62 Hours in Lille
The travel guide of an interior designer and gourmande
I spent last weekend in the Northern French city of Lille with my husband. It was our second visit there within a year and I truly believe it’s an underrated city (from a UK perspective) and is well worth visiting. In this article I share advice on where to stay, how to get around, what to visit and what and where to eat and drink. All from the home-obsessed perspective of this interior designer and self-confessed gourmande!
Where should I stay in Lille?
When we first visited the city in April 2025, we stayed in this Airbnb in Vieux Lille or the old-town. It was more residential and therefore quiet, plus the apartment had a full-kitchen so we had the option to prepare meals if we wanted to. But, there turned out to be such a great choice for food and drink everywhere (more on that later), that we barely used the kitchen. We arrived in the evening and had to collect the keys from a nearby, but slightly out of the way, hostel reception and the cobbled streets and wheel-y suitcases weren’t the greatest combination. I’ve since learned that most of Lille’s Airbnb rentals do not have key safes due to strict municipal rules in the city. So, this kind of key collection isn’t unusual.
The apartment was on the top floor of the building and accessed via a very precarious spiral staircase, which certainly wouldn’t be suitable for anyone with mobility issues. Once through the door it was a very lovely space, tastefully designed and extremely comfortable for a weekend there. We had to check out at 10am and return the keys to the hostel. Our Eurostar train wasn’t until quite a bit later in the day so we left our luggage at the train station which was cheap and easy.
On the most recent visit last weekend, we stayed in a hotel. During the previous trip, we’d clocked that there was a Mama Shelter hotel very close to Lille Europe train station and so I’d signed up to their mailing list to look out for any offers. It was a potential offer mentioned in their email newsletter that prompted us to return. The offer was for 3 nights for the price of 2, although in the end we didn’t manage to get this offer, but the room rate was very reasonable for 3 nights and so we booked.
Our train arrived just before 10pm on Thursday evening and it was a very easy 5-minute walk to the Mama Shelter Lille hotel. Check-in was quick and we were in our room within 15 minutes of getting off the train. We’d opted for the Medium Mama Double and paid €332 for three nights (excluding breakfast).
The room was stylish and funky and had a view over the next-door park and across to the train station. The bed was super comfy and I had some of the best night’s sleep for a while there. We had a TV with all the main French TV and radio channels (FIP is a favourite listen of ours). The bathroom was pretty straightforward though the rain shower part of the shower didn’t work properly (like standing under a leaking gutter as J described it) and so we could only really use the handheld shower. It wasn’t a big problem for us, just a bit annoying. There was plenty of space for suitcases and a decent sized hanging rail as well as a safe and a mini fridge. There were no tea or coffee making facilities but that’s because it’s France and I haven’t yet reached the stage of my life where I travel with a mini-kettle. Reader, I survived without tea.
Breakfast was an optional extra at €20 per person per day and we could have had it last minute on any morning. We didn’t, because there were so many great cafes and brunch spots nearby (see Food and Drink section).
Overall, we preferred the hotel experience over the Airbnb for a short stay, and found the central location and late (midday) checkout to be very helpful. We would definitely return to Mama Shelter.
Is it easy to get around in Lille?
Compared to London, where I live, Lille is small and most places can be accessed on foot, but on both visits we did go a little further afield to visit some galleries, and the public transport system was very easy to navigate.
Tickets are bought from machines in the metro or train stations. We opted for the paper ticket which can be topped up 10 times. You prepay for the number of single journeys you need - in this case it was just 2. €1,80 per single journey which counts as travelling anywhere in the metropolitan area for up to 1 hour. You tap your ticket as you go through the barrier and then can switch onto different metro lines or buses within that hour. On this most recent trip, we used public transport to visit the Musée LaM (more below) which required us to travel 5 stops on the metro and then switch to a bus. When we got on the bus, we didn’t have to tap or show the ticket because we’d already validated it upon entering the metro. We weren’t checked, but I’d imagine that if ticket inspectors appear, they scan your card to see the time it was validated and all is good if within an hour.
Google Maps provided all the information we needed, but I think you can also download the Ilevia transport app which covers the metropolitan area of Lille.
Our travel to and from Lille was via train operated by Eurostar. This is a direct train from London St Pancras (with no stops in between) and we opted for the Thursday evening 7:35pm train from London, arriving into Euralille just before 10:00pm local time. We returned to London on the 12:34pm on Sunday which had us back in London just before 1:00pm local time. It’s pretty quick! Eurostar do sales from time to time and these tickets were bought in a recent sale, costing us £70 each return. Bargain.
What is there to do in Lille?
Lille is packed full of culture and history and there are many options for galleries and museums in and around the city. When we were there last year in April, a local shop owner (either Vic or Mel of Vic & Mel’s lovely candle shop) told us about the festival of video mapping that happened to be on and we had a great evening wandering the city after dark, following the crowds between the video installations. The city has lots of mini festivals throughout the year and you can find out more here.
