Lille Europe (Lille)

Lille has two main train stations:

(1) Lille Europe - this station

(2) Lille Flandres - which is where trains from Lille to Amiens, Rouen and some cities in Belgium including Ghent/Gent and Antwerp/Anvers depart from.
The TGV InOui services to Bordeaux and Mulhouse, as well as the Ouigo services from Lille also depart from Lille Flandres station.

Lille Europe station was built for the high speed trains, so it's used by Eurostar and the TGVs to Bruxelles.
Most of the TGV trains between Lille and destinations in France, other than Paris, use Lille Europe - and some of the trains between Lille and Paris also use this station.

However, most of the TGVs between Lille and Paris depart from/arrive at Lille Flandres station.
So if you will be taking a TGV from Lille to Paris - check your ticket to confirm which station your train will be departing from, before setting off to the station.

Lille Flandres station is closer to the city centre, although Lille Europe station is located a comparatively short distance to the north of Lille Flandres; so it also has relatively easy city centre access.

Lille Europe is a huge train station, despite the fact that it only houses four voies (platforms/tracks); though this small number of voies can mean that if you'll be making connections between trains you won't have to go far.

The station facilities are housed on an enormous concourse, which sits above the voies (platforms/tracks).
Therefore when arriving by train you have to ascend upwards to access the terminal building, and when departing you need to make your way down to the trains.

What makes Lille Europe unusual is that this terminal spans the length of the platforms, which results in an extremely long and thin building.
It was designed that way in order to provide the terminal with both multiple entrances/exits AND multiple access points to and from the voies (platforms/tracks) which the trains arrive at and depart from.
Though there is only route to the Eurostar departures.

The idea, we assume, is to ensure that when you step off a train, you won't have to go far to find an access point up into the terminal above - and if you will be taking a TGV, no matter which entrance to the station you use, there will be an adjacent route down to the trains.

Both pairs of voies (platforms/tracks) 43/45 and 44/46 are connected to the terminal by stairs, escalators and elevators, but at Lille Europe, these aren't grouped together.

So when arriving by train, the closest route up to the terminal building may be by taking the stairs, but the alternative escalator and elevator will be available further along the voie (platform/track).

Similarly when departing by a TGV, the nearest access down to the trains from where you are in the station, may be a staircase, but if you want to use an escalator, or elevator instead, you may have to move into a different part of the station to find them.

Also worth knowing is that despite its size, the passenger facilities at Lille Europe are comparatively sparse.
The only dining option is provided by a cafe and there are few retail outlets in the station.

The only train services which depart from / arrive at Lille Europe are:

• by Eurostar to and from Amsterdam* and Bruxelles and London and Rotterdam*
• by TGV In Oui to and from Aeroport CDG, Aix-en-Provence TGV, Angers, Avignon TGV, Boulogne, Bruxelles, Dunkerque, Le Mans, Marne La Vallée, Marseille-St Charles, Montpellier, Nantes, Nimes, Paris-Nord**, Rennes, Strasbourg and Valence TGV Rhône-Alpes Sud
• high speed TER trains to and from Dunkerque

• = not from these cities until at least mid-December
  ** = more frequent trains to Paris depart from Lille-Flandres

There are detailed travel guides available for many of these journeys.

Note that there are no overnight train services to and from Lille.

When planning a trip, finding convenient accommodation can be trickier than working out which train to take.
Hence ShowMeTheJourney has partnered with the innovative accommodation portal, Stay 22, to offer three options for discovering your optimum accommodation:

1: Use the map above to see which hotel rooms and Vrbo rentals, with easy access to Lille-Europe, are available.

2: Or click on these cherry-picked properties, offered by Stay 22 partner Booking.com, which are by Lille-Europe and have been selected on the basis of high guest ratings:

Novotel Suites Lille Europe

Hôtel Barrière Lille

Hotel Lille Europe

Citadines City Centre Lille

Mama Shelter Lille

3: Or see what's available with Stay 22's accommodation partners; which include, Expedia, Hotels.com and Trivago - by clicking the large button below.
Stay 22 will 'shuffle' the booking services so that you can be automatically directed to its partner that currently has the optimum availability at this location.

ShowMeTheJourney has anticipated what questions are most often asked about taking trains to and from Lille-Europe and answered them below.
Though note that some of this info may be temporarily subject to change, due to the ongoing building work which will transform the station.

If you can't find the information you are seeking, you can ask a question by using the Travel Planning Service.

Yes, the voies (platforms / tracks) are beneath the station building, but they can all be accessed by both multiple lifts / elevators and escalators

The Grand Place is the heart of Lille and it is located less than a half a kilometer from Lille-Europe station, so journey on foot will take around 15 to 20 mins
The alternative is to take line 1 of the Lille Metro for a two station hop to Ritour.

The access to the public transport in Lille is by a tap in and out system using travel cards, you purchase a card and then load tickets on to it.
There is a 'point of sale' for these cards at Lille Europe station.

