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Christmas Time Around Grand-Place in Lille

Florian Buechting Places & Sights No Comments

During the last twelve months, the Northern French city of Lille absolutely won my heart. Starting with the UEFA Conference League match there with Faroese soccer club KI Klaksvik, I really liked the friendliness of the people, the international touch close to the Belgian border. After this initial visit in December 2023, I really loved watching handball there during the Paris 2024 Olympics. In late November 2024, I visited Lille again. Due to mental and physical weakness, I did not manage to visit too many of the sights of the city, but at least enjoyed some of the Christmas activities there in the city. In this Pictured Story post, I take you to the area around Grand-Place in the city center.

 

Lille Grand-Place – Location & Access

Grand-Place is officially named Place du General de Gaulle. It is one of the core squares of the city center of Lille and features several shopping, dining and entertainment options around. The Christmas Village (Village de Noel) is located at Place Rihour, which is a short walk away from Place du General de Gaulle, Southwest from there. During Christmas time, the village is opening daily from 11:00 to 20:30. It opened on 20th November 2024 and will close on 29th December 2024.

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The area is close to two train stations, Lille Europe and Lille Flandres. Lille Europe is also featuring international trains to London, while both stations feature a large range of regional and domestic connections. Lille Flandres is also connected by metro lines M1 and M2 as well as the Lille Tram. Place Rihour is also connected by M1 metro. There are, of course, multiple parking garages. However, driving into European cities during Christmas time is generally a rather stressful scenario.

 

Around Lille Grand-Place

The first pictures I took were, however, at the adjacent Place du Theatre, which is next to the Lille Opera. It is surrounded by historic buildings. I really like the area, which features buildings like the historic stock exchange. The tower of the Belfry of the Lille Chamber of Commerce is standing in the background. I really liked that there was a historic carousel, which added a lot of flair and style. There were also some Christmas displays during our visit. 

The Grand-Place with the Theatre du Nord is a little less stylish, but still a beautiful city square. During Christmas time, there was a historic-style Ferris wheel with open gondola. Again, there was some Christmas decoration. In a patio of the theater, there was also a sculpture praising the 80th anniversary of local soccer club OSC Lille. Another eye-catcher at Grand-Place is the giant Christmas tree.

 

Village de Noel at Lille (Rihour)

In order to enter the Christmas village, you need to pass a security control, which lead to quite some lines during our visit. This also allows the organizers to control capacity so that I hope that the village does not get too packed during peak times. The Village de Noel comes with the typical features of a Christmas market. From food and drinks to crafts, you find what you would expect of a place like that. The atmosphere is really nice and relaxed. There are also some smaller attractions. Children can also take a picture with Santa Clause (for a charge).

 

Christmas-related Attractions

Here are all my Travel postings, which are related to Christmas:

 

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