← TREK Marathon International de Lille·Day trip

Roubaix: A Museum Built Inside a Swimming Pool

An Art Deco swimming pool converted into a textile and fine-art museum, reachable in 20 minutes without a single flight of stairs to worry about.

DurationDay trip
TransitLille Métro Line 2, roughly 20 minutes from central Lille
DepartsLille (Gare Lille Flandres or Rihour)

After the Lille Marathon: Roubaix

The Route: Lille → Roubaix → Lille Logistics: Métro Line 2 direct from central Lille, no transfer, no timetable to plan around. Marathon Month: October Duration: Day trip

Lille Rihour ──(20 mins Métro Line 2)──> Roubaix (Gare Jean Lebas / Eurotéléport) ──(20 mins)──> Lille

The TREK Marathon International de Lille finishes at the Esplanade du Champ de Mars on 25 October, and by the time a runner has queued for bag drop and found their way back into central Lille, the idea of a long day trip is usually dead on arrival. Roubaix survives that test because the whole outing runs on a metro line with no walking added on top of it.

October in Roubaix means the same damp, mild autumn as Lille itself, average highs in the mid-teens Celsius and a real chance of rain, so this is a museum day rather than a park day regardless of how the legs feel. Métro Line 2 runs from central Lille to Roubaix in about 20 minutes with no change, and trains are frequent enough that there is no timetable to plan around in either direction.

La Piscine

La Piscine, Roubaix's museum of art and industry, occupies a converted 1932 Art Deco municipal swimming pool on rue des Champs. The pool itself survives as the museum's central hall, lined with sculpture and ceramics either side of the water, which makes for one of the least conventional museum interiors in northern France and requires almost no walking to see properly. The textile collection reflects Roubaix's history as a wool and cotton manufacturing centre; the fine-art rooms hold work by Camille Claudel among others. Entry runs to a standard adult museum ticket, checked against the current rate on the museum's own site before travelling since French museum pricing is revised periodically. The museum is closed Mondays, which does not affect a Sunday marathon trip but matters if the visit slips to the day after.

Roubaix's wider centre, a short walk from the museum, still carries the brick warehouse architecture of its industrial past, worth a slow look on the way back to the station rather than a dedicated separate stop.

Getting back

Métro Line 2 runs back to central Lille in the same 20 minutes, direct, with services frequent enough through the afternoon and evening that there is no need to plan around a specific departure.