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City in central Poland
Photo: Polimerek, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Łódź (Pronounced: Wootch) is Poland's third biggest city, and the capital of the Łódzkie Voivodship. Unlike most other large Polish cities, which have long histories, Łódź was created almost from scratch during the 19th-century textile industry boom to house textile mills, their owners and their workers, and rapidly grew to become an important industrial and commerce centre. Since the end of the Soviet era, the textile industry split into many smaller companies, which often specialize in technically complex products such as lingerie and wedding dresses. The city rebounded in the 21st century due to foreign investment in IT industries.
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It is one of the longest commercial streets in Europe and one of the major attractions in the city. It runs in a straight line from the Liberty Square (Plac Wolności) to the Independence Square (Plac Niepodległości). Many pubs, bars, restaurants, and attractions are on this street. Although the cross streets have motor vehicles Piotrkowska Street itself has none so one has about 5 kms of fairly carefree strolling.
Aleja Gwiazd
Being the Polish Hollywood, Łódź has its own Walk of Fame. Some of the names are Pola Negri, Roman Polański or Andrzej Wajda.
Rynek Starego Miasta
Was once incorporated into the Ghetto. It now serves as a venue for concerts and fairs.
Pomnik Dekalogu w Łodzi
It is a tribute to the coexistence of Poles and Jews. The memorial is close to the Old Market Square in Staromiejski Park.
Getto Łódzkie
The Litzmannstadt Ghetto was the second largest Jewish ghetto in Poland after the Warsaw Ghetto. It is referred to as both the Łódź Ghetto and the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, the latter name coming from the German general who captured the city in World War I (the entire city was later renamed Litzmannstadt in his honor). The ghetto was the last one to be liquidated due to the high productivity of the slave laborers and lack of armed resistance. See Holocaust remembrance for context.
From this station thousands of people were herded to Polish death camps. After WWII it lay in ruins for many years but in 2002 efforts commenced to turn it into one of the museums of the Lodz ghetto. Today some 80 years later it remains a sad and solemn place.
Pałac Poznańskiego
A beautiful 19th-century building that was built by Izrael Poznański - a textile magnate and a philanthropist. Today it holds the Museum of the City of Łódź.
Dworek Ludwika Geyera
A classicist mansion built in 1833 by Ludwik Geyer - one of the textile magnates. It is a privately owned property.
Pałac Karola Scheiblera
Neo-Renaissance palace today hosts the Film Museum.
Willa Leopolda Kindermanna
One of the most important examples of art nouveau architecture in Łódź. Built in 1903, it houses Łódź's Art Gallery.
Centrum Manufaktura
It is the largest shopping mall in the city and occupies old factory buildings.
Biała Fabryka Geyera
This old factory holds the city's Textile Museum. It's next to a small lake, and is very nicely lit during the evenings.
A large complex of 19th-century textile factories.
Bielnik Kopischa
It is the oldest (built in 1826) preserved building connected with textile Łódź. No tours inside.
Sobór św. Aleksandra Newskiego w Łodzi
A rare example of Orthodox architecture in Poland.
Kościół św. Józefa
This is the oldest building in the city - the only one built in the pre-industry period.
Cmentarz Żydowski w Łodzi
For centuries, Poland was home to the largest Jewish community in the world. Jewish people also strongly influenced the history of Łódź. This is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. The Poznanski mausoleum near the entrance is a beautiful memorial. The cemetery has many tall trees and vines. It is very green and leafy and makes for peaceful exploring and meandering.
Stary Cmentarz w Łodzi
The most important active cemetery in Łódź. Here you will find one of the most exquisite sacral buildings in Europe, the Karol Scheibler's Chapel.
Kaplica Karola Scheiblera
This chapel was for a long time neglected and its condition deteriorated, however, today, works are on the way to improve its past glory.
