PRACTICAL INFORMATIONS
ABOUT BIERE A LILLE
Practical information
Opening hours, prices, ridesharing, instructions…
Everything you need to know to have a great festival
BAL in a nutshell
BAL (Bière à Lille) is Lille’s beer and brewing-culture festival. A week of events in bars, restaurants and public venues across the Lille area (2–8 November 2026) ends with a big closing weekend at the Gare Saint-Sauveur (Halle B).
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Saturday 7 November: 1pm to 9pm
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Sunday 8 November: 12pm to 7pm
The Grand Final programme
Over the closing weekend, the Gare Saint-Sauveur becomes the beer capital of the north of France. Highlights:
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A big Sunday brunch prepared by chefs from the Lille Tables & Toques network. Booking is done through the ticketing page.
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Live cooking demonstrations by local chefs, all weekend long.
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Food trucks serving cuisine from the north of France and beyond.
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70+ breweries from the Lille area, the rest of France and abroad, with four guest breweries from Ukraine this year. See the full list of breweries
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Plus a beer and food pairing tasting, live karaoke, a DJ set, a tattoo parlour, a kids’ corner, games and free massages.
👉 Full programme: www.bierealille.com/grand-final
Tickets
Buy your ticket in advance for a lower price. Advance tickets are available until the day before the festival:
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Saturday: €8
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Sunday: €7
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Two-day pass: €14
Tickets cost €2 more on site, so book ahead and save.
Book online (and reserve your brunch): www.bierealille.com/billetterie
Entry
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Each ticket is valid for one entry, for one person, on the day shown on the ticket (except two-day tickets, of course).
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Entry is free for children under 18. Dogs are unfortunately not allowed inside the Gare Saint-Sauveur.
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Last entry is one hour before closing: 8pm on Saturday (closing at 9pm) and 6pm on Sunday (closing at 7pm).
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For safety reasons, the organisers reserve the right to temporarily suspend entry if the venue reaches maximum capacity. To avoid queuing, make sure you arrive early 😉
Getting there
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By metro: take line 2 to Mairie de Lille or Lille Grand Palais.
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By ridesharing: Pass Pass has a dedicated page for the festival.
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By coach: Flibco offers bus transfers.
The event takes place in Halle B of the Gare Saint-Sauveur. The entrance is next to Parc Jean-Baptiste Lebas. Please don’t confuse it with the Bazar St SO, as your GPS may sometimes send you there by mistake.
Luggage storage
Travelling with bags? Enjoy the festival hands-free: the automatic LOCKIN LILLE lockers are a short walk from Lille-Flandres station and the Grand’Place (22 rue des Arts). More information: www.lockin-lockers.com/lille-grand-place-flandres
Animals
We love them, but they are not allowed inside the Gare Saint-Sauveur (and the crowds wouldn’t be much fun for them anyway).
Sales, tastings and drinking
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Take-away bottles can be bought at the brewery stands (and we recommend it!), but drinking them at the festival is strictly prohibited. Only tastings poured into the official festival glasses, given to you at the entrance, are allowed.
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Tasting prices are set freely by each brewery, and you pay at the stand concerned. We listened to you: no more cashless payments or tokens.
The organisers, who are lovely people, reserve the right to refuse entry to, or remove, anyone whose behaviour or alcohol consumption becomes excessive.
Your safety
Our volunteers and BAL teams are trained to deal with harassment. If you witness or experience inappropriate comments or behaviour, please speak to a member of the organising team in the hall or at the ticket office.
Make a weekend of it
Coming from far away? L’Échappée Bière, the festival’s organiser, offers a BAL weekend package with accommodation in Lille: see the offer
Stay in the loop
Programme, brewery list, food, entertainment and the festival map are on www.bierealille.com (the site is in French, but your browser can translate it).
Follow us for news and updates:
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Instagram: @bierealille
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Facebook: BiereALille
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