Lodz All Saints 2026: Free Transport and Cemetery Lines
The essentials: Lodz is the first big Polish city to make All Saints free travel permanent: all MPK rides in zones 1 and 2 are free on every 1 November under a council resolution of 16 September 2026. Cemetery transport builds from 24 October with new special bus C8 and twelve reinforced lines.
Łódź is doing something this All Saints that no other big Polish city matches: rides on the entire MPK network are free on 1 November - not just this year, but every year from now on. A city council resolution of 16 September 2026 wrote the free day permanently into the local transport tariff, and MPK confirmed it on 8 October. Pair that with the cemetery transport build-up that started this weekend, and Łódź's message for the week is simple: leave the car, keep your wallet in your pocket, take the tram.
Here is how the coming days work, and what still has not been announced.
Free on 1 November - permanently
Resolution XXXV/1050/26 of the Łódź City Council (16 September 2026) makes travel on 1 November free of charge every year, in zones 1 and 2 - that is the whole city plus the agglomeration communes the MPK/LTZ network reaches. You do not need any ticket, app or document on the day. Two caveats worth knowing: the waiver covers 1 November only (Monday 2 November, All Souls' Day, is a normal paid working day), and it covers MPK services - trains and private carriers have their own tariffs. On every other day the normal fares apply (a 20-minute ticket is 4.40 zł, 80 minutes 6.80 zł; details in our Łódź tickets and prices guide).
For expats the practical effect is bigger than the few złoty saved: there is no ticket machine queue, no app purchase to fumble in Polish at a crowded stop, and no fine to risk on an unfamiliar network. Łódź is not alone - Poznań, the Silesian GZM, Bydgoszcz, Toruń and several smaller cities waive fares on 1 November too - but it is the first to make the free day permanent in its tariff rather than deciding it year by year. Our free transport on 1 November roundup tracks the other cities.
The cemetery build-up: what runs from 24 October
The roads and transport authority (ZDiT) started the changes early, on Saturday 24 October, precisely so people can tidy graves ahead of the biggest crowds. In service from this weekend:
- New special bus C8 - runs daily from 24 October until 1 November inclusive, from Plac Niepodległości via Starowa Góra and Rzgów to the Dąbrowa terminus, serving the cemetery in Stara Gadka.
- Tram 7 every 10 minutes on Saturday and Sunday, directly linking two big necropolises: the Old Cemetery (Stary Cmentarz) on Ogrodowa street and the Zarzew cemetery on Lodowa street.
- Bus Z6 rerouted for the weekend: every 10 minutes between the Sikawa shopping centre terminus and the Old Cemetery on Ogrodowa, stopping at the Doły cemetery on the way.
- Bigger articulated buses and denser schedules on twelve lines that pass cemeteries: 50AB (Stara Gadka), 52 (Kurczaki), 57 and 60ABCD (Doły), 58AB (Mileszki), 59 and 99 (Radogoszcz), 68 (Ruda), 69AB (Zarzew), 70 (Doły), 81A (Szczecińska and Doły) and 83 (Szczecińska).
What has not been announced yet
As of 25 October, ZDiT Łódź has published only the build-up phase above. The full plan for the peak days - Friday 30 October through Monday 2 November, with the special cemetery lines Łódź typically runs to Doły, the Old Cemetery and Zarzew - is still to come. Expect it in the middle of next week; we will note the essentials when it lands. Other cities publish on the same rhythm: Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk released their full plans on 22-23 October (see our Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk guides), while Warsaw's peak plan is also still pending (Warsaw pre-peak guide).
Getting to Łódź for the weekend
If you are coming from outside the city - Warsaw is the obvious case - the train is the stress-free option: Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna and PKP Intercity services run to Łódź Fabryczna, the underground terminus in the city centre, in roughly an hour and a half from Warsaw. From Fabryczna the tram and bus network fans out to every cemetery named above, and on 1 November none of it costs anything. Łódź makes an easy day trip even outside All Saints week - our Łódź weekend guide covers the city itself, from Piotrkowska street to the factory-loft districts of Księży Młyn and OFF.
