I saw a few other posts but they were closed because old.
Has anyone done the study tour within the last year? I am dedicating a full day for Auschwitz in September and already planning to get ticket directly from museum and go by train or bus.
Does the tour have a break for food? I understand I would need bring my own as snack shop there limited.
What do you think it is the main difference between the regular 3 1/2 he tour? More building access? Smaller group, etc?
Thank you.
I am undecided between the 6 hour guided study tour, OR doing the general 3.5 hour tour at 1pm and getting a self guided ticket for 5pm (earliest available time in September).
From what I read, the Auschwitz 1 feels rushed on both tours, so it may make more sense to get the 3.5 general tour+self guided. But the 6 hour gives you access to other buildings at Birkenau. But I just read the "sauna" is closed as of January 2026 and not sure if it will open by then. I also read somewhere the "kabana" was closed.
Any thoughts?
Look up (internet) sunset for your date before counting on 5PM and onwards. Also check the cafeteria hours, since you want to allocate your time carefully. We had a full hot meal there, cafeteria style. (We did the regular 3.5 hour tour.) That quick meal was possible because there was a gap between our (first) Auschwitz tour, and meeting the guide at the (proprietary) shuttle bus to Birkenau.
I presume you read this on their site:
• One or two-day study tours (6 hours or 2x3 hours):
Specialist tour of the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps, enhanced with selected national exhibitions, the area of so-called Kanada, and the ruins of gas chambers and crematoria IV and V.
It seems to me that if you are allocating the whole day, you'd take the longer tour. It may take a strong constitution to see so many horrors for a full day. The mention of "national exhibitions" suggests that some of the extra buildings are some of the densely packed barracks that display material most relevant to specific countries or oppressed groups. They can't be entered except with a guide, AFAIR. I would expect a great deal of walking.
I have not read anyone's personal report of the Kanada area. But I think there would be something online. Even on the 3.5 hour tour, you will be shown some behind glass displays of (bulk) confiscated property and personal effects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanada_warehouses,_Auschwitz
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/poland/6-hour-one-day-study-tour-at-auschwitz
Thanks. Sunset is at 7pm and the 5pm entry would be to just revisit some areas in Auschwitz 1 that were rushed during the 3.5 hour guide tour. It might also be moving to feel the area when sun is going down. I can't imagine doing it in winter and imagining all those individuals with no shoes and no proper winter clothing.
The 6 hour tour (I only have one day so can't do the 2 day option) starts at 9:30am so would be a very early start for me from Krakow, which is fine. If I do this one, I'm planning to bring a packed sandwich and eat during the quick break between Auschwitz 1 and Birkenau.
Just a thought. I haven’t been to Auschwitz yet (headed there next fall), but I found when I went to Dachau that the emotional toll was greater than I had anticipated. I could never have made it through 6 hours. You know yourself best, but don’t discount this aspect of the experience and how it may make you feel.
Hi Carol - I hear you. One can never be fully prepared for those emotional and intense sights. I went to Dachau MANY years ago, and more recently to Hiroshima. I expect a heavy day reason I'm dedicating a full day for Auschwitz/Birkenau. I'm in my late-40s and go on a trip (with some historical focus) every year on my own (no husband, kids, family or friends - just me).
I'm inclining to go early afternoon with the 3.5 hour guided tour with a 5pm self guided ticket for afterward so I can take the time on my own to revisit some areas and process all of it on my own. I'll try for a Tuesday visit (I could go Monday or Tuesday in early September) in hopes to be less packed.
The study tour definitely would bring more content and visit to extra buildings, but I think some might even be closed. I sent a message to the museum and will report back if I hear from them.
Today marks the day in 1945 that Auschwitz was liberated by the 322nd Rifle Division of the Soviet Red Army and its horrors were confirmed before the eyes of the world. Please remember the millions who were murdered by the Nazis and why “Never Forget “ resonates perhaps more today than ever before. May their memory be a blessing.
Got this response from the museum: “The Sauna building should be reopened to visitors in the coming days. Its closure was due to the events of the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the camp, which were held in the Sauna building.”
We did the 6 hour study tour last fall. Smaller group size, slower pace, see more sites, spend more time at the camp. That's the reasons to do it.
They gave us 30 minutes for lunch on our own, we brought snacks and augmented with the cafeteria, then you go wait for the shuttle buses to Birkenau. You don't need to bring food for lunch if you don't want to as the cafeteria has plenty. The reason to bring your own is to save money or give you options other than the cafeteria food.
Thanks for sharing Mike. All great information to have.
As my husband remembers the liberation, he didn't want to go, so I went alone. I took the regular tour, and for me, it was more than enough. Some of the exhibitions (of shoes, household items, luggage) and photos of some of the victims were gut-wrenching, but also very similar to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, so I felt that I had already seen that. I'm not sure I could have endured much more, so the 3 1/2 hour tour was enough for me, but the tour felt rushed -- it kept moving; there was no real time to stop and think. It felt like we were herded through the buildings. This was especially unfortunate in that the place was mobbed in June (maybe not so much in September, but I doubt it); it was hard to hear the guide and the group kept moving single file and splintering, so some of us missed a good bit of the guide's presentation. There is an adequate snack bar/cafeteria type place to eat. Unless you require something special or really need to eat a bigger meal at midday, I'd say it's adequate. The real question is will you have any appetite at all half way through the day?
As wanderlust implied the biggest complaint with the regular tour is 2 fold
1) It's luck of the draw on who your guide will be. Some are very good, some are so-so. The study tour guides are the better guides.
2) The biggest complain is the rushed pace of the regular tour, many complaints online about not being able to read anything or look long enough. The normal tours have large groups, more than once I saw members of a group standing outside a building waiting for their turn to go inside as the group single files through a building like a conga line. The people are listening to the guide on their headsets describing something inside while they are outside. On the study tour our group was small enough that we all always fit in the building and stood there looking at what the guide was talking about and we could ask questions, and the guide often asked if there were questions before we left a building.
Thank you Wanderlust and Mike.
I am debating getting the study tour (down side is early train out of Krakow), or doing regular tour around 1pm and getting a non-guided ticket at 5pm so I can return to Auschwitz I to revisit areas that were rushed.
I have a medical condition that I need small snack/bite every few hours. I always carry protein bars but good to know there is a good cafeteria and time for eating, even if my apetite may not be the best.
