Dachau Visit-Recommended Order to Visit

If I plan to do a guided tour I'd do that one first and afterwards explore the areas the guide did not cover and/or that seemed especially interesting to me after being introduced to them by the guide.

Thanks Beatrix! I think we'll plan to arrive around 9-10, reserve for the tour, go see the documentary, then do the guided tour.

Jed

Jed,

When I visited Dachau, I took a day tour with Radius Tours. We travelled by train, and they took care of all the tickets for the train and bus. Upon arrival at the camp, the guide provided a history of the camp and then the group was free to look around on their own in the various buildings. While it's certainly not necessary to take a day trip of this type, I felt it was good value and covered what I wanted to see there, and I felt I learned more than if I had gone on my own.

I strongly recommend taking this tour in order to get the most out of the visit- you will not regret it and it is far better and more thorough and rich than an audio guide and wandering around though you can wander after the tour or get something to eat. You cn reserve in advance. www.dachautours.com

I did the tour a few years ago. I came out from Munich on my own using the S-Bahn and the bus. I had a Gesamtnetz Tageskarte (day ticket for the entire Munich metro district) because I was going out to Freising for the night. I took the guided tour.

I wouldn't recommend doing both the guided tour and the audio guide - I think they would be redundant. Do the guided tour; it will give you interaction with the guide.

My Memorial trained guide was great. She guided us around the entire complex, explaining each area and giving us the history of the camp as we went. She gave us so much information, I couldn't remember it all. She obviously had extensive training from the Memorial. It was a tremendous bargain for 3€.

As for commercial (third party) tours, I know from information previously on the Memorial's website that their own tour guides undergo an extensive training program; commercial guides are only required to attend a "short training course" provided by the Memorial. I doubt that the commercial tour companies provide training for their guides; they probably just hire guide formerly trained by the Memorial itself. What the commercial tours do provide is a guided trip out to the Memorial and back, but you can easily do that yourself.

If you are visiting Munich for the day anyway, you will want to use a Tageskarte. One for the inner zone (Innenraum) costs 6,20€ for a single person, 11,70€ for a group of up to 5 people. A Munich XXL Tageskarte for the inner two zones costs 8,30 single, 14,80€ group. The XXL Tageskarte covers the S-Bahn to Dachau station and the bus (#726) from there to the Memorial. The bus stop at Dachau station is well marked in English. If you leave the Munich Hauptbahnhof S-Bahn station at 8:50, you'll have 10 minutes for get to the bus at Dachau station, and you'll get to the Memorial at 9:28.

Lee, since you haven't gone on one of the "3rd party tours" that you continually bash, you really have no idea whether they are worth it or not. This is only your own personal opinion and not based on any facts.

These guides spend an immense amount of time researching not only the particular KZ, but also the Holocaust itself and all it entails, and they are very passionate about passing this information on to their guests. The time spent on the train going there and coming back is not spent in silence, it is much more than the 4 hours at the KZ. Explanations given that there isn't time to give in the KZ, and questions answered. Try doing that with an audio guide.

Yes, I personally know several guides that lead tours in various Concentration Camps through-out Germany, and what they have studied and learned is far more than just the classes that any of the Memorials offer. It is an ongoing study, interviewing former internees, children of survivors, attending lectures, and reading new material and papers as they get published. Perhaps I am a touch biased, but it angers me to continually read comments that so lightly blow off their deep commitment. It certainly isn't about making a buck, as Lee seems to imply.

Having visited 3 different KZ, 2 of them twice and 1 of them 3 times now, all I can say is that having a guide with you the entire time can be an intense experience and I was glad that I went on these tours. Never, ever, did I feel it was a waste of money.

Rant over.

Thanks all for the info! I think we'll do the tour provided by the camp. Any suggestion on how early we need to get there to sign up for the 11AM tour?

I think your plan to get there between 9 and 10 would be more than adequate. I took the 1 PM tour. I don't remember exactly what time I got to the Memorial, but I had time (at least an hour), but not a whole lot, to get some lunch at the snack bar before my tour.