This time around we had planned to visit the newly re-opened LaM (or Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut). It was this visit that required the metro and bus travel, but it only took about 30 minutes to get from our hotel to the museum. It was worth the travel to experience this magnificent gallery set in a sculpture park. Entry to LaM is €11 per adult, though with an Ilevia travel ticket validated on that day, you can get in for €9, which we had. They clearly know how to encourage visitors to use public transport - what a great idea!
The building itself is worth a visit alone, but the Kandinsky exhibition was sublime. It charted the artist’s work from his early life in Russia, through to the Bauhaus years and beyond. It was fascinating and for someone interested in multi-disciplinary arts, as I am, I was blown away by Kandinsky’s insistence to understand the world around him and there was lots to take in about his study of geometry, music and the cosmos which then became visible in his paintings. I couldn’t recommend this exhibition more, and if you get the chance to visit before this exhibition ends on 14th June, go! It really is worth the trip on public transport.
Last year on our trip, we visited the Palais des Beaux Arts which is the main art gallery in the centre of the city. It costs €7 per person to visit and there is a large permanent collection, with lots of Flemish art as well as works up to the present day. A surprising extra was the collection of relief maps housed in the basement of the building. I’m not sure I know where to start in describing these maps, but I highly recommend visiting them. Especially if you’re a map nerd like me! 🗺️ 🤓
Another highlight from last year’s trip was La Piscine de Roubaix. It’s a gallery centred around an old swimming pool and is one of the most beautiful settings for a gallery that I’ve ever seen. Like the LaM, getting here requires a trip on the metro as La Piscine is in the adjoining town of Roubaix (famous for the Paris-Roubaix bicycle road race), but only takes around 30 minutes from the centre of Lille. It’s particularly good for sculpture and ceramics, including several pieces by Picasso. But honestly, it’s worth going just for the building and the amazing stained glass windows (see photo below).
I’m yet to make it to Villa Cavrois, but this is on my list for my next trip to Lille. Villa Cavrois is a large modernist mansion built in 1932 by French architect Robert Mallet-Stevens for Paul Cavrois, an industrialist from Roubaix active in the textile industry. This is a little further out of the city and requires a 45 minute journey via the tram to get there, but if the photos are anything to go by, it looks like it would be worth it. Especially if you’re interested in modernist architecture and interiors like me!
Aside from museums and galleries, there is some fantastic shopping to be done in the centre of Lille. The French have a special way with window displays and the clothes shops tempted me so much by their beautiful, colourful displays. Particularly the bags and shoes. I managed to resist this time, but the Rue des Chats Bossus is the place to head if you fancy some serious shopping.
The other kind of shopping J and I very much enjoy, is food shopping. We did less of it this time due to staying in a hotel but we did make a trip to Meert, famous for its gaufre (waffles) which are a brioche style pastry filled with Madagascan vanilla paste. It’s worth going in just to see the shop which is an old fashioned patisseries with counters and beautiful gift wrapping. We had to queue a little to get in but it was worth it for the sugary treats.
There are many excellent patisseries in the centre of Lille, a favourite of ours is Pâtisserie Croquet on Rue Esquermoise. Their cakes, pastries, bread and quiches are everything you would hope for in northern France.
No trip to France is ever complete without cheese, and if you want to be overwhelmed, head to one of the two Fromagerie Philippe Olivier shops. It’s worth noting that due to current restrictions, bringing cheese back into the UK from France is currently not allowed. You’ll just have to eat it all while you’re there.
Lille is brilliant for homeware shops and if anyone wants to employ me to source beautiful French furniture and homewares for them, Lille will be my first port of call. A few favourites includes Ellen Desforges (stunning light fittings), Mouflette (cute ceramics and small homeware items), Maisons du Monde (which felt a bit like the French equivalent of West Elm) and Celadon-Paris (ceramics). There are also showrooms for bigger French furniture brands such as Tikamoon, Roche Bobois and Ligne Roset, all in the centre of the city.
Where are the best places to eat and drink in Lille?
I think the French would describe J and I as ‘les gourmands’. We enjoy good food and drink and will go out of our way for it. We won’t accept poor quality grub, so I hope that if you like good food too, you won’t be disappointed with these recommendations.
Paddo Cafe - 72 Rue Pierre Mauroy
We ate breakfast in this Australian style cafe and I had some very delicious avocado and feta toast. Great coffee too.
La Capsule - 25 Rue des trois Mollettes
Excellent beer bar with more than 20 beers on tap, changing regularly. We spent a couple of hours here on the Friday evening before going for dinner and managed to work our way through a few of the beers on offer. I liked that all the beers were available in 25cl measures and the prices were very reasonable too. They also serve apéro snacks such as crisps, cheese cubes, and saucisson.
