trips to auschwitz from newcastle

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Visit Krakow & Auschwitz

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• Flight included
• Accommodation
• Transfer included
• Activity included
• total price from £ 338.00
• price based on: 2 adults

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Explore world history in with a Krakow city trip. Incl. up to 5 nights in Krakow, choice of hotel, breakfast, flights & an Auschwitz excursion

Take a trip to the historic city of Krakow. Spend a few days getting to know the city before heading out to experience history with your own eyes on an included excursion to Auschwitz - the deadliest concentration camp of WW2. Stay in Krakow for up to 5 nights and contrast brutal history with an exploration of the beauty and culture of Poland's southern city. From the well-preserved Medieval architecture in the Market Square to the 14th Century St. Mary's Basilica, from the charming shopping streets to the trendiest neighbourhoods: Krakow is much more than Auschwitz. With breakfast, flights, an excursion and your choice of hotels - the hardest decision you'll have to make is how long to go!

2, 3, 4 or 5 nights in Krakow

Return transfer airport - hotel

Excursion to Auschwitz incl. English-speaking guide and transport

Return flight from to Krakow

Historic Krakow

Poland’s renowned second city boasts a fascinating and turbulent past with historic treasures around every other corner. The Old Town is certainly one of the most beautiful in the world, with its cobbled streets and majestic buildings which house cosy cafes, restaurants and shops. In the main market square you can take your place on one the terraces and watch the world go by whilst enjoying a bite to eat. History buffs will be sure to want to explore Kazimierz, the city's Jewish quarter which was destroyed during World War II. Throughout the neighbourhood you will discover traces of its heartbreaking history and it is also possible to visit Oskar Schindler’s factory which now features an exhibition dedicated to Krakow during the Nazi occupation. What also makes Kazimierz such a special neighbourhood is that is has now become a bohemian hotspot, bursting with bars and cafes which are the perfect place to while away an evening.

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When you plan your trip, after you've selected a date, we will show you all the information about the hotel you will be staying at.

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Auschwitz excursion.

During this included excursion on Day 2, you visit one of WW2's most notorious concentration camps: Auschwitz-Birkenau. More than 1 million people lost their lives in Auschwitz, and Auschwitz-Birkenau stands today as a powerful memorial to the camp's victims and to one of history's darkest chapters. Auschwitz was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.

During the excursion, you will visit Auschwitz I, which served as the administrative centre for the entire camp. Here you will embark on a 2-hour tour with an English speaking museum guide. The next visit is Auschwitz II - Birkenau, 2 kilometres away, and served as a concentration camp. Here you spend 1.5 hours, where you are once again shown around by an English speaking guide. You will arrive back at the hotel, around 16.30. The excursion takes place on day 2 of the trip, lasts a total of 8 hours and takes place in a group of up to 30 people.

Please note that this excursion is not recommended for children under 14 years. You will receive more information about the final pick-up time and location upon arrival at the hotel.

Additional Information

What to expect on your visit to Auschwitz

A couple of years ago, my girlfriend and I were hostelling our way through central Europe. We’d made it to Berlin, which is a little like those crossroads in movies, the ones with a dozen signs pointing in every possible direction.

There were too many choices as to what to do next. We could head north into Denmark, west to the Netherlands and Belgium, or south into the Czech Republic.

“What about Poland?” my girlfriend said. “We could see Auschwitz.”

The drive from Krakow

A couple of days later I was bouncing along in a small bus through the green lanes of southern Poland, just outside Krakow. The driver didn’t speak any English, nor did the other four sullen Poles on board. When we mentioned the word Auschwitz the driver just grunted and gestured to the seats.

The drive from Krakow to the old camp doesn’t take long. After thirty minutes we stopped on a road like any other road. A few of us got off and the bus rumbled away. Opposite was a shady boulevard lined with birch and oak trees. Glance up and you could just make out the red bricks and roofs of Auschwitz I, the original camp built by Polish political prisoners in the early 1940s.

