Łódź

Łódź mill palaces and ghetto memorials

Give Łódź two days. Arrive at Łódź Fabryczna and walk Piotrkowska from Plac Wolności, ducking through gateways to see courtyards and murals, then explore Manufaktura, the converted mill complex. Spend day two on the city's wartime and industrial history, from the Radegast station memorial to the Old Jewish Cemetery.

Head south past the Walk of Fame stars and the grand facades of the old merchants' houses, ducking through gateways to see the courtyards and murals behind them. Lunch at a pierogarnia, then walk west to Manufaktura for the ms² gallery and the Poznański Palace, home of the city museum. Spend the evening in the courtyard bars of OFF Piotrkowska.

Start at the Old Market Square and the Decalogue Memorial in Staromiejski Park, both inside the area of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, the second largest in occupied Poland. Take a bus to Radegast station, where the deportation trains left, and continue to the Old Jewish Cemetery, one of the largest in Europe; allow time to walk its avenues of tombs. In the afternoon, head to the south end of Piotrkowska and Księży Młyn, where long brick terraces of mill workers' housing still stand beside the factory they served.

Pierogarnie, OFF Piotrkowska and late bars

Łódź eats internationally, and for cheap Polish food you head to a pierogarnia, a dumpling shop, for pierogi with meat, cabbage and mushroom or sweet fillings. Book a proper restaurant for a full Polish dinner, then go out: nightlife is the city's strong point, around Piotrkowska, OFF Piotrkowska and Kościuszki Avenue.

The answer is a pierogarnia, a dumpling shop, of which the city has many: pierogi filled with meat, cabbage and mushroom, or curd cheese and potato, at prices well below a restaurant meal.

They are expensive only by local standards, and mid-range places along and just off Piotrkowska do the classics well. Courtyard kitchens at OFF Piotrkowska, in a former cotton mill, mix burgers, street food and craft beer.

Piotrkowska and Kościuszki Avenue, with the streets that link them, hold dozens of pubs and bars within a few minutes of each other. In summer the square at Manufaktura hosts concerts and festivals, and its restaurants stay busy into the evening. Go out late: things rarely get going much before ten.

Four Cultures, Light Move and grey winters

Łódź has cold winters, with January highs near 1°C, and warm summers of about 25°C in July and August, when the rain peaks. May to September is the best time, and the festival calendar is the real reason to time a visit: Four Cultures celebrates the city's past, and Light Move fills the streets with light.

May to September is the time for courtyard bars and the long walk down Piotrkowska.

The Łódź of Four Cultures Festival in September celebrates the Polish, Jewish, German and Russian communities that built the industrial city, with concerts, theatre and exhibitions. On the last weekend of September the Light Move Festival turns façades along Piotrkowska into screens for projections and light installations over several evenings, drawing big crowds after dark. The city's film links run deep too, and the National Film School has trained directors such as Polański and Wajda, both honoured on the Walk of Fame.

Winter is cold and grey, but Manufaktura's covered shopping streets, the museums in the mill owners' palaces and the ms² gallery fill a short day well.