Muzeum Sztuki (Art Museum)
It was one of the first museums of modern art in Europe and has a really impressive collection of Polish and international 20th century art (for long time and arguably still the best in Poland). The building belonged to the Poznański family, same as the palace where Muzeum Historii Miasta Łodzi is located. (Tip: after leaving the museum take Gdańska street and go 50 meters up north to see the beautiful building of the Music Academy - which used to be one of the houses of Izrael Poznański. If you are confident enough you can go in (entrance on ul. 1 Maja) to see an elegant stain glass window on the first floor.)
Muzeum Sztuki squared
Ms2 is dedicated mostly to the Collection of 20th and 21st Century Art. The museum is in a building of 19th century weaving plant (former part of Poznański family textile manufacture, modern days part of shopping mall Manufaktura). This museum should be considered as an extension to the ms (Muzeum Sztuki) and even the name shows that ms2 is second and also has bigger expositions area. (ms to square).
Poznański Palace
Various beautiful rooms with exhibitions dedicated to some of the most famous people from Łódź including writer Julian Tuwim, pianist Artur Rubenstein, and collections of items from the daily lives of those who have lived in Łódź throughout the years. The museum is in a beautiful building called Palace Poznańskiego. One of the major attractions in Łódź.
Museum of Łódź Sewage System
Museum of the old sewage system in a circular water tank below pl. Wolnosci, built in brick in 1926. Accommodates max. 10 people inside, no big bags, do not go in if you are claustrophobic. A great experience otherwise.
Museum of Ethnography and Archaeology
The largest museum in the city, containing an exceptional collection of ancient treasures and archaeological artefacts from all around the surrounding region. Many exhibits date from as long ago as the Stone Age, and cover various periods right up to the Middle Ages.
White Factory
Permanent and temporary exhibitions concerning everything connected with textiles: industry, machines and fashion. Working machines on display on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays: 09:00 - 17:00, and on Thursdays: 11:00 - 15:00.
Muzeum Kinematografii
Park Krajobrazowy Wzniesień Łódzkich
A natural landscape reservation for walks and bike rides. 30 minutes by bus line 88 from the Academy of Art. Large part of Łagiewnicki Forest is a part of this park. Small outskirt villages in the park like Kalonka, Dobieszków or Wódka are among the most prestigious locations for house development.
Las Łagiewnicki
One of the largest forest complexes in the world that is within city boundaries. Arturówek lake is a very well known local attraction during the summer, there are also numerous bike paths there.
Ogród Botaniczny
Largest botanical garden in Poland with some very interesting natural architecture and plant exhibitions. Enter from Kusocińskiego or Krzemieniecka Street. Open from 1 April until 31 October. For 60 zł you can hire an official guide.
Park Źródliska
The oldest park in Łódź. In 2007 it was selected the most beautiful city park in Poland and it also ranked 5th in Europe. It is in the city center on Piłsudskiego Street. Inside is Palmiarnia Łódzka.
Park Źródliska
One of the most interesting buildings in Łódź. It is in Źródliska Park. Inside, you will many unique plants. It is estimated to have 4500 plants. For 30/45 zł (depending on the ticket type) you can hire an official guide.
More popularly known as Zdrowie Park - Park na Zdrowiu
The largest park in Łódź. It is more a forest than a park with a few lakes and large alleys.
Park Poniatowskiego
It is best to enter from Parkowa Street (near Real hypermarket). The park is a very popular venue for wedding photos and casual biking. There are also tennis courts there (entry from Mickiewicza Street).
Park Staromiejski (every local knows it by the name Park Śledzia)
The Decalogue Memorial is in the park, and has an excellent view on the Old Market Square. You can play chess with the locals there.
Festiwal Łódź Czterech Kultur
Takes place every September. Intended to promote understanding and tolerance between the four nations that have built the city.
A festival of light held every October that utilises public spaces in the city centre for a spectacular show of art and video.
Extreme sports and tourism festival. Takes place every November.
Fotofestiwal
Takes place every May. All the events take place in old factories, tenement buildings and villas of Łódź – post-industrial architecture creates a truly unique atmosphere for presentation of photographs.
Międzynarodowy Festiwal Komiksu i Gier
Held annually in October. It is the biggest comic event in Central-Eastern Europe.
