Downtown Krakow to/from Auschwitz

You want to take a direct bus not the train because the bus drops you off at the entrance and the train doesn’t. I don’t know the exact location on where to catch the bus but Rick Steves Krakow guide book will tell you: https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/poland-guidebook.
You can check your bag when you get there if needed. I arrived at the train station with luggage and took a taxi to the same entrance where the bus will drop you off. I then left my suitcase inside the left luggage building.

Thanks, Mary Pat. So, I take my bag with me on the bus to Auschwitz & then rent a locker there?

No, after you enter Auschwitz you'll see a building on the left where you can drop off your bag. There are no lockers. You'll be given a token and when you return you give the attendant your token.

As of 2018 buses for Auschwitz departed from the Krakow bus station, which was located sort of behind the train station (as you approach from the center of the old town).

I’m in the process of planning the same thing. I’ve looked at tours and they are numerous. Not sure which one to pick if I decide to take a tour.

All tours of the camp/memorial at Auschwitz are conducted by camp personnel. If you take a commercial tour, you will probably be on a dedicated bus and hear some commentary on the way to the camp. Once inside the fence at the camp, you'll have one of the Auschwitz guides. Only you can decide whether the benefits are worth the additional cost. I preferred to travel on my own so I could spend as much time as I wanted at Auschwitz rather than adhering to a bus-tour's schedule.

It's been awhile, but I remember we took a bus and it was as easy as could be. Once there, the tour was absolutely phenomenally done. This was probably the most heart-wrenching place I've ever been, but important to witness. It's a lot of walking, so don't bring more than a small bag.

Thanks to all who responded.

I started doing some research last night. I've got a pretty good idea of all the options available. When I get done researching, I will post a full summary of what I found including web site links. I think this thread could be very useful to other Poland travelers & easy to search for given its "Subject" line.

At the current time, Rick's Poland tour ends at the Hotel Grodek in Krakow. Grodek is within walking distance (.7 miles, according to Google Maps) from the main train station (Krakow Glowny) and the main bus terminal (Krakow Dworzec Autobusowy (MDA)), Very convenient to add options to one's trip.

It's already been said, but I want to make sure you have it unconditionally:

Even "Executive Auschwitz Tour by Mercedes Sedan" is PROHIBITED from accompanying you into the KL. You will join a group of strangers who are conducted by a proprietary guide trained and employed by the facility. You will be with that group for 3 to 5 hours (on my tour, anyway), with perhaps a break before you meet (often) at the proprietary shuttle bus to Birkenau for the final part of the conducted tour. The guide leaves you there, where you can continue on your own, but I don't think you can return to any of the Barracks at Auschwitz, because they are "by guided tour" only.

Heat, sun, or cold can be a significant factor, depending on the weather. In summer, we found the grounds to be very crowded with visitors (despite the difficulty of getting last-minute tickets ... ), so that they guides have trouble keeping to their schedules. We often had to stop to wait for the group ahead of us.

(None of this affects the importance of visiting this site.)

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/four-cities-in-poland-2019

When I get done researching, I will post a full summary of what I found including web site links. I think this thread could be very useful to other Poland travelers & easy to search for given its "Subject" line.

Thank you. Bookmarking for my future trip.

--> PART 1 <--
The main web site for information about Auschwitz is (www.auschwitz.org/en).

Poland does not yet use the Euro. It uses the zloty (ZL, PL). One ZL is worth approximately 25 cents. To quickly convert ZL to $, divide the cost in ZL by 4. Or, divide by 2 and then divide that result by 2.

Auschwitz is located in the town of Oświęcim, or Oswiecim. Oswiecim is about 40 miles from Krakow. Entrance to Auschwitz is via the “Museum” at 55 Wiezniow-Oswiecimia Street in Oswiecim. Backpacks are allowed. There is a paid luggage storage for large bags. A bookshop, restaurant, and (paid) lavatories are also available.

Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau are situated 2 miles from each other. The Museum bus shuttles between each one. Departures from Auschwitz I between April and October are every 10 minutes. Between November and March they are every 30 minutes. No bus fare is required.

All visitors must have a personalized entry pass. Passes are obtained using the web site (visit.auschwitz.org/?lang=en). General tours are 3.5 hours. The visitor chooses a tour language, date, and time. The site allows booking up to 90 days in advance. Admission is free, but there is a charge for a guide. All individuals must tour with a guide. The price for a guide is $22.50 (90 ZL).