Auschwitz I. Image Thomas Hee, Flickr

Auschwitz I

On busy days, over 30,000 tourists will walk through the grounds of Auschwitz. Dozens and dozens of tours run simultaneously through the old camp and Birkenau, a few minutes down the road. As such, they run a pretty efficient ship. When you arrive you sign up for a tour time and are equipped with a pass, headset and radio. Your guide has a microphone and a transmitter, so all you need to do is tune in to their frequency. You begin where so many prisoners once did, beneath the rusted metal words “Arbeit macht frei” (work makes you free).

The next few hours are hard to describe. Your guide leads you through the avenues and neat brick houses of Auschwitz I. There are bare dormitories, old corridors, chilly parade grounds and – everywhere – double lines of razor wire poles, each equally spaced from its neighbour, and arched in a candy cane curve.

Image c/o Monica Kelly, Flickr

In every room, rows and rows of faces stare out from the walls: old prisoner profiles in black and white. Most look blank and empty; they portray nothing. But studying them is worth the price of admission alone. You could look at the eyes for hours, searching for a glimmer of hope, a pang of fear or a hint of determination. You can’t help but wonder what they were thinking.

Your guide says, “Three weeks after these were taken, all these people were dead.”

Every piece of the place has a story attached. Here a room, three feet by three feet, where four men were made to stand in the dark until they died. There the square outside notorious Block 11, the prison within a prison, where inmates were routinely executed against a brick wall. The house of the camp commandant, Rudolf Hoss, and the gallows where he was executed by the Allies in 1947. The gas chambers, the piles of hair, glasses, shoes… children’s toys.

The fields of Birkenau. Image Mattia Panciroli, Flickr

Tourism in Auschwitz has attracted some criticism in recent years (the alleged ‘death tourism’) but I don’t really buy into it. You can criticise the actions of individuals, sure, but I think educating and illuminating future generations on one of the darkest times in human history can only be a good thing. Just like Winston Churchill said: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

After the original camp, the tour moves to Birkenau, which is an experience in itself. The close streets and heaviness of Auschwitz I are replaced by acres of grass, clear skies and two parallel railway tracks that come to an ominous, and very final, stop. There’s a warped tranquillity in Birkenau. Yellow wildflowers grow beneath the guard towers. You can see nearby villages and rolling hills. There’s the warble of distant birdsong. It’s hard to imagine that up to 20,000 people per day were killed and burned here. Apparently the nearby residents, the ones who hadn’t been rounded up in the first few years of Nazi occupation, could see and smell the smoke for miles. They slept with the distant glow of the ovens outside their window.

Image c/o Nick Perrone, Flickr

A visit to Auchwitz is the difference between reading the music and hearing it played. You can read about the horrors that happened there, watch documentaries that give you all the facts, but until you stand in the gas chambers, hear the eerie silence around the ash pools of Birkenau and see the dusty wooden bunks where prisoners would huddle together – you won’t understand it.

At the end of the tour you’re left standing outside the red brick main entrance to Birkenau. I remember thinking how quiet the place was. Even with so many people in it. there was so much silence in that place.

Travellers can visit Auschwitz on some of our trips through Poland . All entry fees to the World Heritage Site go towards preserving the camp for future generations. 

Feature image c/o Matti Panciroli, Flickr 

Feeling inspired?

James Shackell

I was born in 1987 and aged from there. I like the sound of pop-rocks and dislike the sound of styrofoam. The length of my forearm is approximately the same as the length of my shin. My favourite Beatle is Ringo. I believe that junk food tastes so good because it’s bad for you and that your parents did the best job they knew how to do. If Johnny Cash wrote a song about my travels it would be called ‘I’ve been to several places but still have many other destinations on my to-do list, man’. Sometimes I have trouble finishing sen

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Tours & Trips including Auschwitz 2024/2025

Find the right tour for you through Auschwitz. We've got 108 adventures going to Auschwitz, starting from just 3 days in length, and the longest tour is 28 days. The most popular month to go is August, which has the largest number of tour departures.