Międzynarodowy Festiwal Designu
Held in May. Hosts various exhibitions and design events.
Międzynarodowy Festiwal Producentów Muzycznych
Mostly acoustic shows.
Festiwal Indywidualności Muzycznych Tansman
Homage to Alexandre Tansman.
Międzynarodowy Festiwal Sztuk Przyjemnych i Nieprzyjemnych
Held in the Common Theater, a long-running play festival.
Letnia Akademia Jazzu
Held in July-August. The jazz festival (some of the concerts are free) that attracts a number of Polish and international jazz celebrities as well as talented young musicians.
A popular, free theme park just outside the city.
A state-run zoo (and thus relatively low in ticket prices) that hosts a wide variety of exotic animals. The giraffes and elephants are a particular highlight
A nice cinema with mostly interesting programme of (often European and Asian) films, not as commercial as Silver Screen.
Once it was the largest and the most important cinema in Łódź, but it has lost the market to chains like Silver Screen or Cinema City. The cinema is right behind the philharmonic. It is well-known for its excellent sound system.
Comfortable, big theater with 14 cinema halls and 1 big IMAX hall offering projections of 3D movies. Movie selection contains the latest Hollywood hits with Polish subtitles.
Silver Screen
The small independent cinema theater with a program that will delight true cinephiles. There is also a second hall - the exprerimental one that seats only 5 spectators.
It is considered one of the best drama theaters in Poland. They play Tuesday to Sunday mid September till mid June. On its 3 performance halls you can see modern Polish and international drama as well as the classics.
It offers varied, mostly contemporary repertoire. Also the quality is varied so better ask for advice someone local or ask staff for an honest recommendation. The building served a Jewish cabaret before World War II and a Jewish theatre until 1948 (later it moved to Warsaw).
Grand Theatre
It is the largest theatre in the city (second largest in Poland) with 1070 seats. It specializes in opera, operetta and ballet.
Common Theatre
A very popular theatre that hosts many well-known plays and a few festivals.
Musical Theatre
Musicals and operettas are the main plays here.
Filharmonia Łódzka
Second oldest philharmonic in Poland. If you are a fan of classical music, this is a place to go. Behind the philharmonic is Kino Bałtyk.
Dbam o Zdrowie
A major sports event held yearly in April. Quite popular both among the locals and the visitors, it offers a few different distances to run.
One of the largest aquaparks in Poland. Once it was the most popular swimming complex in the city, and after a complete renovation it aspires to its former glory.
Kluby Uczelniane AZS
Every major university has its own Academic Sports Society Club. They offer various activities (sekcje or sections) ranging from chess to sailing for low prices.
Large multi-purpose indoor arena hosting both concerts and sports events like basketball, volleyball or ice hockey matches.
Their big pizza is more than enough for 2 hungry people. It is a chain, so you can find their restaurants all around the city.
Small pizzeria in the center of the city near Galeria Lodzka and Ibis Hotel. The oldest one in Łódź.
A vegetarian fast food chain has one restaurant. They also offer free wireless access to the internet.
This place is about pancakes that are served in all imaginable varieties, sweet or savory, plain or stuffed, and even baked under cheese to make them even more hearty. Prices are surprisingly low, while the interior and service reputedly good. And if you can't eat any more pancakes, soups and salads are also available.
International restaurant with traditional Polish and Italian cuisine. There is also a salad bar and a big choice of dishes à la carte.
Great breakfasts, excellent hummus, very friendly service.
Nice, calm interior and impressive menu.
If you are looking for original Jewish cuisine, this is a place to go. There is also a branch at Manufaktura. It is a popular place, so make sure you reserve if you plan to go there during the weekend.
Mainly Polish cuisine. There is often a wedding reception there on Saturdays, so the whole restaurant may be closed.
The upscale Georgian restaurant.
Off Piotrkowska Street, it is both a shop and a pub. You can try hundreds of Polish regional beers there. Recommended for beer tasters.
