Camp Des Roses

Lille is a city of markets and museums, set among handsome Flemish architecture and pretty public gardens including the huge Citadel Park in the vicinity of Lille Zoo. The Wazemmes Market, held on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings at the Place de la Nouvelle Aventure, is one of the biggest of its kind in France, where all sorts of regional produce is sold to foodie visitors (the local cheese, Vieux Lille, is a lip-smacking must). On Sundays, pick up paintings, crafts and other arty goods at the arts market at Place des Archives. If you're in town on the first Saturday and Sunday in September you absolutely must get along to the Braderie de Lille, the biggest flea market in Europe (you'll probably be swept along whether you intend to or not, as over 10,000 traders flock to town with their wares, and a good part of the city centre is given over to the stalls). Mosey along to unearth your own perle rare/ hidden gem among the huge selection of vintage and retro items, then tuck into a tasty portion of moules frites to round off your shopping day. Lens 25 kilometres or so to the south is mainly famed for the Louvre-Lens art museum, home to a big collection of paintings, sculptures and other arty objets loaned from the vast collections of the Musée du Louvre a couple of kilometres south in Paris.