Lille



Today, with its 220.000 inhabitants, the main city of the region Nord-Pas-de-Calais Lille is integrated in an urban community of 87 smaller cities, which makes more than one million inhabitants, ranked at the 4th biggest city in France. The great cultural diversity of this so dynamic metropolis, contributed to the nomination of Lille, “European Capital of the Culture” and “Town of Art and History” in 2004. There are many students who make it lively and vibrant. Moreover, Lille is very well situated and at reasonable distance from the main cities in europe like Paris (1h by train), Brussels(30 minutes) and London (1h30 minutes). On November 2007 there were approximately 620 actives couchsurfers.

So in this page you can find any information about Lille, the city, the CS Activities, the History, the cultural life and its night life. If one day you get to Lille, this page will help you to know Lille more than others !

CS Meetings in Lille


The CS Communauty in Lille is very active. There is sometimes some special events, like a hiking tour to make discover the Region of Lille called Nord-Pas-de-Calais, some parties or even some trip to go together to some CS Meetings in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, England or in Paris.

There are also 3 regular meetings a month:

To know when and where is programmed the next one : check CS Group of Lille for more information. The CS Calendar for Lille is a great way to keep informed of all recent events.

If you want to have some view on what happen on these CS Meetings in Lille, just check the Numeric Library of CS in Lille!

Mailing List
You can be informed by some events taking place in Lille and in the area by mail. But your profil has to be registered in Lille as city of residence or by joining the CS Group of Lille.

How to find a Couch in Lille
The number of active couchsurfers is growing in Lille. It should be easy to find a couch. There is many Couch Surfers in Lille ready to host someone, and even sometime to cook to you something. It can happen that you receive some invitation to surf some couch in Lille in the case if you are travelling close for here. You don't know why ? Because ...

"The People in the North of France have in the Heart the Sun they don't have in the Sky"

Otherwise it could be a good idea to ask people in suburbs instead (because the city is very popular), like in Lambersart, Lomme, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Hellemmes, Villeneuve d'Ascq, Marquette, Mouvaux, Marcq en Baroeuil, La Madeleine, Ronchin, Faches Thumenil or Englos.

Meeting Organisers
CS City Ambassadors of Lille

[ http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/tomcatescmt/] CS Lille Group Moderator

Organiser of the Concert Meetings

Celine Breakfast Club Meeting organiser

It is only a little list of members in a city where many others Couch Surfers are activ. Anybody is able to organise a CS Meeting, everybody is welcomed to do it, especially if it is to suggest a great idea ! So if you have an idea, create your own meeting by clicking here, and make an announce for this meeting on the CS Group of Lille !

Coffee or a drink
Here is a list of couchsurfers who are willing to show their city if they have time :

Jéjé Antoine Jeremy Delphine Sylvain Ugo

By Plane
Lille has his own Airport called "Lille-Lesquin", you can get then by bus to the city center, but there is not to much flight companies who get in this Airport. Now, there is a plane between lille and marseille by Ryanair. So it can be interesting about the price. From the airport to the center you have a bus each hour 5h30am to 10h30 pm: monday to friday; 5h30am to 6H30pm: Saturday; 10h30 am to 10h30 pm: sunday and legal holidays. more informations

Here are the other possibilities: from the Airport Paris-Roissy Charles de Gaulle, and take the Train (TGV) until Lille. From the Airport Bruxelles-Zaventem or Bruxelles-Charleroi, you have then some train to get to Lille. from Charleroi you have also a shuttle front of the airport have a look there: more informations

By Train
Lille Flandres train station is the busiest outside Paris, with 61000 travellers per day. From Brussels-Midi, you have some train who go directly to Lille (1h). From Paris, you will find some train direct to Lille in the train station "Gare du Nord" (1h). From London, you will find some Eurostar which go to Lille directly (1h30).

There is also another train station called "Lille Europe" which is 5 minutes walking from "Lille Flandres".

By Bus
You have some bus companies like Eurolines which can get you to Lille easily.

By Car</FONT>
Lille is at the centre of 6 motorways: From Paris, take the A1, direction Lille, exit of the Paris ring "Porte de Clignancourt". From Brussels, A27 take the direction "Doornik". From England, take the Shuttle or the Ferry direction Calais, take direction Dunkerque and then direction Lille A25. From Reims and Lyon: A5 and A31. From Gent, Antwerp and Amsterdam take the A22. From Valenciennes, Mons and Liege, take the A23.

Important: If you come from Belgium by car, don't forget that the Flamish Name of Lille is "Rijsel".

By Carpooling</FONT>
You can find a driver or passenger to share the ride and cut on travel cost. In France carpooling is very popular and is called "covoiturage". Among others, covoiturage.fr is the most used carpooling website in France.



How to circulate in the City</FONT>
Transpole is the society who is in charge of the Tramway, the bus and the subway in Lille and in the area.