108 Auschwitz tour packages with 1,199 reviews

• In-depth Cultural
• Christmas & New Year

Krakow, Auschwitz & Wieliczka Salt Mine - 4 Days

The tour guide absolutely makes this tour so special! Apart from a professional and knowledgeable delivery, he makes fantastic food recommendations and even scheduled a piano concert last minute (front row seats)!

Krakow & Auschwitz

Did their Krakow, Poland trip in December during the Christmas markets. Really a great trip and experience. Everything was very organized, had really good hotel near the square/old town (I booked the 3-star hotel, private room option with my husband), guides were very good & knowledgeable and the excursions/tours were very good. We also received a lot of extra information and recommendations for things to do and places to go (food and drink too) in our free time which was really nice and helpful. I was a bit nervous reading a few of the reviews here on Yelp but our experience was fantastic and nothing like what some others wrote in their reviews. Krakow was an amazing city and one of the most beautiful in Europe. Definitely recommend this trip and company.

Krakow, Auschwitz, Enamel Factory & Wieliczka Salt Mine - 4 Days

Fantastic tour although the Salt Mine I would skip on my next trip. Our guide Seweryn was the best. He made everything so real and down to earth. He gives you so much information. I Would recommend him to everyone. Twice as good with him as our guide Great trip we visit again.

• Coach / Bus

Highlights of Southern Poland

The Poland tour was excellent! The group leader Beata was awesome and all guidance, planning and itinerary was wonderful. Totally recommended!!

• Sightseeing

6 days in Krakow and Szczawnica- private exclusive tour for 2 people

6 days in Krakow and Szczawnica- private exclusive tour for 5-8 people

Pearls of Poland (for couples)

Kuba was extremely knowledgeable and contributed considerably to our understanding and enjoyment of the spots we saw. He was sensitive to my mother's special needs and programmed stops in the tour so she could rest. He also showed up on our final day with special Polish donuts for us to enjoy -- a thoughtful and very sweet gesture. We recommend Kuba highly!

Highlights of Poland

Tour was very informative and loved seeing the various regions of Poland. Our guide Justyna was awesome! Loved her energy and love for Poland. She had great recommendations for optional tours and tasty Polish restaurants and bars. We did do a lot of walking with local guides and loved learning more about Polish history and people. The hotels were average.

• 10% deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

Highlights of Poland (Classic, 10 Days)

The trip was fantastic. Everything was well planned and our guide, Krzysztof Piechowicz, was beyond excellent. The hotels were excellent and the meals very good. We’d recommend TourRadar and this trip without any hesitation.

Portrait of Poland

Overall, the tour was wonderful. A lot was squeezed into the 7 days. There were a few stops we would like to have spent more time at. The evening included meals were average or below average- it would have been nice to have more local cuisine. Breakfast meals were good; the breakfast buffet at the Regent Warsaw Hotel was excellent. Our tour guide Kasia was very knowledgeable & engaging - she did an excellent job! Really enjoyed her commentary & she was so helpful.

Tailor-Made Private Trip to Southern Poland with Daily Departure

• Book With Flexibility This operator allows you to rebook your dates or tours with them for free, waiving change fees.

• Walking Adventure

Best of Poland (11 Days)

Kacha the tour leader is amazing. Very well organized, knowledgeable and accommodating. I loved the tour

• €100 deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

Best of the East

It was good we enjoyed

Tailor-Made Private Poland Tour with Daily Departure

Highlights of Poland (Small Groups, 10 Days)

What people love about auschwitz tours.

Seweryn was a fantastic tour guide and very knowledgeable about Krakow's history. I enjoyed learning about the many historical and religious details we saw around Krakow. He also went above and beyond to help me when I had trouble purchasing train tickets, and when I got sick offered to reschedule one of the tour days. I really enjoyed his tour and would highly recommend it.

