Full day Auschwitz and salt mine tour

I can’t imagine adding the Salt Mines to the Auschwitz tour. You will be emotionally spent after the Auschwitz tour as it is a lot to take in emotionally.

I understand that it is a lot , having visited Dachau a few years ago. That was a full day tour with a certified guide -I believe we were on site in Dachau about 6 hours. However , the best if Poland tour does not visit either of these sites and I only booked the one additional day. If anyone has a recommendation I would appreciate it

Auschwitz is a very hard tour for many to handle. The Salt Mine tour is not. We did both in one day and the distraction after Auschwitz worked for us... time for the brain to relax a little. Many may not agree.

Do you understand that it doesn't matter what company transports you to Auschwitz, but they cannot guide you through the camps? You will join a group (20?) led by a trained member of the memorial staff, and will meet your guide/tour/taxi back outside.

Do get clear whether your tour finishes at Birkenau (transport provided with your admission, and bus back to Auschwitz if desired) so you know how you are meeting your guide. Because Auschwitz normally sells out, find out if your tour is buying the tickets, or if you are buying them yourselves.

We were not trying to do two things in one day, so we hired a car service (from Rick's book) that took us to our 10AM tour, and brought us back to Krakow. Not saying you have to do that, of course it's expensive. I agree that it is such a somber and shocking visit that it could affect the remainder of your day.

Like the others, I can't imagine doing them both in one day. Trying to cover that much ground in one day might best be accomplished privately rather than on a group tour. I know that there several guides on Tours by Locals who will combine both. Search "Krakow" on TBL Here's the first one that popped up. https://www.toursbylocals.com/tours/poland/krakow/tour-details/auschwitz-birkenau-and-salt-mine---full-day-tour-from-krakow-664d270d1bbe5b817c3ea4fc

I booked with Discover Crakow for a tour of Auschwitz back in April that included transportation via minibus and an admission ticket which of course included the tour of both camps. Booking was easy, the transportation was well organized, so I have a positive impression of the company:

https://discovercracow.com/

They also offer a similar package to the salt mine. What they no longer offer is a combined Auschwitz/salt mine tour - the link is stubbed out - which may tell you something about the practicality of that particular package.

They also offer tours by private transfer to each location.

Maybe there is a reason why the tours that visit both locations have mixed reviews. If I was determined to do both, I would opt for a private diver, such as the one linked to above, or one of the guides mentioned in the RS guidebook. It will be a very long day.

Thank you! This information has been very helpful

We were on the RS Poland tour in Sept 2022, and we spent a couple extra nights in Krakow after the tour. I went against most recommendations and booked an all day group tour to both Auschwitz and the salt mines. I’ve cut and pasted my day recap from the trip report I wrote and posted on this forum:
“I had booked an all-day Auschwitz and Wielickzka salt mine tour with MrShuttle (formerly KrakowShuttle) for $87/pp that included pickup and drop-off and a boxed lunch. Our pickup was at 6:45am and we were dropped off around 6pm that evening. We rode in a compact bus that fit about 25 people. Our driver/guide would walk us to the entrances of each venue and then turn us over to the local museum guide, leaving us with instructions of how to find the bus when returning. It was a very professional operation, and I would recommend this MrShuttle tour to others who are trying to fit in these two must see sights in a one-day efficient manner. The morning drive to Auschwitz was around 2 hrs and we watched an intense documentary video containing actual footage from when the soviets liberated the camp. We had a 2hr guided tour of Auschwitz I museum, then reboarded the bus for a quick transfer over to Auschwitz II Birkenau Camp for another 1hr guided tour with the same guide. Our tour in Auschwitz I included walks through 4 or 5 of the Block building exhibits (we did not visit any of the National Memorial Block buildings), and then ended with a walk through the crematorium. The tour in Auschwitz II Birkenau only covered a walk up the rail line to the ruins of the crematoriums, a walk back up the left side of the memorial back to the guard tower, and a walk through one restored sleeping barrack building. We returned to the shuttle drop-off area for Birkenau where there was a café and pay restrooms, and we were given our sack lunch and about 30min to eat and rest before the next leg of our tour to the Salt mine. Our sack lunch was more than adequate including a bowl of chicken pasta salad, a thin baguette sandwich with cheese and ham, a wafer cookie, an apple and a bottle water. We reboarded the bus and had a quiet 1.5 hr drive to Wielickzka (we napped). At the Salt mine we had a quick bathroom break before being turned over to our local guide who was very good (one of the managers). The salt mine tour lasted close to 2-2.5hrs long, lots of walking. I’ve been in cave tours before, but this was my first salt mine, and I greatly enjoyed all the carvings and rooms throughout that we visited. We got slightly lost finding our way back to the bus at the end of the tour, but I think we all made it back. The drive from the salt mine back to Krakow was a quick 30min, and we were each dropped up as close as possible to our hotels around 6pm. Many warned us that combining these two sights into one day would be too much and too emotional; and while I admit it was a long day and a lot of walking, I felt that it was an efficient way to see both still allowing us to maximize the time spent in Krakow. Of the two sites, I enjoyed our tour of the Salt mine more, as I felt that I would have benefitted from more independent time in Auschwitz to explore more of the Block buildings and barracks for better context than what we saw in our quick visits.”