The Subways and the Tramways are working from 5.30 a.m to 12.30 a.m from Monday to Saturday and from 7.00 a.m to 12.30 a.m on Sunday. There is 2 differents Tramway Lille, both start from the Lille Flandres Train Station, one goes to Roubaix, and the other to Tourcoing. The Bus are working from 5.30 a.m to 10.30 p.m from Monday to Saturday and from 8.00 a.m to 10.30 p.m on Sunday.

It is easy to walk through the city, and it is necessary to precise that you don't have any hill to climb around, so it is easy to cross the City in bicycle. If you want to have some information to know how to buy some cheap bicycle in Lille, just check this page.

Presentation of Lille</FONT>
If you are interested about the History of Lille, you can find a special page here. You will know how Lille has been an influenced city and will be for centuries ...

Lille (Rijsel en néerlandais) est une ville du nord de la France. C'est la préfecture du département du Nord et de la région Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

Lille est, avec ses 224 900 habitants, la principale ville, aux côtés de Roubaix, Tourcoing et Villeneuve-d'Ascq, de Lille Métropole Communauté urbaine, intercommunalité qui regroupe 85 communes et compte 1,2 million d'habitants. Lille est aussi au centre d'une agglomération internationale regroupant environ 1,37 million d'habitants et s'étendant sur la Belgique. Plus largement, elle appartient à une vaste conurbation formée avec les villes de Mouscron, Courtrai, Tournai et Menin, totalisant au moins 1,9 million d’habitants[1].

Son nom en ancien français (L’Isle), comme en flamand occidental (Ryssel, Rijsel en néerlandais moderne), provient d’une île des marécages de la vallée de la Deûle sur laquelle elle a été fondée.

Lille et ses environs appartiennent à la région historique de la Flandre romane, anciens territoires du Comté de Flandre mais ne faisant pas partie de l'aire linguistique du néerlandais. Lille a ainsi toujours été une ville de langue romane[2].

Du moyen-âge à la révolution française, Lille a connu une histoire mouvementée. Ville la plus assiégée de France, elle a appartenu successivement au comté de Flandre, au royaume de France, à l'État bourguignon, au Saint empire romain germanique et aux Pays-Bas espagnols avant d'être prise par les armées françaises menées par Vauban et melée à la guerre de Succession d'Espagne et aux combats avec les autrichiens en marche vers Paris pour libérer Louis XVI.

Cité marchande depuis ses origines, manufacturière depuis le XVIème siècle, la révolution industrielle en fera une grande capitale industrielle principalement autour des industries textiles et mécaniques. Leur déclin, à partir des années 1960, ouvrira une longue période de crise et ce n'est qu'à partir des années 1990 que la reconversion vers le secteur tertiaire et la réhabilitation des quartiers sinistrés donneront un autre visage à la ville.

Lille, en tant que ville principale de l'une des principales aires urbaines de France dispose d'une vie culturelle riche et diversifiée : de nombreuses salles de concerts, une vie associative riche et de nombreux événements (Lille 2004, Lille 3000, Braderie de Lille etc.

What to do in the Main City of the Nord Pas de Calais ?</FONT>
You can find the many nice place to visit here on the page called Cultural Patrimony of Lille, where the historical monuments, the differents museums and the differents gardens or parks are described. The ideas won't miss you when you will be in Lille ! To have a simple look on what to visit in Lille, just check the Map of the City of Lille.

Otherwise, if you are interested about local specialities like the typical local foods or drinks, restaurant (you will find the complete list of the restaurants in Lille, with opinions from Couch Surfers), shops and markets are exposed on this page (TO BE COME).

You are interested about parties, place for some concerts, night gathering, meetings in Lille, you can find all the informations in this page called Pubs, Bars and Nightlife in Lille. You will find on this page the only complete list of all Bars & Clubs in Lille available in english on the Web, with opinions from Couch Surfers on each of it (TO BE COME) ! You will see how dynamic is the City of Lille even during the nights !

Informations for Students and Workers who arrive to Lille</FONT>
Dear Students and Workers, you have chose the City of Lille to stay, so you find here all the informations required for your installation ! (TO BE COME)

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY</FONT>


Tel: 03.20.17.28.40
 * Police Station:

Adress: 3 PLACE PHILIPPE DE GIRARD - F-59800 Lille SAMU (French Health Urgency Service): Tel: 15
 * Health Urgency:

European Tel number for Urgency: 112

Urgency number for the homeless: 115

Click here to have the list of the Hospital in Lille. Urgency number: 18 Click here to have the list of the differents Consulats and Embassies in Lille SOS Médecins 3 av. Louise Michel - F-59 000 Lille
 * Hospital:
 * Fireman Station:
 * Embassy and Consulat:
 * Emergency Doctor:

Tel: 03 20 29 91 91 (24h/24)

LOCAL MEDIA MENTIONS</FONT>




















LINKS</FONT>
_________________________________________________________________________________________
 * lille-oldcity.com if you need global informations about the city. There is some informations about bars, shops and what to do.
 * lillelanuit.com to know more about nightlife and events.


 * Lille on Wikivoyage
 * Lille on Hitchwiki
 * Lille on Wikipedia

hitch:Lille