Things To Do In Łódź

Łódź today is a creative city with strong roots in its fascinating industrial past. We list the main things to do with suggestions for how to get to know the place.

Włókiennicza Street

Łódź is a city with a fascinating industrial history that has recreated itself into a relaxed and creative, family-friendly destination with a lot of great restaurants and bars. There are some beautiful parks and lots of shopping opportunities, as well as numerous museums recasting its story in imaginative and interesting ways.

This page is full of suggestions for things to see and do in Łódź. Here, we have broken the city down into some of its key themes. We also offer an overview of different activities and links to activities on Get Your Guide, where you can book tickets, find out more information, and read verified reviews from people who have taken part in them.

The fastest way to get to know Łódź is with the help of a professional guided tour, who will show you the highlights with a wealth of insider information and entertaining stories.

You’ll also find plenty of suggestions in our Łódź One-Day Itinerary, Two-Day Itinerary, and Three-Day Itinerary, with an overview of the main tourist attractions on our Sightseeing In Łódź page.

Kamienica Hermana Konstadta

Łódź Guided Tours

As renovation continues, Łódź is very much a city in transition, and sectors of the city still look pretty rough. If you’ve just arrived and don’t know where you’re going, this might make you wonder exactly why you came here. Take part in a tour, however, and you’ll quickly understand what a charming and attractive city Łódź really is. It’s the fastest way to see the very best side.

If you’re interested in the history behind some of Piotrkowska’s most historic buildings, this private walking tour is probably the one to go for. It’s available in 2- to 4-hour durations and also takes in some religious buildings, including the beautiful Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

This 4-hour tour starts outside the EC1 science and technology complex (near Fabryczna train station) and covers the northern end of Piotrkowska up to Manufaktura.

For a thorough introduction to Łódź, however, this mammoth tour can be extended to a full 7-hour day, with an overview of the historic Jewish sites to the north of the city.

If you’d rather explore the city under your own steam, this digital guided tour can be installed on your phone, allowing you to see some of the city highlights at your own pace.

Images of Manufaktura before and after restoration

Łódź Factories and Textiles

Łódź grew out of the industrial revolution of the 19th century and quickly established itself as one of the key textiles producers in Europe. This is evident today from the sheer number of former factory sites dotted across the city.

The most famous today has been rebuilt into the vast Manufaktura shopping and restaurant complex, as well as hipper zones of cafes and bars, such as OFF Piotrkowska.

This industrial heritage is thoroughly explored in various excellent museums, such as the Central Museum of Textiles and the Museum of the Factory, as well as the urban palaces that rich industrialists built, such as the Izrael Poznański Palace, now home to the Museum of Łódź and the Herbst Palace Museum. Contrast these with the worker housing at Księży Młyn. Taken together, Łódź tells the story of industrial capitalism through its very architecture.

OFF Piotrkowska

Łódź Food And Drink

A more personal way to get to know Łódź is through its food and drink culture. A traditional Polish food tour will take you to a handful of different places to eat, over the course of a few hours, and introduce you to local and traditional specialities. It’s a great introduction to the city and to the national cuisine.

Alternatively, a well-organised tour of local bars is an excellent way to explore the city nightlife. You can hire a guide for a private Polish beer tasting tour – with an overview of different kinds of domestic craft brews, spread across a handful of different bars – or a private vodka tasting tour to get an expert’s insight into the national drink. These tours include some traditional snacks and appetisers. I can heartily attest that both Polish beer and vodka are very good!

Animation cell in Łódź Film Museum

Łódź and Cinema

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Łódź for many tourists is its contribution to cinema, and Poland’s place in cinematic history. The film school here produced a long list of famous directors including Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Wajda, and Roman Polanski. Łódź even has its own Hollywood-style Walk of Fame.

What’s more, the city has also produced a string of much-loved children’s animation, which are represented in a delightful sculpture trail.

This heritage is celebrated in two cinema museums – the Łódź Film Museum and the newer National Centre for Film Culture. Added to this is the Center for Comics and Interactive Narrative, which explores technological innovations in storytelling.

Look carefully and you’ll find little cinemas tucked away in courtyards across Łódź, such as Kino Charlie, off Piotrkowska, and Kino Tatry, off Henryka Sienkiewicza.

