Solo travel Lille and Paris

Palais des Beaux Arts art museum

Have you been to Paris before? It's certainly good for a week, daytrips if you wish,

Thanks! Yes, I've traveled to Provence, Normandy and down on the Riviera but have only been to Paris twice BUT once a long time ago for three days and the other just for one full day so I don’t think I’ll want do any day trips - I’ll have a lot to explore in Paris. I love traveling alone but am thinking by the time I get to Paris I’ll need to speak to people so I am trying to keep that in mind.

Lille is an interesting city. Skews youngish, high immigrant populations, bit spicy later at night around the train station area of downtown. You'll do well there as a foodie - hi proportion of artisanal-type food and other sorts of shops. To me it seemed that millennial entrepreneurs can afford to run passion project businesses in Lille. I ate in in Lille (had an apartment) but ice cream shops etc were foodie-ish and good.

Venturing into Belgium is a great idea. Ypres is beautifully rebuilt and has interesting history. 95 minutes by train. You'll switch in Kortrijk I think, which in itself is a charming typical Belgian town worth a doddle about. 40 minutes to Kortrijk.

And here's a fat little hook to hang some fantasy on: the Eurostar rockets from Lille direct to London in under 90 minutes many times throughout the day. You could be in London faster than Ypres without changing trains. So if the idea of a day trip to London appeals it's no problem!

Have a great trip!

Thanks - I was looking at Tournai in Belgium, ever been? Looks like an easy train ride and has a beefy to climb and a cathedral to see.

I’m excited about Lille.

Yes, I have, six or seven years ago for a one night stop cycle touring southern Belgium with my wife and daughter. It's a nice town and we had a good time. I would pick it over Kortrijk, call it different than Ypres. The market square in Tournai is quite nice, looks more Flemish than most other southern Belgian towns.

We just spent some time in Belgium and France (also Netherlands and Luxembourg). We stopped in Lille. Lille is a beautiful city. Granted, we gave it very little time, but if you want to see some of Belgium, my suggestion would be to stay in Ghent or Brugge. If you did want to just stop in Lille, there is luggage storage at the train station.

I also agree that you could spend 7 days in Paris and find plenty to do. There is much to do in the city and a lot of day trip possibilities.

Thanks - I have been to Ghent and Bruges and initially I was thinking of staying in Ghent but decided that I’m not up for dealing with transferring trains and, I may be wrong, I was thinking Lille would be better in February.

On our Paris trip way back in 2004, we took the train to Lille and then to Tournai, Belgium. It was an "ancestry side trip" to see the town where the Belgian branch of my family is from. Very cute town though there are certainly bigger Belgium sights to see than that.