A German-style brewery. They close quite early, but the beer is good.
One of the most popular pubs, an institution! Named after the artist group "Łódź Kaliska". Decorated with pieces of art. On weekends very crowded. A must see are the women's toilets on the second floor!
Wide selection of beers - including Guinness and Kilkenny, Irish specialties - wines and other beverages. You can eat as well as have a drink here.
A self-styled "English Pub". Here you can sit back on oak pews and laugh at caricatures of the Royal Family and Keith Richards to the sound of The Cure. Is much bigger than it looks from the outside.
The only pub in the city that aims to integrate those who hear and those who don't. Staff people know Polish sign language. You can have a drink here as well as eat a pizza (9.5 - 27 zł), play table football, billiard or darts or use internet for 2.50 zł/hour.
English pub with several British beers off the tap and more in bottles.
Mecca for the local hipsters. Furnished with some examples of Polish design. Regular concerts of indie musicians, also from abroad.
Coffee Heaven is nothing but a bland international-style coffee place, but it is indeed a heaven in early morning hours, when more genuine Polish cafes are still closed and keep their seducing desserts behind the windows. Expect pricey coffee, decent cakes, grilled sandwiches (best choice here), and a non-free Wi-Fi connection. Also at Aleja Józefa Piłsudskiego 15/23.
Essentially an ice-cream cafe, Hort boasts a selection of cakes and tarts delivered from the adjacent bakery, decent choice of tea and coffee, and even several savory meals (pancakes, kotlety) served until 19:00. The interior is somewhat retro-style, while the mandatory 1 zł charge for the cloakroom is also reminiscent of old and mildly annoying traditions. Free Wi-Fi.
Also known as "u Husajna" or "chez Hussein" offers good coffee, huge ice-cream desserts, milkshakes and truly international atmosphere.
Bookshop-Cafe
It is an artistic bookshop with books mostly in English, big range of CDs (mostly classical and ethnic music) and a small cafe. It is one of few places in Łódź where they know how to make a good macchiato. Concerts and meetings with artists are often organized in the evenings. Free Wi-Fi (ask staff for password).
Offers a wide selection of reasonably priced teas in very pleasant, quiet and comfortable surroundings. Indeed, after five minutes you'll soon forget that you're in Poland's second largest city.
Central. Free Wi-Fi, free parking, newly built. Each room with cable TV LCD.
TV in every room, parking free for all guests, tasty traditional food in hotel's restaurant.
Few minutes by public transport from ul. Piotrkowska, in calm area, close to main roads. Free Wi-Fi, free parking, restaurant and pub. Each room with TV and bathroom.
The rooms are clean, but very basic in terms of amenities. The hostel hosts large groups of young children that often run around the halls screaming. There's also a curfew requiring guests to be in the hostel no later than 22:59, though it's possible to come back at a later time, when arranged in advance.
Day-round hostel, close to city centre, opposite to a small park.
Very good location, free breakfast, Wi-Fi 10 Mbit/s.
In the northern outskirts of town, right by a large forest and with a pond on site. Tram connection (25-30 min. to the centre). Has a variety of singles, doubles/twins and bigger rooms, which are all en-suite (prices start from 100 zł), available on Booking.com
Cheap hotel (shared bathroom facilities). Rooms with satellite TV 10 zł extra, showers 5 zł per use.
In the southern part of the city in a small park. Free parking, swimming pool and sauna included in the room price. The hotel restaurant is a popular place to hold a wedding reception.
About 10 minutes from the centre by public transport. It is very close to Zdrowie Park. Good access by car
Free Wi-Fi and parking for guests, TV LCD with cable in every room, breakfast 21 zł.
Central, newly built, free Wi-Fi and parking for guests, TV LCD with cable in every room, breakfast 21 zł.
A good and central hotel.
A new hotel close to the Film School.
A business hotel close to the city center and the Technical University.
It is not as good hotel (in term of number of stars) as the previous ones, but has good prices and reasonable rooms. A bit off the city center.
