Rouen vs. Lille

I cannot speak for Rouen, but Lille is charming and boasts an abundance of museums and plenty of shopping. I recommend Musée La Piscine in nearby Roubaix, housed at the site of a former indoor swimming pool, which is still there (great place for pics; look online) and now a museum of decorative arts and industry. Enjoy!

Well, it seems like Rouen fits better with Brittany than with the cities on your most proximate trip. Rick has, I think, I special idea for combining Rouen with auto rental pickup.

Rouen and Lille are in different directions, and Lille is quite far from Paris. That said, I went there especially for the Palais de Beaux Arts museum, which was worth a full day for art nuts. On your trip, you might care to include Louvre Lens, which I haven't seen. It's not at all in the same location, but we enjoyed Besançon overnights, and nearby Pérouges is a quite special daytrip, if you can get there without a car.

I haven’t been to Lille, but here’s my summary about Rouen during a trip in 2019. I stayed there two nights.

ROUEN: Now I understand why Monet painted an impressionists series of this beautiful cathedral! I enjoyed seeing the interior of the cathedral, the beautiful exterior, and it was the backdrop for my first French nighttime Light Show. Some highlights in Rouen were their quaint timbered buildings, the Jeanne of Arc church, some wonderful boulangeries, and the Horloge Clock. I spent my second day of Rouen seeing their museums - definitely recommend their Fine Arts Museum – wonderful paintings, and hard to believe it is free and so uncrowded! The Ceramics Museum, a topic I enjoy, was surprisingly dull. Someone had told me not to miss the Metalwork Museum, Musée Le Secq des Tournelles. It was so interesting; I thoroughly enjoyed that one, too!

In Rouen, I stayed at the Mercure Rouen Centre Cathedrale which I had selected to be at the cathedral for the evening light show. I’ve stayed at their hotels previously, so I knew they have a wonderful buffet breakfast. Their huge assortment included delicious local cheese and everything else! For my jet lag nights, I select a hotel where I’m likely to get a good night’s sleep, and this worked well.

Andrea, here’s brief comments on the other locations:

Colmar was quaint but a bit too touristy, but that may have been because we had just spent some lovely days in Nancy. The smaller villages outside Colmar are wonderful! That whole area is great for photography!

Lyon is a definite “yes”! We were there three nights and had plenty to do. Great museums, food, the Vieux Lyon area, etc. Favorite museum is their Gallo-Roman.

Carcassone was a one night; we wouldn’t have wanted to stay longer. It’s pretty lit up in the evening to wander. We both thought it was our least favorite on that trip, but it gets positive reviews from others.

Haven’t been to Montpellier.

Rouen will tie in very well to your future Normandy-Brittany-etc trip, so a definite vote for Lille as well!
Plus Lille works in any weather, because the museums are so good that they easily fill a day (or more...).
While a day trip is already pretty good, it is best to spend the night, and you will not get bored if you end up spending 2 nights.

Thanks to Kerouac2 for the link to colors! I found it so interesting!

Both are worth your time if you could see both. I have not visited Rouen, as yet, but visited Lille twice on two separate trips in the late 1990s, however, not from Paris but rather Arras taking the train. Never rented a car in that area. I like Lille, the cultural center and largest city in Northern France.

I have visited Lille several years ago during Christmas time and I was surprised how pleasant it was there. A good reason to visit it later this year is the enormous flea market La Grande Braderie, traditionaly held the first weekend of September. Worth to go if it fits in the other trip ofcourse and covid doesn't cause problems.

I love Lille and will always recommend it.

It's far from Paris, yes, but with the TGV, it only takes an hour to get there.

Our itinerary no longer allows for us to go to Rouen or Lille in April, but when we return to France next fall to explore the western side we plan on going to both before taking the Eurostar to London from Lille.