Łódź – the Promised Land

Located just an hour from Warsaw, Lodz is the fourth largest and currently the fastest changing city in Poland.

It literally exploded in the 19th century, when its population grew 600 times. Such rate of population growth was unseen anywhere else in Europe at the time as it was almost 4 times higher than the rate of such rapidly expanding cities as Manchester or Hamburg.

In its heydays, Łódź was called the “Promised Land” – the Polish embodiment of the “American dream”. People were coming from everywhere to find jobs in industry, making the city a melting pot of cultures and languages. Most of its traces remain to this day in the architecture, cuisine and language of Lodz.

This cosmopolitan mosaic ended with the tragedy of the second world war. The Nazis created here the second largest ghetto for the Jewish population after Warsaw. Most of its inhabitants were murdered, but most of the buildings from that time survived.

After WW2 Łódź lost its multicultural flavor but retained its character as an industrial and proletarian city. The latter ended with the collapse of communism in 1989. Having experienced a dramatic rise in the 19th century, recently the city experienced an equally dramatic fall.

Since 1989 the city lost 90% of its industry and 150 000 inhabitants. In early 2000s the city center was crumbling, unemployment rate broke records and Łódź was deterring with its gray and depressing image.

However, Łódź has undergone a dramatic makeover since then. The largest urban revitalization program in Poland is currently being carried out in Łódź.

Gargantuan brick factories have been turned into trendy cultural centres, malls and open monuments. Lavish villas of entrepreneurs who made their fortunes from those factories, are now museums and art galleries.

Derelict buildings are transformed with murals – blind walls of tenement houses in the city center became canvas for artists from all over Europe.

Surprisingly, new Łódź is back and brighter than before, full of colour and art. In recent years it has gained the status and fame of the Polish capital of street art.

Łódź residents do not want to emigrate anymore. The city has a positive migration balance in the 22-32 age range. Today, more young people want to come to Łódź than to leave it.

You can combine this tour with:

How it works?

Duration:
12 hours

Meeting point:
at a place convenient to you: your hotel, airport, train station etc.

Transportation:
private car

Price:
We can go to Łódź and then back to Warsaw by train: 2000 złoty no matter how many participants
By car:
4000 złoty – maximum 3 persons (5-seat car)
4400 złoty – 4-6 persons (mini-van)
5000 złoty – 7-19 persons (bus)
5800 złoty – 20 persons and more

What`s included:
Guiding service
Car service
parking fees

Extra expenses:
Entrance fees (not more than 100 złoty per person)
If we go to Łódź by rail: train tickets

Book:
If you like this tour, just drop me a message with your preferred date and time. Let me also know which transportation option do you choose, how many of you are coming and where are you staying in Warsaw.