COME AND EXPLORE LILLE
Something for everyone
Accessible, welcoming and with a rich heritage, Lille is a town with something for everyone. Luxury boutiques and charming pedestrian streets rub shoulders l with big name stores such as “Galeries Lafayette” or “Le Printemps”, not forgetting Lille’s art galleries and colourful markets.
Catering
It’s widely said that the “Chtis” (‘Northerners’) have hearty appetites. It’s therefore not surprising to learn that the Lille metropolitan area boasts over a thousand restaurants! You can’t come to Lille without trying the gastronomic restaurants or the famous bars known as “estaminets”. It’s quite natural to find Flemish specialities taking pride of place on the restaurant tables in Lille but you will also find French or international cuisine in cafés and star rated establishments.
Local Lille people love getting together in cafés and bars to enjoy typical regional specialities such as “Carbonnade Flamande”, “Potchevleesch”, mussels and chips, Maroilles cheese, chicory ice cream and “Spéculoos” biscuits. Sweet and savoury combinations have been relished for centuries in this area and the beer always flows freely in the North. It would be a great shame to return home without having sampled at least one of the local specialities – all available within a stone’s throw of Lille Grand Palais.
Events galore
Sincerity, warmth, festivity and friendship are all part and parcel of life in Lille. Festivals, processions, shows, huge exhibitions take place throughout the year, not forgetting the famous “Braderie de Lille” !
Learn more about Lille and its region
A RICH CULTURE
European Capital of Culture
Named European Capital of Culture in 2004, Lille is scintillating, bursting with colour, strewn with decorations and madcap venues that set the town alight. A year of madness, with concerts, shows, exhibitions and all manner of transformations galore…
Effervescent… Lille 3000
Every two years, Lille changes its colours… Why? To break down barriers, open people’s minds to other cultures and attract a cosmopolitan audience to the event. Thus in 2006 Lille sported the colours of India. In 2009, it was Central and Eastern Europe to the fore. 2012 will be Fantastic…
The major events – Museums
AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC HUB
Euralille, the tertiary showcase of the city of Lille
The Euralille district has turned the Lille conurbation into one of the great European metropolitan areas, endowing it with a modern centre and a first class tertiary hub. Euralille, in which Lille Grand Palais is situated, is a powerhouse for tertiary development which is turning at full throttle. It boasts two TGV stations with a throughput of over 23 million travellers per year. It is THE business district of the city and a splendid example of contemporary urban planning.
European centres of competitiveness
The Lille region excels in numerous economic sectors including 5 centres of competitiveness accredited by the government.
- Nutrition-Santé-Longévité : developing innovative products and procedures in the field of nutrition.
- I-Trans : the first European centre to be recognised worldwide for the design, construction, commercialisation and maintenance of transport systems.
- PICOM : Lille ranks first in France, in terms of logistics and distribution networks. This cluster invents and experiments with the trading practices of the future.
- UP-TEX : works hand in hand with businesses which are interested in the development of polysensoriality, the design and mass customisation of advanced textile materials.
- MAUD (Materials and Applications for Sustainable Use) : targets various key markets: table decoration, graphic design industries, packaging, plastics industries and applications for bio-based materials.