Walk Piotrkowska end to end, past the Avenue of Stars, then spend an afternoon in Manufaktura and the Poznański Palace beside it. Give a morning to Muzeum Sztuki for Strzemiński's Neoplastic Room, and another to Księży Młyn and the film museum in Scheibler's palace. Two days covers the centre. A third buys the Jewish Cemetery, EC1 or the Orientarium.
Łódź is the city the textile boom built. In the 19th century mill owners raised factories, palaces and workers' housing at speed, and the 21st century has turned them into museums, lofts and the Manufaktura complex. It also trains Poland's directors: the film school here produced Wajda, Polański and Kieślowski.
About 4.2 km of mill-era facades, courtyards and bars, running south from plac Wolności. The stretch near the Rubinstein Passage carries the Avenue of Stars, Poland's answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Izrael Poznański's red-brick textile works, restored and reopened in 2006 as shops, restaurants, ms2 and the Museum of the Factory. Wikipedia calls it Poland's largest renovation since Warsaw's Old Town was rebuilt in the 1950s.
The original home of one of Europe's earliest modern art collections. Its centrepiece is Władysław Strzemiński's Neoplastic Room of 1948, painted over in 1950 and reconstructed by his student Bolesław Utkin in 1960.
Karl Scheibler's company town: a spinning mill, rows of brick workers' houses, a school and a fire station. The mill is now lofts, and the Herbst family's villa at the end of the street is a museum.
Scheibler's own palace, its panelled rooms now holding cameras, posters and Polish film history. The building played itself in Wajda's The Promised Land, which is reason enough to see the interiors.
The mill king's residence beside his factory, now the Museum of the City of Łódź. Ballroom, dining room and library show how the textile fortune lived, a few metres from where it was made.
The city's first power station, opened in 1906 and closed in 2000, now a science centre, a planetarium and the National Centre for Film Culture. The planetarium seats 110 under a 14-metre dome.
About 40 hectares, among the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe, founded in 1892. The Poznański mausoleum stands near the gate, and the Ghetto Field holds tens of thousands of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto's dead.
Ludwik Geyer's White Factory of 1835 to 1839, one of Poland's finest industrial buildings, with working looms under its low wooden ceilings. The open-air museum of wooden houses sits behind it.
Opened in 2022, a Southeast Asian pavilion with elephants, orangutans, gharials and sharks, joined to the older city zoo. The highlight is a 26-metre underwater tunnel.
A barber by day, a cocktail bar by night, inside OFF Piotrkowska.
Three days of racing from Atlas Arena, with the 2026 Polish marathon championships.
Exhibitions, talks and showrooms across the post-industrial venues, held each spring.
The 25th edition of Poland's largest photography festival, much of it free.
A free outdoor music festival on Łódzkie Błonia, two stages over three days.
Łódź marks the 1423 town charter with events on Piotrkowska and the Old Market.
Polish, Jewish, German and Russian Łódź, through concerts, theatre and talks.
Large-format projections and light installations across the city centre.
Climbers, sailors and expedition filmmakers, organised by the Łódź Trekking Club.
Władysław Reymont Airport, about 8 km out, flies mostly Ryanair routes. Buses 65A and 65B reach Łódź Kaliska in about 25 minutes.
Łódź Fabryczna, rebuilt underground in 2016, sits in the centre. Trains reach Warszawa Centralna in roughly 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 35.
MPK Łódź runs the tram and bus network on time-based tickets. Its English site has every timetable and fare.
Piotrkowska is largely pedestrian, and Manufaktura, Księży Młyn and EC1 sit within a short tram ride of it.
Sour rye soup with potatoes, the city's signature since the 19th century.
Steamed potato and flour dumplings, served with cracklings.
Herring under a blanket of potato and apple.
Potato dumplings stuffed with plums or strawberries.
A dark, sweet bread studded with dried fruit.
The white bread roll Łódź calls by its own name.
Jewish Łódź's festive dish, still served at Anatewka.
The mill owners' Sunday dish, with beef or veal.
Subscribe to the Wimup newsletter for new guides, travel news and more.
Poland
