Piotrkowska Street

Piotrkowska is the heart of Łódź and runs dead straight for around four kilometres through the centre, which makes it one of the longest commercial streets in Europe. It stretches between Liberty Square and Independence Square. Built up during the nineteenth-century textile boom, it is a continuous parade of eclectic facades raised by the industrialists who made the city.

This is where the character of Łódź is easiest to read. The textile barons built their showpieces here, and the street records the wealth and ambition of a city that grew from a small town to a manufacturing giant in a few decades. It is now the main place to eat, drink and walk in the centre, and the natural starting point for a first visit.

The liveliest stretch is the northern couple of kilometres, now pedestrianised and lined with bars, cafes, restaurants and galleries set into the old merchant houses and their courtyards. Brass stars in the pavement form an avenue honouring figures of Polish cinema, and bronze statues mark the city's famous names, among them the pianist Rubinstein and the poet Tuwim. The best of the street is often in the detail: the upper storeys of the facades, and the inner courtyards behind them, several turned into bar and design enclaves.

The street began as the central axis around which Łódź grew during the textile boom of the nineteenth century, and its shape set the plan of the whole centre. It declined after the Second World War, then was revitalised step by step from the 1990s and turned into a largely pedestrian precinct.

Most visitors walk the central section in an hour or two, dipping into the courtyards as they go. Add time for a meal and for Manufaktura at the northern end. Walking the full four kilometres is possible but few people do; the rewarding part is the pedestrian core.

Warm evenings are when the street is at its most sociable, with the cafe terraces full and the facades lit. Daytime is better for photographing the buildings and reading the detail. Weekends are the busiest. For the full length, rickshaw bikes ply the street, but most people walk.

The street runs through the middle of Łódź and is easy to reach on foot from the main stations. Trams and buses stop around the centre, and the Łódź Fabryczna station is a short walk from the northern end. Fast trains link the city to Warsaw in a little over an hour.

The pedestrian section is broad and mostly level, though some stretches are paved with setts that are uneven underfoot. The courtyards vary; some have steps or rough surfaces. Benches and cafes along the way make it easy to break the walk into shorter parts.

Piotrkowska anchors a walk through industrial Łódź and connects easily to the wider region:

• Manufaktura, the converted mill quarter just off the northern end.
• Warsaw, a little over an hour away by fast train.

It runs about four kilometres in a straight line between Liberty Square and Independence Square, which ranks it among the longest commercial streets in Europe. The pedestrianised core is the northern couple of kilometres.

They form a walk of fame honouring figures of Polish cinema, a nod to the city's long film-making history. Bronze statues along the street commemorate other well-known names linked to Łódź.

No. The pedestrian core in the north holds most of the cafes, courtyards and statues. Walk that section and dip into the yards, then head to Manufaktura at the top.

For more of industrial Poland reborn, see the mills of Manufaktura and the miners' quarter of Nikiszowiec in Katowice.