Lille Getting there & around

Getting around

The city centre is being progressively pedestrianised.

Bus & tram

Bus, tram & metro

Lille’s two speedy metro lines, two tramways and many urban and suburban bus lines – several of which cross into Belgium – are run by Transpole (08 20 42 40 40; www.transpole.fr in French), which has an information window (closed Sun) in the Gare Lille-Flandres metro station. In the city centre, metros run until about midnight. Useful metro stops include those at the train stations, Rihour (next to the tourist office), République Beaux Arts (near the Palais des Beaux-Arts), Gambetta (near the Wazemmes market) and Gare Jean Lebas (near La Piscine). Clair de Lune night buses (lines A through G) operate from 9.30pm to 12.30am. In this chapter, places with a metro stop within 500m have the name of the stop noted next to the street address.

Tickets (single/10 €1.20/10.20) are sold on buses but must be purchased (and validated in the orange posts) before boarding a metro or tram. A Pass’ Journée (all-day pass) costs €3.50 and needs to be time-punched just once.

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Local transport

Taxi

Cabs can be ordered 24 hours a day from Taxi Gare Lille (03 20 06 64 00) and Taxi Rihour (03 20 55 20 56).

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Bicycle

Bicycle & segway

Always wanted to try one of those nifty Segway gadgets? Now’s your chance! Station Oxygène, run by Transpole, rents out Segways for €4/15/20 (€3.50/12/18 if you have a bus ticket stamped within the hour) per 30 minutes/half-day/day, not including a mandatory first-time riding lesson (€4) that will get you an official French Segway license (we’re not kidding). Riders must weigh over 40kg and be at least 12 or 13. City bikes with electric power boost are also available (€1.50/7.10 for 30 minutes/half-day). Station Oxygène’s glass pavilion at the Champ de Mars (8.30am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat winter, 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 10am-7pm Sun summer) is easy to spot – just look for a shiny glass structure that resembles a hovering flying saucer. There’s a second outlet, Relais Oxygène (place des Buisses; 11am-6.30pm Mon, 8.30am-6.30pm Tue-Fri, 2-7pm Sat, closed Jul & Aug) in the Gare Lille Flandres.

Not-for-profit Ch’ti Vélo (03 28 53 07 49; 10 av Willy Brandt; 7.30am-7.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7.30pm Sat, Sun & holidays), on the northern side of Gare Lille-Flandres, rents city bikes for €5 per day and can supply you with a bike path map. DLM (03 20 06 18 80; 32 place de la Gare; Gare Lille-Flandres; 8am-noon & 2-6pm Mon-Sat) rents city bikes per half-/whole day for €7/9 (€5/7 for students), including a helmet.

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