Lens

Lens is a city in Hauts-de-France, France. A former industrial city, its wealth was founded on textiles and coal mining. In 2009, the Louvre opened a branch in Lens, called - naturally enough - Louvre-Lens.

Get in
The town is located in the north of France, in the plain of Artois, about 15 km north of Arras, 20 km west of Douai, 27 km south-west of Lille, 90 km south  south-east of Calais and 180 km north of Paris as the crow flies. Lens is served by the A21 motorway (called the “mining ring road”) which forms a semi-ring road to the north and east of the town and connects the city to Douai, Valenciennes and other motorways, the A1 motorway  (Paris-Lille) to the east, and the A26 (Calais-Reims) motorway to the west.

Its station is served by six TGV round trips by the LGV Nord (1 h 10 from Paris) but also by the TER Nord-Pas-de-Calais lines 6, 13, 21 and 23 going to Valenciennes, Arras, Dunkirk and Lille  (reduced to 30 minutes by Libercourt since December 9, 2007).

Public transport is provided by the Tadao company, under the authority of a mixed union which brings together the Communaupole de Lens-Liévin, the Hénin-Carvin agglomeration community, the Artois agglomeration community and the community  of communes of Nœux and surroundings. A tram project linking Liévin to Hénin-Beaumont via Lens is planned to replace the Tadao buLLe line. In addition, a new bus station was built in 2009.

The airport of Lens - Bénifontaine is the closest to the city, the closest airport being that of Lille-Lesquin.

Do

 * Watch football: RC Lens were promoted in 2020 so they play soccer in Ligue 1, the top tier of the game in France. Their home ground is (capacity 38,000), 1 km northwest of the railway station.
 * Escape Bollaert: An escape game in the heart of the Bollaert-Delelis stadium is the Blood and Gold adventure that Lens-Liévin Tourisme, in partnership with the Racing Club de Lens, offers you to experience: not only will you be happy to enter the  Bollaert stadium, but in addition you will be proud to have come out!  Will you be able to escape the players' locker room or track down the club president?
 * Escape Bollaert: An escape game in the heart of the Bollaert-Delelis stadium is the Blood and Gold adventure that Lens-Liévin Tourisme, in partnership with the Racing Club de Lens, offers you to experience: not only will you be happy to enter the  Bollaert stadium, but in addition you will be proud to have come out!  Will you be able to escape the players' locker room or track down the club president?

Connect
As of June 2022, Lens has 5G with all French carriers.