What's on in Łódź (Lodz), Poland through the year

Quiet — school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Winter smog (1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually))

Busy — Ferie zimowe (winter) holidays in Poland, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Winter smog (1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually))

Busy — Easter break in Poland, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Winter smog (1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Festival

  Łódź Design Festival

  5–25 May · usuallyMajor festival

  Exhibitions spread through the old mill complexes and the art museum, in a city that was built by textile industrialists and is still mostly made of their brick. Central Europe's main design week outside Prague. Source ↗

Busy — Summer holidays in Poland, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Fotofestiwal

  5–25 Jun · usuallyMajor festival

  A photography festival that hangs its shows in the former factories rather than a gallery, so half of it is a tour of buildings you would not otherwise get into. Cheap pass, long weekend. Source ↗

Busy — Summer holidays in Poland, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Busy — Summer holidays in Poland, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Busy — Light Move Festival, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Light Move Festival

  28 Sep – 12 Oct · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  Projections and light installations thrown onto the palaces and tenements down Piotrkowska over one long autumn weekend, when it is dark early enough to work and not yet cold enough to hurt. Free, and the street is shoulder to shoulder. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Light Move Festival, All Saints

• Holiday

  All Saints

  30 Oct – 2 NovNational holidayCrowdedClosures

  Poland travels home on 1 November and the cemeteries fill with candles after dark. Here the one to walk is the Old Cemetery on Ogrodowa, where the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish sections sit side by side. Source ↗

Still on: Light Move Festival (28 Sep – 12 Oct (usually))

Busy — All Saints, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  Winter smog

  1 Nov – 15 Mar · usually

  Coal and wood stoves in the old tenement districts, plus still, cold air over a flat city, put the worst readings of the year here between November and March. It comes in spells of a few days rather than all winter. Source ↗

Still on: All Saints (30 Oct – 2 Nov)

Busy — Christmas break in Poland, school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Winter smog (1 Nov – 15 Mar (usually))