Places to see in Lodz – according to Lodz bloggers!

We are proud of our city, which is changing, developing and becoming more beautiful by the day. You are cordially invited to Lodz, and to encourage you even more we asked several Lodz bloggers to show how beautiful our city is and what is a must-see here!

Lodz is undergoing a major overhaul, developing and becoming more attractive and friendly not only to investors, but also to tourists. Piotrkowska is once again bustling with activity, on weekends it’s hard to walk between strollers and hard to find free seats in the gardens. New creative venues for young, enterprising people are being created, old buildings are being revitalized, and new attractions are opening up for large and small…

We have already written about Lodz in our TOP 10 attractions in Lodz summary. This time, however, we will focus on places recommended by other Lodz bloggers (although we couldn’t resist adding a few words of commentary from ourselves). We will show you how many interesting and interesting places you can find in Lodz and how best to spend your time here.

We invited well-known bloggers from Lodz and the surrounding area to help us compile a list of the more and less famous places that you absolutely must see. We asked you to nominate up to 5 places from each category, and we chose the most interesting contributions (which doesn’t mean the only ones, because we got a bunch of suggestions!).

Take a short tour of Lodz, after which I hope you will have no doubt that Lodz is a city you absolutely must visit. You can also find all the places described below on our map, at the very bottom of the post.

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Places to see in Lodz

If you come to Lodz by train, make sure that your destination station is the Lodz Fabryczna station – its construction consumed not only a lot of money, but also many, many nerves of residents ;) In the end, the effect is delightful and it was worth the wait.

Then, since you have arrived in Lodz, you will probably direct your first steps to Manufaktura or Piotrkowska Street (a pedestrian zone) – these are two of the most popular places in Lodz. However, let’s start with the former…

Manufaktura

The brick buildings of Manufaktura are not just a shopping mall and restaurants. It is primarily the beautifully restored and arranged post-industrial buildings of Izreal Poznanski. How did this happen? This question is answered by Sonia and Adam, authors of The Rowan Blog: A resident of Lodz attracted sponsors from Switzerland to the city and convinced them that restoring the former lands and factories of Israel Poznanski would be a business hit. And so a shopping and service center was built on the site of the factory, boiler plant and other buildings. All the buildings have been restored, and tourists visiting the city can see for themselves what Lodz’s wealth once looked like.

Manufaktura now houses the Museum of Art (MS1) with a collection of 20th and 21st century art, the Factory Museum showing the history of the textile mills, the Experimentarium where science is fun, the Stratosphere with 20 climbing walls, a children’s playroom, cafes, a movie theater, a bowling alley and many restaurants. Attractions for young and old guaranteed.

There is also an Andel’s hotel in the Manufaktura area, which is a must-see because, as Ula from the Galanta Lala blog argues, it is a An infinitely beautiful combination of a grim memento of the collapse of Poland’s textile industry with hope for New and Better. A symbol of old and new Lodz. Hotel, monument and art gallery in one. A place that, while in Lodz, you simply have to see. Ula also stresses that Garden Street, where the hotel is located, is a place – a showcase, Because here you can best understand the climate of this city. Such is Lodz. An ambitious child with a difficult start.

On the other hand, Monika from the blog The boss’s right hand encourages you to take a look at the right next door the beautiful palace of Israel Poznański with the Museum of the City of Lodz, where you can learn about the history of Lodz, but also phenomenal collections about great citizens of Lodz. Monica also recommends a distance from the city center Herbst Palace, about which he writes: a beautiful Neo-Renaissance villa with beautifully preserved interior furnishings, and right next door in the carriage house building an extraordinary collection of Polish paintings.

There is also an interesting legend associated with Poznański Palace, cited by the authors of The Jarząbki Blog: tells the story of how Poznanski wanted to line the floor of one of the halls with Russian rubles. Poznansky had to get permission, because depending on how the coin would have been placed the image of the tsar or the emblem of Russia would have been trampled. Interestingly, the tsar agreed to lining the floor with rubles, but on the condition that the coin be staked. Today, none of the halls have a ruble, but the story is meant to illustrate how rich Israel was.

Piotrkowska Street and surroundings

Piotrkowska probably does not need to be introduced to anyone? The facades of the townhouses are becoming beautiful before your eyes, but that’s not all. To see even more just take a look at some of the courtyards, including the most beautiful Rose Passage!

The courtyard at 138/140 Piotrkowska Street, under the name: Off Piotrkowska, which is another example of how post-factory buildings can be used (the place once housed Franciszek Ramisch’s cotton factory), has a completely different atmosphere.

