Ludźmierz is located in the Nowotarska Basin, on the bank of the Czarny Dunajec River, two kilometres west of Nowy Targ. It is surrounded by farmland, meadows, and forests on the gentle slopes of the surrounding hills.  The axis of the village is the road from Nowy Targ to Pyzówka. Near Ludźmierz, a unique peat bog vegetation with a swampy variety of dwarf pine grows in the high peat bogs.

In 1333, the village was settled under the Magdeburg law. The founder of the village, a certain Mikołaj Kuznich, was granted the right to clear the forests lying on the Lepietnica Creek and both banks of the Czarny Dunajec and Wielki Rogoźnik. An inn, meat butcheries, a bakery, a shoemaker's shop and a mill were to be built in the village – all of which were to be the emoluments of the mayor. The clerical village of Ludźmierz, owned by the Cistercian abbey of Szczyrzyc, was located in the second half of the 16th century in the Sącz district of the Kraków Voivodeship.

During the partition period, Ludźmierz, together with Krauszów and Rogoźnik, was a separate feudal estate. In 1782, the Josephine reforms confiscated the monastic property in Ludźmierz for the benefit of the Religious Fund. On 7 June 1819, the keys to the Ludźmierz estate wwere won at an auction by Wojciech Przerwę Tetmajer. Between 1824 and 1859, Ludźmierz was owned by the Homolacz family, who came from Hungary. In 1859, the Ludźmierz estate was purchased by Adolf Przerwa Tetmajer through a pre-emptive purchase. Between 1877 and 1883, the process of disposing of the estate continued. Jews from Nowy Targ acquired the manor buildings with gardens and fields.

In 1811, the land of Ludźmierz was divided into 9 peasant farmlands, 1 church farmlands, 1 landowner's farmlands and 4 homesteads. Peasant farmlands were named: Waloszowa, Klejowa, Krasoniowa, Siutowa, Jachymowa, Czajowa, Glistowa, Handzlowa, Parcicowa and Górzowa.

A Cistercian monastery from Jędrzejów was relocated in Ludźmierz. The monastery existed from 1234 to 1245, then moved to Szczyrzyc. The first larch church was covered with shingles; it was dismantled between 1869 and 1877 and a new neo-Gothic church took its place.  In the church, the Rococo altar contains a statue of Our Lady of Ludźmierz – Gaździna and Queen of Podhale. This is the most important Marian shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Podhale and a place of pilgrimage. It was elevated to the rank of basilica minor in 2001. The cult of Mary has thrived here for centuries, and the miracle-making statue of the Madonna dates from around 1400. Władysław Orkan, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer and Jan Kasprowicz wrote about it.

Ludźmierz is also the home village of Kazimierz Przerwy-Tetamajer, who was the prototype for the character of the Poet in Stanisław Wyspiański's drama ‘The Wedding’. His half-brother Włodzimierz Tetmajer was a painter. The Tetmajers moved to Kraków in 1883, and unfortunately, their family home in Ludźmierz has not survived. There is a symbolic grave of the poet in the cemetery.

A tourist trail runs through the village from Szaflary to the Orava Foothills and on to Mt Babia.