Two different types of microporous lanthanide metal–organic frameworks based on pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid (H₂pydc) and succinic acid (H₂suc), namely [Ln(pydc)(suc)_0.5·3H₂O]·2H₂O (type I) [Ln = Pr (1), Eu (2), Tb (3), Er (4)] and [Ln(pydc)(suc)_0.5·2H₂O]·2H₂O (type II) [Ln = Yb (5) and Lu (6)], have been successfully synthesized under solvothermal conditions and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy (IR), elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Complexes 1–4 (type I structure) are isomorphous, crystallize in the monoclinic P2₁/c space group and present three-dimensional (3D) pillar-layered frameworks constructed from two-dimensional (2D) [Ln(pydc)]⁻ layers and suc²⁻ pillars with 1D rhombic channels. The isomorphous compounds 5–6 (type II structure) crystallize in the triclinic P space group and feature a 2D layer made up of 1D ladder-like [Ln(pydc)]⁻ chains and suc²⁻ connectors with the water molecules occupying the interlayer spaces. The results show that structural variation from I to II may be attributed to the lanthanide contraction effect. Furthermore, the sorption ability of compound 2 and the luminescence properties of compounds 2–3 are also investigated.