Drivers/Guides in Łódź, with day trips to Chełmno, Auschwitz, Przedbórz

Month and year? Daylight length during visit?

Make sure you have tickets for Auschwitz, because they always sell out, in advance. Be absolutely certain who is buying them, YOU, or the guide. Some people have reported failure of tours to acquire the tickets, but these stories are not about private guides like you plan to use. Note that your guide cannot take you through the two camps; Only proprietary guides of Auschwitz can give tours inside the camps.

We found Łódź a very worthwhile and interesting destination, although we only spent one day (by train from Warsaw) there. Google Maps suggests that it is 2.5 hours to Auschwitz, on a good day. We went there from Krakow, also a long drive. Even within Łódź, distances are large. I think our trams to the cemetery took an hour.

This will be in mid-May. Thanks for the Łódź and Auschwitz-specific pointers! Any suggestions for drivers/guides based in Łódź area?

I went to Łódź a couple of years ago and pulled together a sightseeing list that focuses on art, architecture and 20th-century history. Here are the key places on my list; apologies for not having used the full Polish character set:

• Jewish Ghetto (Litzmannstadt): T.O. used to have free booklet, “Jewish Landmarks in Lodz”, with 10-km walking tour.
  
• Stacja Radegast (Radegast Station): Main deportation center to Chelmno and Auschwitz. Has moving memorial. Deportation lists in long concrete tunnel near station and cattle wagons.
• Cmentarz Zydowski (Jewish Cemetery), corner ulica Bracka and ulica. Zmienna: Largest in Europe and with many tombstones of great beauty. Kept locked because of vandalism, but usually someone is present to allow entry. To be safe, old guide book says to ask for key at synagogue and prayer house at ulica Zachodnia 78 before heading out to cemetery. www.jewishlodzcemetery.org
  
• Stary Rynek: Rather forlorn area since city expanded southward long ago.
  
• Manufaktura, ulica Karskiego 5: Shopping/entertainment/office complex in previously abandoned 19C textile mill, now nicely refurbished. Includes a few worthwhile museums. Not sure how active the retail area will be now. www.manufaktura.com
• Muzeum Fabryki (Museum of the Factory), ulica Drewnowska 58: Industrial museum covering textile industry. Less interesting than other Lodz museums. www.muzeumfabryki.pl
• Experymentarium, ulica Drewnoska 58: Hands-on science museum; probably intended to appeal to children. www.experymentarium.pl
  
• MS2 Muzeum Sztuki: Experimental and avant-garde work from 20C and 21C. Housed in an abandoned weaving mill. Old guide book mentioned a good in-house café, but that situation may have changed. www.msl.org.pl
  
• Muzeum Miasta Lodzi (City Museum): Historical material includes coverage of Lodz ghetto. Impressive 19C palace with opulent interior. Temporary modern-art and photography exhibitions on ground floor.
• Detka Canal Tour, Plac Wolnosci 2: Guided tours twice per hour through old brick sewer system. www.muzeum-lodz.pl
• Muzeum Archeologiczne i Etnograficzne, Plac Wolnosci 14
• Uniate Church, Plac Wolnosci: Lovely, domed Greek-cross-plan church.
  
• MS1 Muzeum Sztuki (Museum of Art): Extensive 20C collection in mock-Renaissance palace with stained-glass windows. Poland's best modern-art collection, but sometimes entire museum is showing a temporary loan exhibition. www.msl.org.pl
• Necropolis, ulica Ogrodowa(?): Protestant section has most grandiose memorials.
• Ulica Piotrkowska: Main pedestrian street; recently rejuvenated. Many Art Nouveau facades. Beyond Olympia factory on E side of street are several villas of old industrial tycoons.
• Muzeum Kinematografii, Palac Scheiblera: Housed in palatial home of textile baron. Includes film posters. Ground floor has 19C furnishings. www.kinomuzeum.pl
  
• Ksiezy Mlyn, Palac Herbsta: Branch of Muzeum Sztuki, grand villa built 1875 with interior restored and refurnished. Eclectic décor includes a bit of Art Nouveau. Surrounding area, Ksiezy Mlyn, once was site of model 19C mill town. www.msl.org.pl
• Centralne Muzeum Wlokiennictwa (Textiles): In gorgeous 1839 textile mill. Exhibits machinery, fabric and clothing. Machines run every 30 min? www.muzeumwlokiennictwa.pl
• Muzeum Wlokiennictwa (Textiles), Biala Fabryka: Historic looms and impressive exhibition of contemporary weavings.
  
• Poltex Factory, ulica Zachodnia and ulica Ogrodowa: Mock-Gothic. Still in use.

Thank you for the Łódź recommendations. That is very helpful!

To bring this back to the original post, though, any advice for drivers/guides?