Looking for help w/ building itinerary w/ a mandatory stop in Lille, France

A lot of people dismiss Lille as dull, but there are a few nice art museums in the area - the main Beaux-Arts Museum, the Modern Art Museum in the suburb of Villeneuve d'Ascq, and the Piscine museum at Roubaix (an art gallery in a renovated former art deco swimming pool). Lille is easy to get to by train from Paris, Brussels or London, although I suspect London may be more expensive.

I love Lille, it's so very charming. Ostentatious Flemish architecture mixed with real bare-bones brick structures mere blocks away.

Personally I would do Paris-Lille-London (or vice versa). Brussels doesn't do much for me.

Although re-reading your post, seven days is short. With seven days you can basically see your daughter in Lille ans visit one other city. Otherwise you will spend too much of your precious vacation time in transit.

With a short amount of time...I'd stick to Paris, Lille and Normandy; which is really tight for all 3 and not ideal....Or do Paris, Lille, Ghent or Bruges Belgium...

As part of a longer trip this past spring, we went to Paris then picked up a car in Brittany; traveled around Normandy then returned the rental car at the train station in Lille. From Lille we went to Ghent, Belgium which is a very short train ride and an absolutely charming city that would make a great day trip out of Lille.

I can't tell where your weekend in Lille falls within your trip, but for efficiency I'd take the train from Paris to Caen. Rent a car to pick up in Caen and explore Normandy. Drive to Lille. (About 4 hours) Return the rental car at the train station in Lille. Explore Lille (& maybe daytrip to Ghent or an overnight to Bruges which are short easy train rides and very charming) and then return to Paris.

I always recommend finding the "best" transatlantic flights, best being extremely subjective, into and out of a city/cities with a direct train connection to Lille, prioritizing the shortest connection(s). I agree with the previous poster that Brussels doesn't offer much, but how about Bruges? One hour on FlixBus to Lille. I would put Normandy out of consideration this time.

Lille is one of my favorite French cities. I suggest the new hotel Oceania or the Mercure Grand Place.

Wow, I didn't expect such prompt responses! Thank you to those who have made suggestions. In terms of the comments that my week-long time frame is being too short, what would you recommend if I could push it to 10 days?

Just remember 10 days is only 9 nights...that is 3 nights in 3 places. But suddenly the Normandy region (WW2 sites and possibly Mont St Michel) seems more doable along with LiIlle (including a day trip) and Paris.

Thank you, KD! I think that's what we'll start mapping out.

Caen is a good pick up or drop off of rental car then train to Paris. ie. Paris > Caen via train (better choice for rental cars for Normandy) But, for Normandy accommodations consider staying in the absolutely charming city of Bayeux for your Normandy tours (and don't miss the Tapestry) and it's drivable to Mont St Michel and other lovely places.
Then drive to Lille; drop off rental car; then train back to Paris (or even Brussels for return home).

Or something like that if you decide to go to Normandy from Paris. Mixed up in all this rambling is that Bayeux is a great location to stay for the Normandy sites.

Have fun with your planning!

KD - do you know if you can reserve a rental car in advance? Would you happen to have the name of the rental car companies there?

You definitely would want to reserve in advance. We went through Enterprise Car Rental, but I think lots of people on the forum have recommended, I believe AutoEurope which is more like a third party which apparently works with multiple agencies. You could post that as a separate question here on the forum if you want some feedback on using AutoEurope.

I booked through Enterprise because it allowed me to request an automatic transmission. Whereas Costco Travel doesn't give you that option to choose (as far as I could find.) I didn't hear about AutoEurope until after I was already booked with Enterprise, so I just let it go. We had a great experience, and a nice car.

And do make sure if you plan to rent a car while in Europe, you go to your local AAA office before you depart for your international trip, to get an International Driver's Permit. It's about $30 and you don't need to be a member. It translates your Driver's License in the event you encounter law enforcement. There's plenty of differing opinions on the forum, but Enterprise asked to see it as well.