Lille, France: Including the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Area

2nd Edition - Updated March 2025
Located in France's Northern-most region of Hauts de France, Lille is an inviting, and attractive city steeped in history. Part of French Flanders, there is a unique blend of culture, architecture and cuisine here pulling from France, Flanders and Belgium. Lille is a destination that is not overrun by tourists. There is much to see here ranging from world-class museums, historic forts, Flemish architecture, great beaches along the coast and, battlefields and monuments to explore.

This Starting-Point Guide covers Lille and several of the region's more notable towns including Arras and Dunkirk.
You will find details in this guide on suggested day trips, Lille city attractions, where to stay, and where to find local cuisine.

This is a guide for travelers who wish to use one city such as Lille as their base camp to travel the area and not move from town to town as they travel the region. To help with your trip planning, this guidebook includes numerous graphs, maps, and photographs. Guidance on how to get around town and an orientation to the most popular sites is included.

This is not a complete guide to all of France's Nord region. Such a guide would go beyond the suggested scope of staying in one town and having enjoyable day trips from there.