7 Best Sights in Excursions from Warsaw, Poland

This model city within a city was founded by the Scheibler and Grohman industrialist families, who were initially competitors but who have been partners and owners since 1921 in the largest cotton mill in Europe. Księży Młyn (or Priest's Mill) was a model industrial village with production facilities, shops, a fire department, hospital, school, railway station, residential quarters for the workers, and the owner's palace surrounded by a park. Today, it serves an interesting mix of new functions: offering luxury suites in the former factory building, a museum in the palace, and poorer housing mixed with artists' studios and galleries in the workers' quarters, where the "gentrification" progresses more slowly.

The palace (Rezydencja Księży Młyn)—called the Herbst Villa or Rezydencja Księży Młyn—under the management of Museum Sztuki, is now open to visitors, who can marvel at the fabulous and expensive taste of the early capitalists. It was home to Edward Herbst, Karol Scheibler's son in law, who lived here with his wife Matylda. In former stables, there is a small but excellent gallery of 19th- and early 20th-century Polish paintings. The palatial villa stands in a lovely, well-kept park, where you can enjoy a cup of tea or a glass of wine; on a cold day, drinks and snacks can be had under the roof, in the winter garden.

One of the best art collections in Poland specializes mostly in modern avant-garde and contemporary art—both Polish and international. It originated as an artists' museum in late 1920s. The present building is too small to exhibit the whole collection, so only a selection is shown. Plus, you can always count on an interesting temporary exhibition. In 2008, the museum expanded to its current location within the Manufaktura complex (a former historical Poznański cotton mill). It is now referred to as ms2, as opposed to the original ms1 in Więckowskiego street nearby (with about a 10-minute walk between the two).

The Pałac Poznańskiego, another grand home of another of Łódź's major industrialist families, is now the city's main museum. The opulent neo-baroque residence itself is magnificent. It is said that when the architect asked his client what style he would like for his residence, the latter replied: "Why, dear sir, all of them, of course! I can afford all!" There is nothing minimalist about the structure. Among the exhibits are memorabilia of famous Łódź citizens, including English-language writer Jerzy Kosiński (born in Łódź in 1933, died in New York in 1991) and Arthur Rubinstein, a great Polish-American classical pianist (1887–1982).

This impressive collection of both machines and textiles is an important record of the industry that make Łódź the city it is today. Many of the displays are interactive, making the sightseeing fun for kids and for adults, too. The museum is housed in the Biała Fabryka Geyera (Geyer's White Factory). In this very building, in 1839, the first steam engine in Poland was launched. The Textile Museum organizes the International Triennial of Tapestry (the 15th edition took place in 2016).

Łódź's main boulevard is lined with shops, cafés, cinemas, galleries, bars, and clubs. And to think that in the mid–19th century it was a road leading through the woods. Today Piotrkowska is the longest street (with the longest uninterrupted line of buildings) in Europe, but if you get tired of walking, you can always take a rickshaw or a "retro streetcar." Along the street, you will find benches with life-size statues of famous Poles: poet Julian Tuwim, novelist Władysław Reymont, and pianist Artur Rubinstein. Since 2015, the courtyard at number 3, the Passage of the Rose, features an installation made from shattered mirrors by Polish artist Joanna Rajkowska. Much further up—and many lovely facades later—you get to OFF Piotkowska at number 138/140, an enclave of cool bars, shops, and designer studios.