A conference hotel completely outside of the city center in the north-western part of the town. If you stay there, be prepared for a commute to see the attractions.
4-star hotel.
A very original hotel in an adapted historical textile manufacture next to Poznański Palace. It won the "Architecture of the Year" in 2009 in the European Hotel Design Award competition.
The Grand Hotel is the oldest hotel in Lodz. 81 rooms including 7 apartments.
Stacja Nowa Gdynia
Outside Łódź, this is a spa resort with many attractions like a sports center or an aquapark.
Manufaktura is a unique place - an old factory converted into a modern shopping mall. Apart from shops there is a cinema, hotel, museum and art gallery.
The largest single collection of shops is the Galeria Łódzka - a large mall on ul. Piłsudskiego - where you will find almost anything from the latest fashions and expensive perfume to modern electrical equipment and groceries.
Another shopping mall. You can buy (also eat and drink) there almost everything. One of the shops there is IKEA. The mall is within the city limits. From city center you can go there by car in the direction of Pabianice or just take the tram line 11 heading to IKEA/Chocianowice (it is the last stop you cannot miss it). Most shops and restaurant in Port Łódź can also be found in the city center or other existing malls. But if you love IKEA, it is the only place in Łódź where you will find it.
Centrum Handlowe Ptak
If you thought that Thailand or China are the places to go to buy clothes, well, you are mistaken. This is one of the largest clothes-oriented wholesale and retail centers in Europe (if not the largest one). The prices are highly competitive, quality is high and you can get there anything from a wedding dress to hipster clothes. The mall is enormous, so be prepared to spend at least a whole day there. Do not go there on Mondays as most of the stands are closed. It's a few kilometers south of Łódź.
Centrum Handlowe Polros
Next to Ptak Trade Center, another very large clothes-oriented shopping mall. A few kilometers south of Łódź.
Centrum Handlowe Retkinia
It is not a mall per se, but rather a small local shopping center that you will rarely find on a tourist map. There are no chain stores here, but still you can buy RPG and board games, clothes and many other things.
Rynek Bałucki
Big open air market, every Saturday you can buy everything here from vegetables, to clothes to live pets. Not romantic, but an experience!
Targowisko Dolna-Ceglana
The biggest open-air vegetable market for individual people. Very often by mistake named as Rynek Bałucki - but they are two different places.
"The green market"
A great place to buy fresh fruits and vegetables as well as bread, meat, homemade honey and other products.
"Rynek Górniak"
A well-known market among the locals. You can buy numerous gadgets here, as well as high-quality clothes for a very low price.
"Łódzka Giełda Samochodowa"
The place of one of the largest used car markets in the country in the past, now serves as a market for cheap clothes, electronics, sweets, car parts and a bit of vintage articles. Every Sunday morning, the traffic down Pushkin street (Widzew district) near the Dostawcza street junction is blocked to accommodate the hundreds of stalls.
Clothes and accessories reminding of the PRL (People's Republic of Poland) times with a designer twist.
By train
By car
Łódź lies at the centre of Poland's road and highway system. The nearby city of Stryków is important motorway junction, where two of the most important motorways cross each other:
By bus
Flixbus serves Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdansk, Katowice, Zakopane and Poznań. They offer free onboard Wi-Fi and the tickets should be bought online beforehand for the best price.
By bike
A bicycle sharing system was implemented in Łódź in 2016. There are 154 bike stations available and 1540 bikes for rent.
Public transport
The public transport system is operated by MPK-Łódź (apart from two bus lines: 6 and 61, operated by other companies, but the same tickets are valid within city limits; don't mistake the bus line 6…
By car
Driving in Łódź is quite easy and the rules of the road are adhered to. Pedestrians and bicycles have a right-of-way on pedestrian and bike crossings.
Taxis
Taxis are another option to consider, and are quite cheap for a westerner. However, one should be sure that there is a taxi sign atop the cab and that the driver has a permit.
Rickshaws
50 zł per person.00 zł in the night and most of the rikshaw drivers will take you out of Piotrkowska if you offer to pay more.
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