Warsaw Old Town Market Square

Day Trips From Łódź

With Warsaw just a couple of hours away, it really does make sense to take a day trip if you have time. This thriving, modern city is reborn after a brutal 20th century, with historical areas meticulously rebuilt, some lavish parklands, and a truly excellent restaurant and bar scene.

This 8-hour private tour includes hotel pickup and transport, and a whistle-stop tour of the key Warsaw highlights, such as the Royal Route and Old Town, the Communist-era Palace of Culture and Science, and Łazienki Park.

This full-day private tour also includes all the Old Town highlights and the must-see observation deck on the Palace of Culture and Science, but also gives you two hours of free time after lunch to explore on your own.

To the south-east of Łódź is Wrocław with its beautiful recreation of the Gothic Old Town. The drive is a bit further than Warsaw, but this full day trip from Łódź includes a 4-hour guided tour, lunch, and some free time in the afternoon.

Alternatively, you could visit the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa. This site of pilgrimage is home to the icon of the Black Madonna. This 9-hour private tour includes hotel pickup and the 3-hour transport each way to the monastery, as well as lunch and some free time in the afternoon.

Radegast Station

Jewish Łódź

The development of Łódź as a modern city was intimately tied to its Jewish community, which started to arrive towards the end of the 18th century. By the early 1800s, about a third of the local population was Jewish, one of the largest in Europe. However, ghettoisation and political local harassment was present long before the Nazis arrived in Poland, and the Jewish community fought long and hard for social rights and emancipation.

In fact, the Jewish history of Łódź is present all over the city. From the industrialists, such as Izrael Poznański, who built modern Łódź, to the largest surviving Jewish cemetery in Poland, the history here is long and rich. A private tour of Łódź Jewish heritage views the city through this prism and includes the main locations around the so-called Litzmannstadt Ghetto, to the north.

Some 200,000 victims of the Nazis passed through Radegast station to extermination sites. A private tour of Chełmno Kulmhof Concentration Camp, the first of these sites, is available, around 50km north of Łódź.

Despite the distance, you can also make the day trip from Łódź to Auschwitz-Birkenau, probably the most infamous concentration camp. This trip includes full transport each way, lunch in a local restaurant, and a full guided tour of the memorial site.

Manufaktura – image © Arewicz / CC BY-SA 4.0

Christmas in Łódź

Christmas in Poland feels very special and Polish Christmas markets are generally quite excellent, with seasonable handmade gifts for sale and a vast selection of hearty food and warming drinks. Christmas in Łódź is no exception, as a huge chunk of Piotrkowska given over to cheery lights and festive stands, as well as a market at Manufaktura, and various other events around the city centre.

For insider knowledge of Polish traditions and the city’s winter attractions, take part in the Łódź Magic Christmas guided tour. You’ll get to see some of the festive highlights, along with some Christmas stories.

Street mural

Łódź and Art

The 21st-century reinvention of Łódź has been self-consciously a creative one. The vast 150-odd street murals are one of the most striking elements of the contemporary landscape, with new urban works being added all the time. These include much loved city installations like the Rose Passage, a backstreet entirely covered in pieces of mirror. And, in addition to shops and restaurants, the former factory buildings have been been repurposed into creative spaces, such as MS2 and the Art Factory.

Perhaps less well-known today, however, is the role Łódź played in early-to-mid-century European Modernism, thanks to the grupa „a.r.” (the initials stand for both revolutionary artists and the real avant-garde). This legacy can be seen in the MS1 gallery, particularly The Neoplastic Room – an innovation in the history of displaying contemporary artworks.

Centre for Science and Technology EC1

Łódź and Technology

Łódź has also drawn on its history of industrial textiles to focus on technology, particularly in relation to cultural production, as already mentioned above with film and digital media.

The former EC1 powerplant is now a big museum complex with an excellent technology and science museum and state-of-the-art planetarium, as well as a fully hands-on science lab for smaller children.

Monument to Revolutionary Action

More Things To Do In Łódź

Designed for different lengths of stay, these Łódź itineraries will show you the best of the city, with transport directions and suggestions for where to eat.

• Łódź One-Day Itinerary
• Łódź Two-Day Itinerary
• Łódź Three-Day Itinerary
• Sightseeing In Łódź