Easter city breaks 2010

Escape the English Easter Bunny and head to Paris, Brussels or Lille for a continental Easter.  Easter is a two day holiday in France and Belgium, covering Easter Sunday and Easter Monday but when you're going from the UK you can use Good Friday for your trip too.

What's open?
While most businesses, museums, and monuments in Paris, Brussels and Lille keep their regular hours during Easter weekend, some close for part or all of the Easter holiday.  You can check whether museums and monuments are open in Paris, Brussels and Lille over Easter.

Stunning churches
There are numerous Easter Church services in all three destinations, giving you the opportunity for sight-seeing as well as maybe attending a service.  In Paris there's the Sacre-Coeur and Notre-Dame, while in Brussels you'll find the fifth largest church in the world in the city's Basilique National du Sacre-Coeur. In Lille meanwhile, don't miss the Notre-Dame de la Treille Cathedral as the white exterior marble reveals a surprising orange-pink colour inside.

Easter egg hunts
If you're after some fantastic Easter egg hunts then the The Chateau Vaux Le Vicomte is an ideal visiting spot for the whole family. Located just outside Paris, their Easter Egg Hunt is held on both Easter Sunday Easter Monday. Not only do that have egg hunts starting every 40 minutes, you can also attend a number of free workshops and activities such as making chocolate, origami, face painting, and more. Another option is Paris' Galeries Lafayette's Big Easter Hunt. Your little Easter bunnies have one hour to scour the store seeking out every last shiny wrapped egg and sniffing out each delicious chocolate bean before the Grande Chase aux Oeufs is over!

For Easter egg hunts in Belgium, just outside of Brussels you can visit Les Pays des Castors which is an animal park dedicated to beavers. Remember to bring your boots if you want to hunt for eggs amongst these dentally endowed dam builders.  Another hunt will be taking place in Bruparck in Brussels. Both of these hunts are on Easter Sunday.

Delicious chocolates
In Belgium it's sometimes said that the Bells of Rome bring the Easter Eggs. The story goes that the bells of every church leave for Rome on "Silent Saturday" or "Stille Zaterdag" in Dutch. Then they return on Sunday with eggs... chocolate eggs hopefully. And what better place to find delicious chocolate eggs than that home to so many chocolate shops, Brussels?

If chocolate's not your thing though how about visiting one of the biggest markets in France?  Head to the Wazemmes market in Lille for a different kind of Easter gift, like exotic food, flowers and fabrics.