Piotrkowska has its beginning at Liberty Square, and from there it is not far to Herring Park and the Old Market Square, which, unusually for Polish cities, is not at all the showpiece and most well-kept place in the city. But how to make residents come willingly to this square? Such as hanging an installation of rainbow ribbons. Seemingly simple, and what an effect :)

On the map of Lodz, the new center of Lodz with EC1 at the forefront, which can be found east of Piotrkowska Street, is beginning to make its mark just as clearly. What is EC1 Lodz? It was a power plant in Lodz, one of the largest in Poland, and after revitalization and expansion, the EC1 complex is an educational and cultural center. Here you will find the Science and Technology Center and Planetarium, which was ranked number one in National Geographic’s 7 Wonders of Poland!

A little further…

Places that are a bit far from the center, but worth noting include:

Księży Młyn – another example of giving a second life to deteriorating buildings. Once textile mills and famers for workers right next to which were a hospital, a school, a fire station building – almost a city within a city, all so that industrial workers would be closer to work and more attached to Scheibler’s company.

White Factory with the Lodz Open AirMuseum of Wooden Architecture and the Central Textile Museum. As Kasia of the Kasia Sarna blog points out, the museum perfectly captures the atmosphere of old Lodz, when the textile industry flourished. It houses a permanent exhibition on 20th century fashion and numerous temporary exhibitions. The open-air museum, meanwhile, features a beautiful summer villa that once belonged to a Jewish industrialist, as well as several wooden workers’ buildings furnished with 19th-century family equipment.

Marta from Fabryczna.in also encourages you to visit Art_Inkubator – a space for creative people in a former factory, a beautiful example of Lodz’s revitalization.

Places off the beaten track

And where to go if we want to see something less known, places off the beaten track, outside the guidebooks? Below are some truly unorthodox suggestions:

• We, for our part, recommend tours in the footsteps of Lodz murals. You can on your own, or take advantage of organized, free tours. The murals add color to the city, are memorable and make even the most squalid tenement houses eye-catching.
• Marta from Fabryczna.in encourages you to go a step further than just walking along Piotrkowska Street and peeking into backyards, but to enter staircases, where real gems are hidden: plenty of Lodz backyards and staircases are worth a visit, such as the staircase of the Gutenberg tenement house, the staircase of the Scheibler tenement house.
• David, author of the blog Hegemon’s World, recommends the sand mine on the Slopes (it’s for the brave, and you’ll read why already on David’s blog :-)). David also recommends the Old Cemetery in Lodz on Ogrodowa Street – the Protestant part, one of the most beautiful Polish necropolises.
• Another cemetery is also worth a look – the Jewish Cemetery on Bracka Street – an unusual place, one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe, beautiful tombstones and a testimony to the memory of the Lodz Ghetto massacre – this is how Monika writes about this place.
• Sonia and Adam’s suggestions are also very interesting, such as the Radogoszcz Martyrdom Ward, which they write about: The story of a former factory in Lodz, which was turned by German authorities into a transitional camp where Lodz intelligentsia and prisoners who committed crimes against the interests of the Third Reich were placed. (…) every day as a result of hunger, disease, exhaustion and sadistic abuse by the Wachmans, prisoners died here. In 1945, a massacre took place here as German troops withdrew from the Polish territories. Several hours before the Red Army entered, the Germans closed and set fire to the camp along with the inmates. Thirty people survived the slaughter. Today, several people are still alive.
• The Litzmannstadt Ghetto (Lodz Ghetto), one of the largest that existed in Poland, is another suggestion from the authors of The Jarzabki Blog: Today you can stroll through the Baluch streets and see some of the remnants of the Lodz ghetto. There aren’t many old walls or masonry anymore, but a few still survive.
  
• If you would like to see the real Lodz as it is, Ula has an interesting suggestion for you: Polish Army! – One of my favorite places in Lodz. Before you head there, be sure to check out Lukasz’s photos from Bałuty – the beauty of this place is strongly out of the ordinary. Wojska Polskiego Street has its own time zone and is a little nowhere. “Cinnamon Shops” in the adult version with stinky gates and a sidewalk that would make Indiana Jones breathless. For me, a naturalized Latvian, Woja Polaka is the quintessential “Lodzism.”
• And Asia, from the blog With a Cup of Coffee, recommends the Lublinek charmer, which is also a great option when it comes to active recreation, especially on beautiful summer weekends.
• A place that is definitely off the beaten track, which we had no idea about because it’s not our subject matter, however, is the Lodz Meditation Center, on Kopernika Street, which we learned about from Kasia: every day, in a joyful atmosphere, there are classes devoted not only to meditation, but also to vegetarian cuisine, mandala drawing, Ayurvedic knowledge, yoga, etc. Everyone is welcome.
• Finally, one more suggestion we would like to add from our side: Survivors Park and The Dialogue Center named after him. Edelman Brand – full of symbolism moving place that is an amazing history lesson.

