A week after arriving home, we’re still talking about things to do in Lodz – if we ever go back. This unusual city has a may be worth a second visit, even if the Hollywood Vampires aren’t playing. Łódź lacks the history and charm of its more popular sister cities, but we still feel like there’s more to see.
These are the sights and activities we would do next time.
Radegast Station and the Jewish Cemetery
Radegast Station carries a weight that few places manage to hold onto so plainly. Originally built between 1926 and 1937, it became the collection point used to transport Jews from the Łódź Ghetto to the extermination camps during the Holocaust, with roughly 200,000 people passing through between January 1942 and August 1944.
The station now forms part of the Łódź Museum of Independence, with a 140-metre memorial tunnel added in 2005 to mark those who were deported. The Jewish Cemetery sits just across the road, one of the largest in Europe, and together the two sites make for a sobering but necessary stop on any visit to the city.
Lodz: Jewish Heritage Private Tour
This 4-hour private walking tour explores over 300 years of Jewish history in Łódź, with hotel pickup and a guide in English, German, Russian, or Polish. It focuses on key Jewish heritage sites, including the Litzmannstadt ghetto area, Radegast Station, and the largest Jewish cemetery in Poland, while also explaining the Holocaust and the city’s pre-war Jewish community.
The tour is designed as a fully private experience and includes free cancellation up to 24 hours before start, plus reserve-now-pay-later flexibility. It also passes other notable landmarks such as the Children’s Martyrdom Monument, the Survivors’ Park, and Piotrkowska Street, giving a wider view of Łódź’s history and memory sites.
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Pierogarnia i Garmaż Smak
If you want pierogi made the way a Polish grandmother would make them, this is apparently the place. So much so, they don’t even have a website or social media presence. Reviewers describe traditional recipes, a rotating list of daily specials and a loyal local following rather than a tourist crowd.
The one catch is that you buy the pierogi raw or lightly prepared and boil them yourself at home, which is no bad thing if, like us, you stay at the Piotrkowska Apt apartment comes with a proper kitchen. There is something appealing about picking up a bag of handmade pierogi on the way back from a day of sightseeing and turning your evening into a small cooking project.
Lodz: Traditional Polish Food Tour
This 3.5-hour guided food and sightseeing tour in Łódź’s Old Town takes you to three carefully chosen local venues to sample traditional Polish dishes, including dumplings, meats, soup, dessert, coffee or tea, and a drink such as beer or a soft drink. Along the way, your guide also shares Polish food traditions, customs, and the cultural meaning behind different dishes.
The experience is designed as a private group tour and includes skip-the-line entry, with English, Polish, German, and Russian available. It also offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure, plus the option to reserve now and pay later.
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Forest Escape
This might be one of the most striking escape experiences we have come across anywhere. Set across several thousand square metres of a former holiday camp in woodland outside the city, Forest Escape lets small groups roam between abandoned buildings and forest paths as part of the story, with games playable by day or after dark for a noticeably different atmosphere.
The reviews we’ve read mention live actors, genuinely large play areas and puzzles built around exploration rather than simple lock-and-key logic. All six games work together into one over-arching story, world-building on a large scale. Unfortunately the games are not wheelchair accessible, so we had to give this one a miss. Łódź seems to be overlooked by most tourists, and it feels like Forest Escape is just as overlooked by escape room fans who never make it to the very centre of Poland.
Final thoughts
Gdańsk and Wrocław are probably still our favourite Polish cities. But if we’re ever tempted back to Central Poland for another concert, at least we know there are still some interesting things to do in Lodz next time.
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