Lille Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

3-Nights WWI Battlefields - Classic Group

Price: $1,875 - # of Days: 3 days
Wwi Battlefields - Classic GroupLive through the history and grit of World War I during this 4-day guided tour of its key battlefields and monuments. Journey from Paris to the Ypres Salient battlefields and see the Passchendaele Memorial and Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, the largest cem...

 Package Details

Overview

Introduction

Lille is the heart of the Pays du Nord, the northeast corner of France, and 138 mi/223 km northeast of Paris. West of this region is Normandy; east is Belgium.

Lille was once in Flanders (now part of Belgium), until the city was captured by Louis XIV in 1667 and made the capital of French Flanders. These days, it is the fourth-largest urban area in France after Paris, Marseille and Lyon. It has broad boulevards, monumental architecture and an impressive city center. Many of the streets are closed to traffic—it's a great place for strolling and window shopping.

Visit the old Flemish quarter, Palais des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Museum) featuring 15th- to 20th-century art, the impressive stock exchange with a 17th-century belfry and the well-preserved citadel. Two other museums of note are the Musee d'Art Moderne Lille-Metropole with its modern and contemporary works, and La Piscine Musee d'Art et d'Industrie featuring applied arts and sculpture.

A bit to the southwest of Lille is Arras, which has some fine examples of 17th- and 18th-century Flemish architecture (especially around the Grand-Place and the Place des Heroes). Note how the buildings' facades all come to a point at the top. While there, see the neoclassical cathedral. Climb the UNESCO-listed bell tower in the twin squares of Place des Heros and Grand'Place for a panoramic view of the area.

The port towns along the Channel are a mixed lot: Calais and Dunkerque (Dunkirk in English) have never really recovered from bombings in World War II, but Boulogne is graced by medieval city walls. If you have time, the countryside has some nice villages. Our favorites are St. Omer (typical French small town with an attractive central square) and Montreuil (an old market town with worn cobbled streets and shuttered buildings).

Overview

Introduction

Long nestled in happy obscurity 85 mi/135 km north of Oslo, Lillehammer, Norway, was host to the 1994 Winter Olympics. Visitors can see the ski runs—there are two Olympic downhill ski slopes and more than 200 mi/322 km of marked cross-country trails—skating rinks and the Olympic village.

Lillehammer also has the Maihaugen Open-Air Museum (http://www.maihaugen.no), a living-history exhibit of 150 buildings (we think it's one of the country's best museums). You can spend hours browsing the old workshops—there's one for practically every occupation, from frame maker to gilder to gunsmith. Each is highly detailed: It's as though the craftsman had stopped in the middle of his work to get a cup of coffee. As you move through the centuries, you can taste local cheeses and potato bread, watch soap being made and be shown around meticulously decorated homes by English-speaking actors in period costumes.

Set on the shores of Lake Mjosa, Lillehammer is easy to reach by train from Oslo. If time permits, take a tour of the city's stave churches or explore the rock carvings in nearby Drotten. In the same region, between Lillehammer and Lom, the Gudbrandsdal Valley is called Peer Gynt Country (the legendary Norwegian folk hero is said to have lived there) and merits a day's drive to see beautiful pine-clad slopes, northern meadows and picturesque streams.

In the nearby valley of Gausdal is Aulestad, home of the famous Norwegian author Bjornstjerne Bjornson.

Overview

Introduction

Lillesand, Norway, 220 mi/355 km southwest of Oslo, presents an opportunity to experience daily life in a traditional Norwegian coastal village. You may be surprised to find that, for some villagers, daily life includes a round of golf at nearby Randesund, where there's a challenging nine-hole course.

There are quaint churches and other historic buildings in town, as well as a peat factory.