: if you spend
more than 100 Euros, you will be asked for photo id, so take your passport
or new style driving licence.
Things to do and see: in winter, there is a Christmas market around
the corner from Printemps, where you can browse around the stalls, drink
cups of mulled wine, eat crepes or waffles. Year round, there is a huge
Sunday market in Wazemmes, a short metro ride from the centre and there
is also a smaller Sunday market that sells fruit, veg, flowers and handicrafts
in the old town. If shopping is not your thing, you should visit the citadel,
which is quite impressive, and the town square with its old buildings.
If you are a museum buff, then you should visit the Palais des Beaux arts,
the natural history museum, the house where General de Gaulle was born,
and the Musee de l’Hospice de Comtesse.
Getting Around: really easy. A one way trip by metro or tram costs
just 1.15 Euros, or an all day card costs 3.55 Euros You must validate
day tickets just the once in yellow machines that say “composter”
and single journey tickets in the same way when you set off. But if you
stick to the Old Town and the area close to the new town, you probably
won’t need to take public transport, although it’s good to
know that it’s there and regular.
How to get there: by Eurostar, a little over 2 hours from London
Waterloo.
