48h in Lille

Two days in Lille, a Flemish city turned European crossroads an hour from Brussels and London. The route starts on the Grand Place, with the Column of the Goddess and the Vieille Bourse, whose courtyard shelters booksellers and chess players, then crosses Vieux-Lille and its brick-and-stone facades. The Palais des Beaux-Arts, France's second museum by collection size after the Louvre, brings together Rubens, Goya and Monet. Wazemmes market, the largest in northern France, and Vauban's citadel with its free zoo and woodland close the stay. The Vieille Bourse opens only in the afternoon and not on Mondays. Lille's braderie, held the first weekend of September, is Europe's largest flea market: book accommodation far ahead.