Summer holidays in Łódź: how to enjoy beautiful weather without leaving the city?

Summer in Poland can be unpredictable, but when beautiful days arrive, you don't have to leave the city to make the most of them. Łódź offers many attractions and interesting places where you can enjoy summer leisure in the fresh air. So what should you do in Łódź in summer?

Go to a park

A walk through a park is an underrated form of entertainment, and Łódź has plenty to offer, since the city is full of parks and green spaces. After work, it's worth taking a walk to the nearest park to relax, and on a day off, heading further afield, for example to Park na Zdrowiu or Park Źródliska.
In summer, several Łódź parks (including Park na Zdrowiu, Park Źródliska I, Park Podolski and Park Julianowski) host free, seasonal outdoor yoga classes. The city publishes the exact schedule before the holidays on lodz.pl, so it's worth checking it closer to the time. All you need is a mat, comfortable clothing and a bottle of water.
In the parks you can also watch films under the stars as part of the Summer Film Festival "Połówka", one of the largest open-air film festivals in Poland. Screenings take place at dozens of locations across the city, including Park na Zdrowiu and Park Julianowski, and admission to all screenings is free.
Łódź's parks and squares also have "open-air gyms" that will help you stay in shape.

Go swimming

In summer, Łódź's swimming pools and water parks open their outdoor pools. Aquapark Fala has an outdoor sports pool (25 metres, four lanes, heated water) as well as the largest naturist beach in central Poland: a sandy area enclosed by a wall that shields it from onlookers, available to adults only for an extra fee added to the admission ticket. A seasonal outdoor pool is also opened by Wodny Raj in Teofilów, usually from late June to late August. It's worth checking the current schedule on the MOSiR website, as the indoor pool sometimes has technical breaks during the season.
If you prefer swimming closer to nature, on a hot day it's worth heading to MOSiR Arturówek or MOSiR Stawy Stefańskiego. These are two municipal bathing areas where you can feel real summer in the city without leaving Łódź.

Follow the trail of unique architecture

Once you've rested in the park and cooled off in the water, it's worth heading to the centre to discover the beauty of Łódź's architecture. Łódź has a beautifully preserved 19th-century centre, unique on a European scale: full of tenement houses with stunning details, atmospheric courtyards and factory complexes, most of which have been excellently revitalised.

Discover childlike joy

Looking for summer entertainment for your child? In Łódź you certainly won't be bored. Apart from the pools and bathing areas mentioned above, you can make the most of the good weather at, for example, the Park Linowy Arturówek rope park, where children can burn off energy and practise coordination on routes of varying difficulty. Young fans of rollerblading and skateboarding can head to the skatepark on ul. Legionów, where, with a helmet and protective gear, they can safely practise basic tricks.
If after all the sporting challenges you feel like a walk, it's worth following the Łódź Fairy Tale Trail and looking for the fairy-tale character sculptures scattered around the city, including Wróbel Ćwirek (Sparrow Chirp), Trzy Misie (Three Bears) and Pingwinek Pik-Pok (Penguin Pik-Pok).
A successful day can be topped off with artisanal ice cream, available at many spots across the city. In summer, ul. Piotrkowska also hosts the Łódź Artisanal Ice Cream Festival, where you can sample ice cream from more than a dozen different producers. The exact date of the festival changes every year, so it's worth checking it closer to the holidays on the Łódź City Hall website.