Considering the size of the building, the dining options in Lille Europe station are comparatively limited.
The only full service restaurant is a branch of Factory & Co, which specalises in burgers.
There are also some [sandwich and coffee outlets]https://www.garesetconnexions.sncf/fr/gares-services/lille-europe/services-commerces?f[0]=services_commerces_theme%3A52793#block-facets).
Though the Westfield Euralille mall is within a 5 min walk of the station.

Yes there is a left-luggage facility located in Hall 1 - note that bags can only be dropped and collected during its opening hours, which tend to be 7am to 9pm.

Holders of Business Premiere tickets to travel by the TGV InOui can access a lounge which is located in Hall 3.

Holders of Eurostar Business Premiere tickets have exclusive access to a lounge in the Eurostar departure area on the other side of check-in.

The concourse at Lille Europe virtually spans the length of the station and gives access to the trains, which depart from the level below.

This concourse is divided into four Halls, and when looking at the station from the city centre, Hall 1 is on the right, with Hall 4 on the far left.
At the far end of Hall 4 is the location of the Eurostar departure lounge, so you have to access the Eurostar trains through Hall 4.

In contrast the TGV departures can be accessed from all four halls.
However, depending on which part of the station a TGV train will occupy, the departure screens may instruct you to specifically wait in Hall 2 OR Hall 3 for the departure details of a TGV to be confirmed.

Lille-Europe has multiple entrances that are conveniently arranged to give easy access into the station - whether you're arriving on foot, by taxi, metro, bus or tram.
So the best option is to use the first entrance you see - and then move through the halls in the station to access the trains.

Using the main street entrances:

The main street entrances are on Avenue Le Corbusier - on both sides of this road that crosses the station on a bridge named, 'Pont'D'Erfurt'.

When approaching the station on Avenue Le Corbusier from the city, the entrance on the LEFT leads down to Hall 3 - so has the easiest to access to Eurostar departures in Hall 4.
The entrance on the RIGHT leads down to Hall 2 - the primary waiting area for the TGV trains.

Using the entrance on Place Francois Mitterrand:

If you’ll be walking from Lille Flandres station, or arrive by tram - you will cross Place Francois Mitterrand, the square outside the station - and enter Lille Europe station between Hall 2 and Hall 3.
Escalators and elevators lead up to a bridge into the station building from street level.

If you use this entrance to the station and will be taking the Eurostar and - you will need to turn left when entering the station building and walk down to Hall 4 at the far end.
The Eurostar check-in is on the left hand side of Hall 4.

Arriving By Metro:

Take the Metro to Lille Europe and you will enter into Hall 2.

If you will be connecting to Eurostar from the Metro - turn right from the metro exit, the Eurostar check-in will be at the far end of the building, on the left-hand side of Hall 4.

The four departure halls aren't separated by doors, so they can blend into one, if you don't pay attention to the signs hanging down from the roof, which indicate what hall you are in.

The main ticket office is between Hall 2 and Hall 3 - opposite the entrance from Place Francois Mitterrand.
There are also ticket machines for SNCF trains scattered around the station.

The information desks are in Halls 2 and 3.
Hall 2 is the location of the main waiting room for the TGV trains and the main dining area.

The first class lounge is by Hall 3, the left luggage office is at the far end of Hall 1 and Hall 1 is also where the car rental desks are located.

If you will be taking a TGV train check the electronic departure screens for details of your train when you first arrive at the station - you may instructed to wait for a TGV train in a specific departure hall (usually Hall 2).

The voies (platforms/tracks) at Lille Europe are arranged in two pairs, 43-45 on one side of the halls and 44-46 on the other.
The number of the voie, that a train will be leaving from, doesn't usually appear on the departure screens until around 10 - 20 mins before departure.
Any announcements re: the departure details will only be made in French, so if need be keep watch on the departure screens.

When the voie number appears, it will prompt a stampede towards the train, but our advice is to take your time; your seat(s) on the TGV will be assigned, so you don't have to rush to claim it.
The nearest access point to the voies (platform/track) may not be the optimum route to take, so you don't have to follow the crowd.

Also if you want to use the elevators to access the trains, then wait in Hall 3 for the departure details of the train to be confirmed, as will be seen below, there is no elevator access to the voies, that the trains depart from in Halls 1 and 2.
If you take the elevator, you may then have to move along the length of the long voies (platforms/tracks) when you reach it, in order to access the coach/car on the train, in which your reserved seat(s) is located, but this can be a small price to pay if you don't want to use the escalators or stairs.

To voies (platforms/tracks) 43 and 45:

These can be accessed by sets of stairs and escalators in Halls 1, 2, and 3 - though some of the escalators can be switched, so they don't lead down to the trains
There is also elevator access in Hall 3

To voies (platforms/tracks) 44 and 46:

The access points to these voies are less obvious.
From Hall 1 they can be accessed by stairs and escalators, though the escalator can be switched so that it's not leading down to the trains.

The only access down to voies (platforms/tracks) 44 and 46 from Hall 2 is by stairs* - and the only access from Hall 3 is by elevator.
At the end of Hall 4, on the other side to Eurostar check-in, there are stairs, an elevator AND an escalator - but the escalator can be switched so that it's not leading down to the trains.

