One Day In Lille: 5 Things To Do | France

Lille is one of the major city that compose France, and a great day trip to take from Paris. Lille is famous for its Christmas market that makes it a perfect destination for families and couples during the winter holiday. Another event makes this city famous every year, La Braderie de Lille, but, of course, Lille has much more to offer than those two great events.

If you’re looking to plan the perfect one day in Lille to soak up the atmosphere of this fascinating and lively city I got you covered!
Here are the 6 best things to do in Lille if you are only going to spend one day you’ll have the best day trip!

One Day In Lille: 5 Things To Do

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Grand Place

One of the first things you’ll see in Lille is the emblematic Grand Place and its baroque facade, which is the heart of the city where you can find restaurants and cafés to enjoy a coffee or a meal but not only.

On the Grand Place of Lille, (which might remind you of the main places in Bruges or Bruxelles because of their pretty similar architecture) you can find a lot of places of interest of the city that makes it the great city it is today over the year and are part of its history and heritage.

– Vieille Bourse
– Theatre de Nord
– Chambre de Commerde et d’industrie de Lille
– Local newspaper building: La voix du nord

This place is very famous amongst photo amateurs has it is so many beautiful different angles you can take photos from. It’s also a perfect spot to snap a cute Instagram photo as a memory!

Vieux Lille

The ”Vieux Lille” or the old town of Lille is probably one of the most famous spots of the city after the Grand Place, it’s well known for its quaint charm and picturesque architecture.
One famous spot there is La place aux oignons, a cute place only accessible for walkers with lots of shops and restaurant.

Notre-Dame de la Treille Cathedral

Alright, the Cathedrale of Lille isn’t your usual cathedral as its modern facade draw a big contrast to the rest of the neo-gothic and more classic built of the rest of the building.

Which sounds weird right?
I mean, it is pretty weird, to be fair it was not my cup of tea. However, the reason behind this is pretty simple the construction of the cathedral took place over not less than a 150 years, the facade was the last part of the edifice to be built in 1999 to replace what was a simple wall of woods and bricks.

You can find another remain of history of the city right behind the cathedral with the hospice of the Comtesse. A hospital that was built for the poor and pilgrims in 1237 and held now a little museum that showcases what it’s like inside a typical flemish house.

Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville de Lille

You can find two belfries in Lille, one on the Grand place and another one a little further. If you want to get a different view of Lille than from the street you can climb up one fo the belfry of the city.
However, as of the current situation and the summertime it was unfortunately closed on Mondays when we visited so we couldn’t climb at the top.

But I thought I would include it nonetheless on my one-day itinerary of Lille as it is definitely a cool thing to do if you’re visiting the city.

Close by the Belfry, you can see another landmark of the city ” La Porte De Paris”
It’s a pretty cool place to take photos, I mean maybe not as cool as the grand place or the Vieux Lille but it’s worth checking out.

Parc de la Citadelle

The “Parc de la Citadelle” is located on what used to be originally a military construction built during the XVIIth century, composed of 5 strongholds and shaped like a star. This park is full of history and beautiful flowers and offers different paths so you can choose what interest you the most.
It’s also a great spot to relax away from the city.

There is also a zoo, and a small fair for children there.

You can check the differents path here.

On the way to the park, you can find the Place de la République with a beautiful fountain which is in front of the stunning Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, the art museum of the city and one of the biggest museum of France outside of Paris.

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Map Of Lille, France

Extra things to do in Lille:

Or also called things we couldn’t do because we visited on a Monday and a lot of things were closed.

Palais Rihour, an old palace built during the xv^e century, where you can also find the office of tourism.
Eat a Vanilla Waffle at Meert, a well known popular address of a charming café with beautiful decorations. Not to be mistaken with the Belgium waffles, they’re not the same!

If you happen to be visiting Lille for more than one day or if you want to include this in your itinerary instead of one of the things to do near Lille in this list you can check out La Piscine – Musée d’art et d’industrie André Diligent de Roubaix, a museum!

Here’s the catch with this museum, it is not a normal museum, the is built in what used to be a swimming pool. And, in my opinion, and other people this place looks pretty amazing, if I had heard about it before late in the afternoon we would have definitely checked it out.

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This concludes my one day in Lille and the best things to do in Lille if you have only one day to spend there to make the most of your day trip. I hope you spend a great time in Lille just like I did on my day trip from Paris.

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On day in Lille: 5 things To do

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