There are 3 main ways to travel from Krakow to Auschwitz:

1. By train
2. By bus
3. By all-inclusive guided tour

Each method has its own loading point(s). If you are taking Rick’s Poland tour, the hotel he uses in Krakow at the time of this writing is Hotel Grodek. Grodek is within walking distance of a loading point for every method. Good choice, Rick! Use Google Maps to get directions from Grodek to your loading point.

VisitKrakow (www.visitkrakow.com) has an excellent “How to get there” page:
(www.visitkrakow.com/how-to-get-to-auschwitz-birkenau-from-krakow/)

Train Notes:
1. Trains are run by Polskie Kolege Państwowe (PKP). (www.pkp.pl/en/).
2. Your starting station is “Krakow Glowny”, the main train station in Krakow. Their “buy a ticket” interface will translate that to “Krakow Main Station”.
3. Your final station is “Oświęcim” or “Oswiecim”. Their interface will translate either one of them to “Auschwitz”.
4. One-way ticket price is $5 - $7, depending on the train you take.
5. The Museum is about 1.2M from the Oswiecim train station. You can either walk or take a local bus. Between April and October there is a special "M" line connecting the station with the Museum. The ride takes five minutes and it runs daily from 9AM-4PM. Tickets are available in ticket machines. The cost is about 75 cents each way.
6. All entrance tickets to Auschwitz are time-stamped. Taking the train requires making two connections, which may cause delays. Arrival later than your ticket’s entrance time could be problematic.

Bus Notes:
1. The main bus station is “Dworzec Autobusowy”, or “MDA”. (mda.malopolska.pl/en/for-passengers/bus-station-in-cracow/index.html).
2. Their “purchase a ticket” interface is located at (www.pks.pl). Tell your browser to translate to English because they do not offer an English version.
3. The interface is not very intuitive. Use “K” in the first box to get a drop-down menu of starting locations. Choose “Crakow”. Use “O” in the second box to get a drop-down menu of ending locations. Choose “Auschwitz”.
4. Ticket price one-way is about $5. Travel time is about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
5. Make sure your bus goes all the way to the Museum and doesn’t terminate in central Oswiecim.
6. All entrance tickets to Auschwitz are time-stamped. If the bus line has delays, you may arrive after your entrance time. That could be problematic.

--> PART 2 <--
All-Inclusive Guided Tour Notes:
1. The web site (www.GetYourGuide.com) offers many tour company selections.
2. GetYourGuide does not run the tour. It is an online marketplace for booking tours & attractions. If you have a problem, you have to deal with the tour operator, not GetYourGuide.
3. Search for "Auschwitz" and sort the results by price, low to high.
4. Watch who is running the tour, the “Activity Provider”, at the top of each tour's page. Look at the rating & the # of reviews.
5. Look for highly-rated providers who have a large number of reviews. Calculate the percentage of 1-star reviews. 10% or less 1-star reviews is not an issue, IMHO. Some people love to complain. At the time of this writing, tour providers “KrakowBooking” and “SuperCracow” meet these criteria.
6. Look at some of the “lowest rated” reviews to see if the reviewer has a valid complaint or is just a “chronic complainer”.
7. Some tour dates & times fill early. It’s best to book early once you know your preferred date & time. Prices can vary significantly, so it pays to shop. Be careful of what’s included in the tour & what’s not: hotel pickup, transportation only, guide only, transportation & guide, and/or optional lunch. Some tours offer discounts based on time (discounts for early departure).
8. Also watch on the booking screen if it says “Your departure time is not guaranteed”. Critical if you plan other activities that day.
9. Watch the pickup times & the # of pickup points. If a tour leaves at 6 AM, you will have to eat breakfast at 5 AM! The more pickup points a tour has, the more you will be driving around Krakow loading people instead of heading towards Auschwitz.
10. When you consider the price of a guide and the bus or train transportation costs given above, the all-inclusive guided tour option is a bargain. Plus, all the planning and logistics are already done for you. Some tours can be obtained for as low as $14 – read & be aware of the conditions.

In Polish, Oświęcim is pronounced very closely to “Auschwitz”, hence the (German) name of the camp

Out of interest, does Oświęcim really sound so similar to Auschwitz to English speakers? To me they are two completely different words.
Wikipedia has both pronounciations, Polish and German: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%C5%9Bwi%C4%99cim

Obviously everybody in Poland knows where Auschwitz is so they will direct you to the right place, but the advice that the town of Oświęcim is called/pronounced as Auschwitz is wrong and may lead to some nasty comments.

Good point. The source where I obtained that comment had them sounding much closer. But I trust Wikipedia more. I've removed that comment.