A few words about my recent stay in Lille, including what to take away from it, the choices I was happy with, and the things I could have done better or differently, to help you plan your own.

You’ll find all the articles about this stay in Lille at the bottom of the page.

Transport

Between Paris and Lille, the question doesn’t arise in the slightest: in less than an hour by TGV, there’s nothing faster or better value for money.

Even if they are old generation, the trains are comfortable and the lack of service is not at all penalizing on such a short journey.

Once there, if you want to go to Villeneuve d’Ascq or Roubaix, public transport (bus and train) will do the trick.

Accommodation

I had chosen to split my stay in two to try out two hotels. First thing to know, whether it’s the Moxy or the Hermitage Gantois, they’re not as close to the station as they like to say. There’s nothing prohibitive about the 20-minute maximum walk, but it’s good to know.

Let’s start with the Moxy Lille City. It really was an excellent surprise. The building is superb for a hotel of this range and has a lot of personality. My only complaint was that the size of the windows in my room made it too dark for my taste.

The Hermitage Gantois has plenty of personality too, with a building steeped in history and a renovation that perfectly blends the ancient with the modern.

However, I found the reception rather unremarkable on my arrival and the staff rather poorly organized. The room is a bit old-fashioned and, inexplicably for a 5* hotel, even though an entire building was built to house a spa, there’s no gym.

If the value for money of the Moxy is undeniable, I’m left disappointed by the Hermitage Gantois.

Restaurants

Here, too, I tried to vary the ranges and genres.

Estaminet chez Raoul: simple, friendly and a pleasant way to discover local specialities. But between the knife I find on my chain when I sit down and the cleaning products left on my table and on the sideboard next to the food, there’s a bit too much sloppiness, especially as it raises certain hygiene issues.

Le Braque: a pleasant atmosphere and creative, fairly gourmet cuisine for this mid-range restaurant. In the end, it was a success despite a few criticisms, but if these few details didn’t exist, it would have been starred. So I got what I came for.

La Table du Clarance: I was expecting something rather traditional, even boring, from this Michelin-starred restaurant, and this was not the case. The cuisine is more creative than you might expect, but not overly so, and the service was ultimately very pleasant. A pleasant surprise.

Le Cerisier: another Michelin-starred restaurant with creative cuisine, more so than the Clarance. Very good except for the service which was not to my taste at all.

Visits

Certainly the area where I could have done better.

It’s not difficult to list the essential sites to visit and get to: it’s a fairly compact city center and everything is easily done on foot.

On the other hand, I was running out of energy with all the May holidays and long week ends… and as the municipal websites didn’t accept credit card payment due to a hack, I didn’t find the courage to go back and see what I’d missed once I’d drawn some cash. So I only went to the Museum of Fine Arts.

Something else I’d planned, then postponed, then cancelled: La Piscine in Roubaix (a museum of art and industry housed in a former swimming pool) and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Villeneuve d’Ascq. But between the weather and a big case of laziness, I gave up.

It’ll have to wait for another time, but in retrospect I should have pushed myself a bit.

Bottom line

An itinerary and planning that gave me great satisfaction except for a few things. A disappointing hotel, museums that don’t take credit cards, a restaurant with interminable service, a bit of fatigue…

But don’t let that put you off spending a weekend or more in Lille and the surrounding area – it’s well worth it.

The articles about this stay in Lille

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