Places to visit near Łódź

Czesc!! :)

I am going to Łódź for around 4 or 5 days and wanted to take a day trip to somewhere nice nearby, so i just wondered if anyone knows of any nice little towns or villages which are no more than 2 hours on the train? Just somewhere close i could visit, which would give me the real experience of Poland!!
Perhaps somewhere with some Jewish history.

All suggestions would be appreciated, dziekuje!!! :)

Most villages near Lodz are small; I would suggest you go to Warsaw too since it's not too far from Lodz. All in all Lodz as a city isn't very attractive for a general tourist (unless you are related to Jewish history in Poland - and then it could be a must to explore).

Leczyca (Łęczyca) - one hour by train from Lodz. It's a small town with a nice castle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81%C4%99czyca

Aleksandrow Lodzki, 10 km from Lodz

http://www.aleksandrow.ovh.org/?id=galeria

You could see both places in one trip. I've never been there but they are sort of "known" places around Lodz.

Thanks for the advice, i have already been to Warsaw you see and i wanted to try Lodz because of the Jewish history there.

What about the nearest big city? Wroclaw? Lublin?

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Lublin had probably more of Jewish population then Wroclaw but it would take you 6 hrs by train via Warszawa. Wroclaw would take 6
Both are fine and vibrant cities with Wroclaw more cosmopolitan and more of a tourist hub.
Consider also Poznan and Kielce, both about 4 hrs by train OR Torun ab 2hrs.

There are traces of Jewish history all over Lodz. A must-see is Radegast station, from where the Germans sent Polish Jews from the Lodz gettho to concentration camps.
There is also an old synagogue in the centre of Lodz (the only one that's been saved in the war). And I'm sure there are many more places to see, but unfortunately I'm not a guide..
(I will try to find some links tonight and copy them in here..)

As to around Lodz.. I don't know if you'll have a car, but not too far away are beautiful palaces and garden/forrest complexes in Arkadia i Nieborów (you might google them).
If I find info on some other places, I'll also copy the links here.. :)

btw, Łódź isn't really that bad, if you look close enough.. ;-)

thanks a lot for the advice! its very much appreciated! I think i'll probably stay in Lodz and just travel to a couple of towns nearby... i will be visiting Chelmno too...

I'm doing an MA in Holocaust Studies at university you see so everytime i go to Poland i like to visit places connected with the second world war! :)

Don't get to close to Israeli teenagers on school trips, they have own armed security ppl that can get nasty.

:)

Łódź

Jewish cemetery - Bracka street, URL

Now, the above is in English, as is the link below to virtual Lodz. (the link I'm pasting will take you to attractions around Lodz)

URL