Lille?

[VisaWoes]

Dd wants to go to Lille for a few days just before Xmas for some art exhibition. She’s trying to convince me to come with her……personally I can’t think of anything worse than northern France in December. Nothing about Lille appeals from a bit of googling?

Am I wrong, is there touristy type stuff worth seeing? I think I’m going to start a one woman campaign to try and convince Dd to go to Rome instead. Might be slightly warmer, more to see?

Lille is lovely!

I went a few weeks ago for the rugby with very low expectations. It's a beautiful place! The old town is stunning, really nice bars and restaurants everywhere you go. We're already planning a trip back so we have prope time to spend there rather than going for a game.

Lille is a lovely city. Definitely go!

We did a pre-Christmas trip there a few years ago and enjoyed it, there was a Christmas market, old buildings and squares, nice places to eat. A couple of days was long enough as it's a small city. We went on the Eurostar and stayed in an AirBnB apartment close to the station and it wasn't far to walk into the centre.

It's a beautiful place. Highly recommend it

It’s on my list! Go for it and make sure you report back here.

I love Lille.
There is a restaurant called le braque that is excellent.
The bourse has lovely second hand books and art.
The buildings are gorgeous.
There is a big book shop named after a ferret (northern ferret?) which is worth a look

Thank you everyone, sounds like it might be ok for a couple of days. Will get the Eurostar tickets booked.

There's the most beautiful and bonkers art gallery at the edge of town, in an old swimming pool https://www.roubaix-lapiscine.com/en/home/ - Well worth a visit!

That art gallery looks great, thanks.

the ferret bookshop also looks interesting..tripadvisor says they have a small English section.

Having a stroll around the Citadel area is worth doing. Also about a mile south of the city centre are the Botanic Gardens, though I guess December may not be the best time to visit.

Lille is lovely - great shops and they make superb efforts with Xmas decorations. The xmas market will be on. We had a great weekend there last year. It was cold mind.

I went last December, it was lovely.

It's lovely, I used to live in Arras which is a great wee town and worth a visit too

Has anyone been to the Braderie de Lille? I am thinking of it next year, for my flea-market loving DH.

Yes, I went in I think 2014, on a day trip by coach from the UK. I didn't go because of the Braderie but because I'd never been to Lille. So I can't really compare it to other flea markets, except to say it certainly is big and spread across large parts of the city.

If you're fine with massive crowds you'll probably be fine. Late afternoon I got caught up in a large scale crowd crush, which was genuinely frightening. It happened so quickly, with more and more people pouring into a street, unaware that it had been closed off at the other end. Then a fight broke out nearby and some jokers started using other people, including me, as battering rams to push their way through. Really horrible... then some minutes later it somehow dispersed. Perhaps it's better organised now🙂

What I would recommend is having a long enough stay to see Lille properly, i.e. with at least one non-Braderie day. Hope you enjoy it if you go.

There’s a huge Sephora in Westfield Euralille, that in itself is a reason to go 😆

Lille is great, I live there! Plenty to do, good museums, shops and restos.

Most places these days will have a stab at English if you don't speak French.

The old town is very nice to stay in, does get a bit lively at weekends but nothing compared to the UK.

Thank you Trees! I find crowds quite anxiety-inducing for precisely that, fear of a crush. I'll avoid dead end roads, that sounds mad.

I have booked an (extraordinarily expensive) hotel nonetheless, we'll be there for 48 hours, so hopefully that'll give us some Lille time.

I'd gladly go there again.