City Breaks Europe to Lille, France

City Breaks Europe – Lille

Lille is one of the lest well known treasure for city breaks Europe, not being a capital city or having a famous airport but when the mayor of Lille negotiated to make sure the new Eurostar service from Paris to London woul dhave an international station at Lille, the future for the northern city as a tourist destination was assured. Historically, the city Lille and surroundings were once part the flemish area of northern Europe, and it is now very much a part of France although the Flemish influence is evident in some of the historic building around the old centre of Lille, and in some of the traditions such as holding a Christmas market every November.

Modern Lille has a huge shopping centre, with all the big French shops so that makes it an interesting candidate for eurostar deals from London, including day trips for shoppers. The journey time from London St Pancras to Lille-Europe station is under 1 1/2 hours!

But never mind day trips, if you want to get to know a lot more about the people and customs of Lille take a few days to make it into one of the most delightful city breaks. Europe has few places left that have been untrampled by international travellers from overseas but Lille is a city with a character that remains 100% northern European.

City Breaks Europe – Lille : How to get there

From London, Paris or Brussels the Eurostar direct fast speed train service is by far the best way to travel to Lille. Similarly, you can make good rail connections from say Manchester or Amsterdam. If you want to bring a car, then the autoroute system in France is very fast and efficient but you will have to pay a toll for longer journeys. Parking in Lille is problematic so when planning city breaks, Europe has great railway systems and cheap airlines whereas the old cities were never really designed for modern traffic conditions so wherever possible it’s best to leave the motor behind.

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