La Canopée - 286 Rue Solférino
We ate dinner here following the beers in La Capsule. It’s a bit of a walk from the city centre, but worth it for the lively, but warm and cosy atmosphere. We were worried it might be more suited to a younger crowd than us, but actually it was perfect. There were groups of friends and families with kids as well as people there for after work food and drinks. You can reserve a table on their website and the food and drink ordering is at the counter and was very speedy. We both had burgers with excellent fries.
Bloom Coffee - 10 Pl. Maurice Schumann
On Saturday morning we wanted a light breakfast due to having lunch reservations at midday. Bloom Coffee had fabulous coffee (as you’d hope) and we shared some fruit, yoghurt and granola and a financier (quand en France…). It was delightful and the service was excellent too.
Bierbuik (well actually, Bloemeke) - 19 Rue Royale
I have to pause here to give a mention to the brilliant Carolyn Boyd France Traveller because some of the food places mentioned in this piece have come from Carolyn. Carolyn wrote a fabulous book Amuse Bouche: How to eat your way around France and honestly, it felt like she’d written the book for me. Bierbuik is one of the recommendations in that book and so we eagerly booked a table.
However, when we arrived, my name was checked off and we were sent upstairs to a cosy space with seating for around 30 people. We were shown to our table where the only menu was for drinks. There was one guy covering the whole space and he seemed very busy. We decided on our drinks (beer, of course) and waited for our order to be taken and for a food menu to appear. After a while the busy server came over and took our drinks order. He then asked if we knew about the menu. “Non” was our reply. He then went on to explain that up in this part of the estaminet (a name for pubs in northern France), the menu was a three-course ‘surprise’ set menu for €30. He asked if that was ok and whether we had any allergies. It was ok, and we didn’t have any allergies.
What we’d been expecting was estaminet-style burgers and chips, but it seemed that what we were getting was an exciting 3-course menu. No complaints from us. We love food and actually J finds choosing from a menu hard(!), so it was ideal for him. No decisions.
We ate a fabulous meal of smoked herring with purple potatoes followed by spiced pork meatballs with spelt risotto and maroilles cheese and finished with a blackberry pavlova with milk ice cream and fromage blanc mousse. It was all divine and a bargain for €30.
It wasn’t the meal we were expecting, but it was better! I don’t think it’s totally clear from the website, but we think that if you book a table, it’s assumed you want to eat in Bloemeke, the upstairs space. Otherwise I think it’s walk-ins only for the downstairs burger and chips. But, be warned, this place is very popular (the chef owner is quite famous in these parts) and so the queue was down the street when we left.
Petit JaJa and JaJa - 37 Rue Saint-André
Last year when we were in Lille we had some drinks and a sharing platter in JaJa, a lovely wine bar in the old town. We’d decided to return on Saturday night but when we arrived it turned out they were closed for a private function. Over the road is Petit JaJa and so we tried our luck there and managed to get one of the last spaces. This is a very intimate wine bar with a beautiful bar-counter, a small, but exquisitely selected range of wines by the glass and bottle and a short menu of small plates to share.
I’ll be honest, London has ruined small plates for me, because they are usually way way too small and extortionately expensive.
But Lille isn’t London! Portions are generous, prices are reasonable!
Having eaten the three course meal at lunchtime, we didn’t really need a lot, but we were on holiday. We ordered some Japanese style fried chicken, an exciting sounding dish of baby gem lettuce cups filled with cockles and other delicious things and a cheese plate. They were all enormous and came with lashings of home made bread. This was washed down with an excellent bottle of red wine, and we were very happy. I love sitting at a bar counter - it’s a great way to see how the restaurant operates and I like the buzziness.
Eating out in France also has the added joy of those wonderful two words: service compris. The price is the price. You know where you stand and you also know that the waiting staff are being paid fairly. I wish the UK and other parts of the world would adopt this.
Tamper Coffee and Lunch - 10 Rue des Vieux Murs
Our final food and drink stop before heading back to London on Sunday, was breakfast at Tamper. The coffee was once again excellent and my huevos rancheros was delicious. J opted for avocado toast this time, this version coming with smoked salmon.
I absolutely loved our second trip to Lille. There is so much culture and great food on offer and it’s so easy to get to from London. If you haven’t visited yet, I strongly recommend it and I hope that this guide helps you to navigate your way around the city.
If you have any Lille recommendations to add, please tell me in the comments. I’ll definitely be back, so I’d like some new places to add to my list.
*Just to say, everything mentioned in this post was chosen and paid for by me, no freebies/PR/incentives to say nice things etc. etc.!
If you enjoyed this, you may be interested in my London guide:
I’m Hannah, I’m 40 and I live in London. I left teaching behind in December 2025 to pursue a more creative approach to work. I now earn my living from interior design consultancy, writing, podcasting and building this Substack.
Now Lille is on my list. You’ve sold it to me! I’m envious of your trip, and to see an exhibition of Kandinsky, he’s my absolute favourite artist.
Thank you for this superb nudge; I really must go back to Lilles again soon.