The cemeteries worth knowing
Łódź's Old Cemetery on Ogrodowa street (Stary Cmentarz) is one of Poland's great historic necropolises: founded in the 1850s when Łódź was booming into the "Polish Manchester", it holds the mausoleums of the factory dynasties - Scheibler, Grohman, Poznański's rivals and partners - in a mix of Catholic, Evangelical and Jewish sections that tells the city's whole industrial story in stone. The candle-lit All Saints night there is something between a folk festival and an open-air museum. The cemetery's Orthodox section and its war graves add further layers - few places in Poland compress so much of the 19th and 20th centuries into one walled square kilometre. Doły, the largest municipal cemetery in the south of the city, is where most Łódź families go; Zarzew in the north and Radogoszcz (a wartime memorial site as well as a cemetery) complete the main circuit.
The customs are the same as everywhere in Poland: clean the grave, lay chrysanthemums, light a znicz lantern. Sunday 1 November 2026 is a public holiday and shops are closed; Monday 2 November is a normal working day. Our All Saints' Day in Poland guide explains the tradition in full. And a practical point unique to this year and this city: with the whole network free on the Sunday, a "cemetery crawl" across several necropolises costs nothing but time - tram 7 already links the Old Cemetery and Zarzew directly.
Practical notes for the day
- Board through any door. With no fares to check on 1 November, treat every bus and tram like a free shuttle - but expect them to be packed in the middle of the day.
- Go early or late. The peak crush at the big cemeteries is late morning to dusk. Cemeteries open from early morning, and the lantern glow is at its best after dark (sunset in Łódź on 1 November is around 16:10).
- Buy candles before Sunday. Shops are closed on 1 November, so pick up znicze and chrysanthemums by Saturday - stalls appear at cemetery gates, but at holiday prices.
- Watch the zones on other days. The free day covers zones 1 and 2 together, which is unusually generous; on ordinary days a trip out to Rzgów or Stara Gadka needs the right zone coverage, so the C8's route is worth a look at the tariff map.
*Details verified against the MPK Łódź notice of 8 October 2026 (free rides, citing council resolution XXXV/1050/26 of 16 September 2026) and ZDiT Łódź's build-up changes as reported by TuLodz.pl on 21 October and Łódź NaszeMiasto on 22 October 2026. The peak-days plan (30 Oct - 2 Nov) was not yet published when this article went live - check mpk.lodz.pl before travelling. Cover photo: a tram at the Łódź Centrum "unicorn" station, July 2019, by Rakoon (CC0, via Wikimedia Commons). Photo below: All Saints night at the Old Cemetery in Łódź, 1 November 2004, by Konrad Kłoszewski (CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons).*
Frequently asked questions
Is public transport in Łódź really free on 1 November 2026?
Yes - on all MPK lines in zones 1 and 2, with no ticket or document needed. A city council resolution of 16 September 2026 made the free day permanent, so it now applies every year, not just in 2026. The waiver does not cover 2 November or train services.
Which Łódź cemetery lines run on the weekend of 24-25 October?
Special bus C8 (Plac Niepodległości - Stara Gadka cemetery, daily until 1 November), tram 7 every 10 minutes (Old Cemetery - Zarzew cemetery), rerouted bus Z6 every 10 minutes (Sikawa - Old Cemetery via Doły), and reinforced service with articulated buses on twelve cemetery-adjacent lines including 52, 57, 59, 60, 70, 81A and 83.
How do I get between the Old Cemetery and Zarzew?
Tram 7 links them directly - the Old Cemetery (Ogrodowa) at one end, the Zarzew cemetery (Lodowa street) at the other - and ran every 10 minutes on the weekend of 24-25 October.
Has Łódź announced its peak All Saints timetable yet?
As of 25 October 2026, no. ZDiT has published the 24-25 October build-up and the daily C8; the full plan for 30 October - 2 November was still pending when this article was written. Check mpk.lodz.pl in the middle of the week before the holiday.
Do I need a ticket on 2 November in Łódź?
Yes. The free travel covers 1 November only. Monday 2 November (All Souls' Day) is a normal working day with standard fares - 4.40 zł for a 20-minute ticket, 6.80 zł for 80 minutes.
