Grande Place, Lille

Advantages: Clean and well maintained, central location
Disadvantages: lack of atmosphere

...Good quality hotel in an excellent location. I satyed with my family for a couple of nights. A modern hotel in the centre of Lille. About a 3 minute walk to Grand Place the centre of Lille with its impressive Flemish style architecture. The hotel does not have it's own car park , but uses the public underground car park behind the hotel at a discounted, reasonable rate of 8 euros per day. Although public and underground it seemed well lit a safe. The hotel has recently undergone a reburbishment and all parts of the hotel were clean and functional. The rooms were small but were well decorated and comfortable, with tea and coffee amking facilities and mini-bar. Breakfast was good and children were catered for including free use of a Playstaion in the lobby. Reception and waiting staff spoke good english and were very curteous... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: environment, people, heritage, access (train/road), transportation (subway/tramway)
Disadvantages: still has a bad reputation (weather ?)

...by the Socialists: Martine Aubry, former Minister for Labour and Solidarity (and daughter of Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission by the past), was elected mayor in 2001. She succeeded Pierre Mauroy (1973-2001), who was appointed Prime Minister for President Mitterrand from 1981 to '84. Lille was candidate for France at the time of the '04 Olympics. Quickly eliminated, it obtained in compensation the title of "European Capital of Culture", event organized jointly with the city of Genoa, Italy. The city was entirely renovated on this occasion. What is necessary to see ? There's for all the tastes: Grand'Place with its Flemish architecture, the Vieux-Lille (Old Lille) with small lanes, shops and craftsmen, Wazemmes and its great Sunday market (flea market). The typical estaminets, where you'll be able to obviously taste a good beer... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Near London by train, cosmopolitan feel, excellent transport connections, eating out, plenty to see
Disadvantages: Dog poo

...” was going great guns. *Not that I read it, you understand, but my mother keeps putting all their travel offers my way! The other good reason for picking now, is that the Lille Christmas Fair is under way, the Grand’ Place being given over to a massive Ferris wheel and carousels. They’ve even built a complete two-storey Chinese restaurant, although what that’s got to do with Christmas is anyone’s guess. However, for some obscure reason, I find that other people’s ‘tat’ seems so much more palatable than our own – a case of "Santa’s Grotto v. Santa’s grotty", if you know what I mean. I did have to smile though at the serious Nativity Scene which would have been OK left unadorned, but the Père-Noël skiing down the cotton-wool snow-clad roof did tend to add a certain anarchic touch as he went. The hot chestnuts, spicy glühwein and vanilla waffles... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Clean and well maintained, central location
Disadvantages: lack of atmosphere

...Good quality hotel in an excellent location. I satyed with my family for a couple of nights. A modern hotel in the centre of Lille. About a 3 minute walk to Grand Place the centre of Lille with its impressive Flemish style architecture. The hotel does not have it's own car park , but uses the public underground car park behind the hotel at a discounted, reasonable rate of 8 euros per day. Although public and underground it seemed well lit a safe. The hotel has recently undergone a reburbishment and all parts of the hotel were clean and functional. The rooms were small but were well decorated and comfortable, with tea and coffee amking facilities and mini-bar. Breakfast was good and children were catered for including free use of a Playstaion in the lobby. Reception and waiting staff spoke good english and were very curteous... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

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Disadvantages: [in review]

...Lille is a large city in the Northern part of France, close to the border with Belgium. I recently visited this city with my mother and boyfriend, and as a result feel that I should strongly recommend it if you are looking for a short break at a less traditional destination. In terms of accessibility, Lille is an ideal place to go, as so little time needs to be spent travelling. Lille is a stopping point for the Eurostar on its way to Brussels or Paris, so if you are easily able to get to Waterloo, it is only a couple of hours away. We decided to go to Lille because I needed speaking practice for my A-Level French, and when we had been to Paris the year before I had not had much practice because everybody just speaks English to you, and the vocabulary you need to use is just tourist vocabulary anyway. When we first arrived... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

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...I was pleasantly surprised by how nice a city Lille was, and how easy and enjoyable and reasonably priced getting there on Eurostar was. As a city Lille is far more manageable than Paris, and also, with only two hours journey time from Waterloo, an hour closer as well. The shopping is excellent, and considerably cheaper than anything in London. As well as the huge shopping centre opposite the station, the old town has a good selection of smaller boutiques. For those interested in getting wine on the cheap, the carrefour supermarket has an excellent selection . At the far side of the grand place the cobbled streets lead you into the old town, where smells waft from not only the numerous cafes and bars but also from cheese shops and bakeries. The Eurostar journey was by far the nicest train experience I have ever had in the UK... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average off topic