Lille is the traditional capital of Flanders and is situated at the crossroads of Northern Europe, close to major cities like Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and London.

Thanks to a very developed railway network with high speed trains, called TGVs (Train à Grande Vitesse), Lille is only 1 hour away from Paris, 1 hour and 40 minutes from London, 40 minutes from Brussels and 4 hours from Amsterdam.

Today Lille has about 220,000 inhabitants and is part of the urban community called Lille Métropole that includes 87 towns and more than 1 million people, which makes Lille the fourth largest city in France.

The Métropole is often referred to as Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing, because of the three main cities in the area.

It is indeed an astonishing city, a bridgehead spanning the Middle Ages and the urban landscape of the XXth century (Euralille and the Tower of the Crédit Lyonnais), a tasteful marriage of buildings from the past and the architecture of modernism.  In the old city, the ancient houses with their carved and coloured façades are an opportunity to learn something of the architecture of the past as well as an invitation to enjoy a leisurely stroll. The XVIIth century citadel designed by Vauban is part of the city's military past and is in the form of a 5-pointed star set in greenery by the city gates.

Lille also offers opportunities to enjoy its own gourmet delights in the form of potjevleesch and white beer brewed with wheat, not to mention its famous filled waffles rolled in brown sugar.