I will be visiting Vienna & taking an overnight side trip by rail to Oswiecim/Auschwitz. Does anyone have experience with staying the night in Oswiecim? The Hotel Galicja looks like the best bet — ie: nicest rooms, restaurant on-site for dinner and/or breakfast the next morning. Are there other recommendations for what to do, places to eat, etc while there? Thanks in advance.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7719 posts
If you use the Search box top center you may find one or two posts on your topic. I trust that you have rejected a local trip to Mauthausen (which I admit is not directly comparable to Auschwitz) and are willing to spent 12 hours on the train for two days of your trip. We put our trip to Poland off (despite the fact that my father's parents left there in a hurry in 1920) until we were over 65. We had been near the Polish border many times, but it is just too hard to plop Poland into a trip to central Europe.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Correct — not visiting Mathausen. Yes, I know the rail trip is 5 ish hours long each way (depending on the specific train route scheduled). I just want to get a sense of the town of Oswiecim and the available food & lodging.
Posted by
Fort Myers, FL
1839 posts
Posted by
CT by way of FL
205 posts
I was going to suggest you stay in Katowice; it looks like it's about an hour by bus from the train station to the camp. It will have a lot more options for food and hotels - and is an interesting place to check out if you are in the area. However, it looks like you can get a train directly from Vienna to Oświęciem, whereas you'll need to transfer at least once to get to Katowice on most trains. Which is weird, because I remember taking the train either directly to Vienna from Katowice or transferring in Krakow. If you know the exact date, you can check bahn.de for more exact options. The upside is if you CAN catch a direct train to Katowice, it is less than 5 hours. Depending on your timing, you could also take a quick trip to Pszczyna and see the castle (more of a manor house but still nice).
Pros of Katowice: Bigger town, more choices for food and hotels.
Cons of Katowice: Possibly longer train from Vienna; hour on the bus to Auschwitz
Pros of Oświęciem: Probably direct train from Vienna; closer to Auschwitz
Cons of Oświęciem: Limited food and hotels
If you decide on Katowice, I'm happy to tell you more about it.