Thank you so much! I appreciate all the info and suggestions

I've been researching that same schedule, and have had Krakow Discovery recommended.
https://www.krakowdiscovery.com/auschwitz-salt-mine-tour/
I came to the forum here because I've been looking for feedback from people that have done this tour. I'm still in the middle of researching them, but they look promising so far.

Any further reports on the combined Auschwitz/Salt Mine Tour? Has anyone had good or bad luck with a particular company this summer?

We did do a salt mine Auschwitz one day tour. We booked with “choose Cracow” . We only had one extra day after our RS tour and we wanted to see both these sites. Our RS guide, Tomasz, told us that a lot of the companies take your money and then the day prior to the trip cancel because they didn’t book the tickets for Auschwitz in advance. He urged us to ask for the tickets with our names on them in advance. Christopher at choose Cracow replied to my outreach almost immediately saying he had the tickets from when we reserved and that they would be provided at Auschwitz. The company reached out the day before with the exact location for pick up (about 7:20 am). We went to the salt mine first and were there about 8:30. Tour lasted maybe an hour/hour and a half and then we had free time for another hour plus. We opted for the box lunch provided by choose Cracow and it was plenty of food for the $10 cost.

Then we headed to Auschwitz. Our admission time was 2:00 pm. After the walking tour we went to birkenau for the final part. We we back to the hotel in krakow around 7:00 pm so about a 12 hour day. Note that any bus tour you take to these sites are just drivers to get you to the location. Both the salt mine and Auschwitz have their own guides that will take you through each site.

I would not choose to do it again all in one day as it was tiring and it was hot being out in the sun as the afternoon went on.

If you must do both sites in one day, choose Cracow did deliver for us.

I understand that it is a lot , having visited Dachau a few years ago.
That was a full day tour with a certified guide -I believe we were on
site in Dachau about 6 hours.

oh my! you spent about 6 hours in Danchu. Which danchu or auschwitz is better recommended? Both are almost the same or different?

May i know how long did you spend at Auschwitz?

Hi Brigitte -so my experiences at both were completely different. The Dachau tour was run by a verified guide who worked for InMunich tours ( https://www.inmunichtours.com/dachau-tour.htm ). We met the guide in Munich and we took the train to Dachau and walked from the train station to the camp. From there we toured all the buildings and were provided a lot of information on the history of the camp from inception through liberation. It was a very heavy tour and at the end our guide took us to the town of Dachau’s volksfest as we were there in August for a beer and pretzel to lighten our mood.

The Auschwitz tour was also done by a certified guide from the camp itself. Our group was handed off to the camp guide who led us through a number of the buildings. The tour there was approximately 2 hours (maybe a little less) and then we were bussed to Birkenau for the final part of the tour (where the same guide met us and provided history and information for perhaps another hour, hour plus). I was shocked at the size of Birkenau as it stretches seemingly into the distance.

It’s not really possible to compare the two sites. They’re all a horrific part of human history . I felt like I learned more at Dachau based on the length of the tour itself

Hello triciabrink14, thanks for your sharing of your experiences. Some people advised me to visit Sachsenhausen or Ravensbrück or Dachau in Germany and drop Auschitwz because my travel itinerary seems a bit rushed. I never knew that there are so many concentration camps in Germany.

To re-clarify that Dachau took about 6 hours while Auschwitz took about 2 hours and Birkenau for another hour.

May i ask how is your experience of Wieliczka Salt Mine tour? It took about a hour and half, correct? Seems interesting from the google.

To re-clarify that Dachau took about 6 hours while Auschwitz took about 2 hours and Birkenau for another hour.

That's an optimistic view of Auschwitz. The Memorial states that the entire tour takes approx 3-1/2 hours, but you're asked to arrive 30 minutes in advance to queue and go through security. Then there is the travel time, which is approximately 90 mins each way from/to Krakow. So it realistically takes most of the day.

6 hours at Dachau is exceptionally long. Most people are there about 2 hours.

Last Saturday we did Auschwitz at 8:30 am followed by a trip to Zakopane. The tour lasted 3.5 hours and they requested we show up a half hour early. I then did the Salt Mine Tour on my own the next day.

Personally, I found it a relief to go somewhere else after the emotionally draining experience of Auschwitz. It didn't feel to me like too much in one day.

Also, note that it is easy to get from Old Town Krakow to the salt mine tour by train. Even though it was the height of summer, I booked same day tickets for the salt mine and took the train for about $6.