Where is the best place to spend time with a child?

We couldn’t leave out places to see with children. We are just getting started and as Olive grows we are getting to know and discover new places on the map of Lodz.

For the time being, we are focusing on green areas, which are abundant in Lodz. Our city has plenty of parks and squares and, in addition, the largest forest within the city in Poland, and we are talking, of course, about Lagiewnicki Forest along with Arturówek. A stone’s throw away is still Julian Park, also an interesting option. Both areas are ideal places for picnics, active cycling or walking.

If we’re already writing about green spaces, we can’t leave out the Lodz Zoo, which Gabriela of the Colorful Soul blog recommends. And while we’re in the zoo area, it’s worth combining it with the botanical garden and park on Zdrowie, where, admittedly, we will no longer see the old, slightly scary roller coasters and merry-go-rounds in the funfair, but in their place a Recreation, Leisure and Animation Center has been built with a playground, climbing wall and street workout equipment. In addition, next door is the Fala aquapark, full of water attractions for children (including several paddling pools for the smallest children). These places are recommended, among others, by Isabella from the blog Pinch About Me.

Older children are sure to enjoy the Science and Technology Center and the aforementioned Planetarium at EC1. It’s also worth taking the little ones to Manufaktura, where the Experimentarium, also mentioned above, awaits them.

An interesting suggestion, with which we fully agree, was chosen for you by Ula: In three syllables Se-ma-for! Instead of telling us that in our time, instead of Pokemons, we were afraid of Bucca, you can take your year-old to meet our heroes. The opportunity to enter Reksio’s kennel, try on the ambiphia of the Wawel Dragon and look at Pikpok in the igloo will remind us that Lodz citizens are not geese and it is not without reason that Tove Jansson personally visited our city.

Active leisure

We also did not forget about fans of active recreation who cannot sit still. Let me start by mentioning that there is a city bicycle in Lodz and you can easily get to many of the places mentioned above with it.

So what do Lodz bloggers recommend for active recreation?

• First of all, the already mentioned green areas such as Lagiewnicki Forest or numerous parks (e.g., in Zdrowie, Poniatowskiego, Staromiejski) and the vicinity of Lublinek.
• Lagiewnicki Forest, on the other hand, is an ideal place for walking, jogging, Nordic walking, cycling, horseback riding, and, in winter, an ideal place for cross-country skiing. There are several bicycle routes and hiking trails here.
• Fans of water attractions, we invite you to Arturówek, where you can swim on water bikes, and to the swimming pool to Aquapark Fala or New Gdynia.
• Monica also encourages people to participate in the Lodz Parkrun or go to the climbing wall in the Sports Bay.

What to bring back from Lodz?

And finally a candy :) We will suggest you what to buy and bring back as a small souvenir from Lodz :) We have some original ideas for you:

• Marta recommends items by Lodz artists, and David recommends cats that can be purchased at Księży Młyn.
• Often recommended by bloggers are Gouda Works’ designs inspired by local color, full of humor that immediately puts a smile on your face.
• From the city that grew out of the textile industry, it is also worth bringing back Lodz tights (with motifs of Lodz architecture) or products of the Pan Tu Nie Stał brand (the store’s assortment refers to past culture, before and after the communist era), Sonia and Adam recommend.
• Also inspired by the past are the original vintage-style clothes that can be found at the 5080st boutique. Peggy’s Boutique recommended by Kasia.

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>>> Polecamy również naszą książkę “Łódzkie dla każdego”! W książce znajdziesz 268 stron pełnych inspiracji, opisów, proponowanych tras zwiedzania, naszych ocen oraz praktycznych informacji. Wyruszaj w drogę i zwiedzaj z nami centralną Polskę! 

Summary

We hope we have encouraged you to come to Lodz. But, but… that’s not all. Another post about Lodz is in the pipeline, this time about restaurants and cafes, which means it’s going to be really sweet already!

And below is the promised map with all the points marked:

We also recommend you our other entry: What to see in Lodz, or our TOP 10 attractions! :)

PS: In this post we have included photos of the bloggers with whose cooperation the text was written.
The main photo is by David from the blog swiathegemon.pl