Visiting Auschwitz

Auschwitz tickets include a guided tour. A tour basically gets you the transportation from Krakow to Auschwitz. I'd recommend looking at some of the recent posts under Poland. An advantage of using the bus from Krakow to Oświęcim, then on to Auschwitz is that it is cheaper and at your own pace. Some like to do a tour where the transportation and logistics are covered for them. There are quite a few recent posts on the subject.

We went to Krakow at the tail end of Covid. We purchased the Schindler tickets at the door. One thing you can do is look at the booking websites and see how far out the tickets might be available and how far out they are sold out currently. Make sure you look at the venue's websites and not some tour operator.

https://muzeumkrakowa.pl/en/branches/oskar-schindlers-enamel-factory

https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/

@jules m, sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't mean a tour operator from Krakow who will transport me to Auschwitz and drive me back. But the "Educator led tour for individuals" in Auschwitz. Would those 3.5 hour tours allow enough time for me to see both Auschwitz 1 and 2 or will they rush people through both sites for crowd management? There is also an option for self-guided tour after 5 pm, but that doesn't give me much time to see both camps before it gets dark (sunset in September is early 7 pm).

I do plan to take bus or train from Krakow to Auschwitz. I know the bus goes right to Auschwitz visitor center.

Thanks for the links to the other sites. I'll check them out.

Got it, Pam. Is there an option to email Auschwitz with you question? I'm always surprised and how fast some places respond. I usually send messages in both English and the local language.

Enjoy Krakow (and other destinations in Poland), we sure did.

From the official museum website:

https://www.auschwitz.org/en/visiting/guided-tours-for-individual-visitors

Yes, they suggest arriving thirty minutes in advance to queue and go through security. Be sure to visit the restroom before the tour.

My experience on a tour with a docent provided by the museum was that it moved at a relatively rapid pace. You enter several of the structures at Auschwitz I, and you're sharing the limited space with the tour in front of you - and then another tour may be entering as you exit the building.

You have sufficient time to read some of the placards, watch the brief films, and study a few of the faces of victims. But you don't have time to linger - the group must keep moving.

Birkenau is vast, so it takes time just to cover the distance between the points where the tour stops. You may be able to linger after the tour ends there.

There is great demand to visit the Memorial, so they have the challenge of letting through as many people as possible while still offering an appropriate experience. And they stress repeatedly that it's a mass grave site, and must be approached in that light. So please consider your visit a privilege.

I just happened to see this YouTube video from Planet Krakow [an excellent local resource] regarding a self directed visit by bus:

https://youtu.be/ZxllkAafs_g?si=l2b0Ezx5_-NHbfXG

It might be a good idea to book your tickets ASAP - or at least look at availability - the English language tours are very popular.

Thank you @markcw and @jules m for your helpful responses and suggestions. After researching some more, I decided to book an English language tour offered by the museum as the 5 pm past self-guided visit doesn't allow me enough time to see both sites unless I make two trips from Krakow. There are other things I want to visit in Krakow to make two trips.

I was able to get the date timeslot I wanted and can use either direct bus or train to get to Auschwitz from Krakow.

@markcw, thank you very much for that Planet Krakow link. That was very helpful and confirms most of the information from Rick Steves guidebook and museum website. I will keep the link handy for my visit. Yes, I realize it is a privilege to visit Auschwitz and other concentration camps, having learned about the enormity of crimes committed during WW2 (or other wars, for that matter). I am just glad to have the opportunity to visit and pay my respects to the victims.

I don't think you gave the time of your guided tour start. Our first part (Auschwitz) of the tour broke in time to eat something in the cafeteria before meeting our guide at a specific (proprietary) camp transfer bus to Birkenau, where the tour continued. I have to say that (no fault of the guide) much of the tour time was spent walking to and waiting to enter the specific Barracks that were on our tour, I mean like the famous displays of shoes and other items. I say this not to suggest that you are missing anything, but many of the Barracks are set up with displays for visitors from specific countries or (I imagine) ethnic groups. I believe independent entry is NOT allowed to any of the Barracks.

Besides crowds and slow-moving guests, the Barracks are hard to navigate because of the circuitous paths, domestic box fans everywhere (thank goodness!), and less than bright lighting.

Both camps are very big, so the walking is unavoidable. I felt the Birkenau tour was inferior to the Auschwitz tour, and despite having a guidebook, we would have benefited from a parting, "The crematorium is over there, a ten-minute walk, and ... ", which we did not get.

This is not intended as a review or a one-star flame, but only to point out that you need to allocate a lot of time to walk around (and take the bus as much as you want) and see things that are not included on the tour. It is unbelievable how many people go through Auschwitz every day. Obviously you have to know when the last busses and last trains are, for your transit plans. We used Rick's recommended driver service, which was expensive.

We had no interest in the salt mine, and bought (but back then could not download) our Schindler factory tickets well before our vacation departure. There were complex "pickup" options. I would not wait for arrival in the city. BTW, the Schindler Factory is, quantitatively, more about life under the occupation than about the movie's events. Despite limited tickets, it is also crowded.

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