Eurostar Breaks

A trip to the capital of Flanders with Eurostar is a real winter warmer. Wrap up to sip spicy mulled wine and munch hot chestnuts on the Place Rihour at the illuminated Christmas market, and get more festive kicks listening to carols, shopping for gifts and hibernating in the city’s cosy estaminets drinking real ale.

Lille has plenty of cultural clout this winter: the Palais des Beaux-Arts explores man's relationship with nature on canvas, while the Tourcoing Jazz Festival brings classic and new-wave grooves to all corners of the city. The heat is still on as the Lille 3000 festivities pick up pace, with Indian-themed events to make your head spin and feisty curries to make your eyes water. Mira Nair's holograms hit the big screens in the city centre, DJ Mukul Patel keeps revellers on their toes and Ashok Sukumaran's installation in the Place du Théâtre is the place to see the light (and control it).

Foodies can expect rich pickings, from sampling foie gras at Envies Culinaires fair to feasting on beer-drenched carbonnade flamande with gingerbread on the Grand Place. Before you leave, pick up a box of Méert pralines for a lingering taste of Lille (if they last until you get home, that is).