*Note that you don't have to use these stairs to access voies (platforms/tracks) 44 and 46, there are alternatives.

On the voies (platforms/tracks).

Once you're on the voie (platform/track) you can use the info screens to work out which zone (repére) the coach/car, in which your assigned seat(s) is located, will occupy.

The train may already be waiting when you descend down to the voie, so keep when it will be departing front of mind - you probably won't have to rush, but people tend to.

Something worth knowing is that two TGV trains are often joined together on departures that are heading south.
One part of the train will be commencing its journey in Lille, so will be likely already be waiting in the station, but the second part of the train will be arriving from the north.
So you may be directed to wait in a zone (repére) where there is no train, despite the fact that a train to your destination is already waiting further along the voie (platform/track).

Five things worth knowing when arriving at Lille Europe by train:

(1) The voies (platforms/tracks) at Lille Europe are at street level, but in order to exit the station, you need to head up to the concourse, which is above the trains.

(2) If your train arrives at voies (platforms/tracks) 43 or 45 there are three sets of stairs and escalators along the length of the voie, which lead up to the concourse
So if you're happy to take the escalators or stairs, use which ever of these is nearest when you step off the train.

However, on these voies (platforms/tracks) 43 and 45 there is only one elevator up to the concourse, you'll find it by the front end of trains which have arrived from the south and east, and by the rear of trains, which have arrived from the north.

(3) If your train arrives at voies (platforms/tracks) 44 or 46 then by the front end of trains which have arrived from the south and east, and by the rear of trains, which have arrived from the north there is an escalator, stairs AND an elevator.

At the opposite end of voies (platforms/tracks) 44/46 stairs and an escalator lead up to the concourse, but in the middle of these voies (platforms/tracks), the stairs are the only means of heading upwards from the trains.

(4) If you will be exiting the station, when you reach the concourse take your time and avoid following the crowds.
That's because there are specific optimum routes to follow through the station, if you want to take a taxi, connect to the metro, access Lille Flandres station or walk to the city centre.

The pedestrian route to Lille Flandres station is well signposted - but this is ALSO the route to follow if you want to walk to the city centre.
You will leave Lille Europe station by exiting through the side of the station on to the Place Francois Mitterrand; this exit is roughly half-way along the station building, opposite the ticket hall.
The city centre is within a 15 min walk, first head for Lille Flandres station and then when this station is on your left, turn right on to Rue Faidherbe; this street leads to the main square.

This exit marked ‘Lille Flandres’ which leads on the Place Francois Mitterrand is also the exit to take if you want to connect to the tramway.
The tram station is underground - it’s easy to miss entrance is over to the right side of the Place Francois Mitterrand; the square that is located beside the station (with
an elevated roadway above it).

Head towards Hall 3 if you want to take a taxi - you will need to go up to street level when you're in Hall 3, but there are escalators and lifts.

Hall 2 houses the entrance to the Lille Metro.

(5) The left luggage office is in Hall 1.

If you will be taking a Eurostar train to Lille Europe in order to connect into a TGV InOui train on to another destination in France, this additional will tell you all you need to know about making the transfer

These summary tables, show the journey opportunities which will typically be available - there's litle point in exploring the details of making the transfer, if there won't be a connection available at a time or day of the week, which suits you.

Though should be treated very much as a guide as precise departure times can vary on specific dates, the intention is to give an idea of what's possible.

All trains listed below call at Aeroport CDG station and at Marne La Vallée - the station for Disneyland Paris.

Trains to Marseille also call at Lyon-Part Dieu and Avignon TGV.
Trains to Montpellier also call at Valence TGV and Nimes.
Trains to Bourdeaux also call at Poitiers
Trains to Nantes also call at Le Mans and Angers
Trains to Rennes also call at Le Mans.

*= a low-cost, more basic Ouigo service departing from Lille Flandres station
**= departs from Lille Flandres
***= this train arrives at Montpellier Sud-de-France station and calls at Nimes Pont-Du-Gard station.

Monday to Friday:

Saturdays:

Sundays:

The easiest route to Lille Flandres station from Lille Europe is on foot, it is a 7-10 min walk.
Follow the signs that point the way to Lille Flandres station and you will exit from the side of the station on to the Place Francois Mitterand.

Immediately in front of you will see a series of arches that support a road that is heading toward the city.
You need to keep these arches on your right as you walk straight ahead of you from Lille Europe – head towards the large building that houses the Hotel Euralie and keep this building on your left.
You will then ascend a fairly gentle slope up to street level, which can make pulling a heavy suitcase a tad tricky - and as you walk up this slope, you will see Lille Flandres station ahead of you.

However, the walk between the two stations is all in the open air, so not ideal when it’s pouring with rain.
If the weather is inclement, the best option is to resort to the metro, it’s only a one-stop-hop to Lille Flandres, if you have luggage there are lifts at both stations to take you to/from the trains.

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