Did their Krakow, Poland trip in December during the Christmas markets. Really a great trip and experience. Everything was very organized, had really good hotel near the square/old town (I booked the 3-star hotel, private room option with my husband), guides were very good & knowledgeable and the excursions/tours were very good. We also received a lot of extra information and recommendations for things to do and places to go (food and drink too) in our free time which was really nice and helpful. I was a bit nervous reading a few of the reviews here on Yelp but our experience was fantastic and nothing like what some others wrote in their reviews. Krakow was an amazing city and one of the most beautiful in Europe. Definitely recommend this trip and company.

I had a great first time experience of Krakow through this tour. My tour guide Seweryn was very friendly, flexible, organised and helpful and made the whole process very smooth. The trips to the mine, factory and camps were well laid out and gave me plenty of time for independent sightseeing and fun. If you want to come to Krakow I would highly recommend you do a trip this way!

Select the type of the visit

Due to the March of the Living on May 6, the Museum will be closed to visitors

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The only official website with entry cards to visit the Auschwitz Museum is visit.auschwitz.org. The Museum is not responsible for bookings made on any other sites

In order to enter the Auschwitz Memorial all visitors, also those coming in organized groups, must have their personalized entry pass and ID with them. All guided tours start at former camp Auschwitz I.

Copyright © 2014 Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau. All rights reserved

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Visiting Auschwitz – How to Plan the Auschwitz Tour

Visiting Auschwitz, albeit a very somber experience, is one of the must things to do in Poland. The largest Nazi Germany concentration and extermination camp during World War II, where over 1,3 million people lost their lives, needs no introduction. Conveniently located near Krakow , Auschwitz can be an easy addition to your Poland itinerary.

It took me almost 37 years to finally visit Auschwitz (although I’ve been to other Nazi Germany camps in Poland), and even if I knew very well what to expect, the place still overwhelmed me with its cruelty and tragedy. And I think everyone should plan a trip to Auschwitz to understand history better and see what people are capable of when the ideology brainwashes them. And, of course, to pay respect to all the unnecessary victims. It’s important to visit places like Auschwitz so we can do our best to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future.

If you are visiting Poland (especially Krakow , Warsaw , Katowice , or Wroclaw ), I prepared this guide to help you plan your Auschwitz tour without too much hassle. There are different ways to visit Auschwitz, but no matter which one you choose, be prepared for one of the most difficult yet necessary travel experiences of your life.

Table of Contents

Where is Auschwitz

The former Nazi Germany Concentration Camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, is located in a town of around 37.000 inhabitants called Oświęcim in southern Poland. Krakow is less than 70 km away, and Katowice is 35 km away. Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is around 330 km away from Oświęcim.

A brief history of Auschwitz

Even if Auschwitz is known mainly as the extermination camp, it was established as a concentration camp in mid-1940. It was one of over 40 camps in Poland that were supposed to be a solution to the problem of overflowing prisons full of arrested locals. The first people were brought to Auschwitz on June 14th, 1940, from the prison in Tarnow.

Since 1942 Auschwitz has also been used as the extermination camp where Nazis implemented their plan to murder Jewish people from all over Europe. At the peak of its operation, in 1944, Auschwitz was divided into three parts: Auschwitz I (the oldest one, in the old Polish military barracks), Auschwitz II-Birkenau (the largest one, founded in 1941, the majority of victims were killed here), and Auschwitz III (this was a group of over 40 sub-camps created near industrial plants, made for work prisoners).

Numerous Polish villages were demolished, and locals were evicted to develop such a large institution. The camps were isolated from the outside world. The total area was around 40 square kilometers, including all three Auschwitz camps and the so-called “interest zone” used for the technical or supply background, offices, and barracks for Nazis.

Since Auschwitz had a strategic location on the front line, in August 1944, the camp’s liquidation began – the prisoners were taken to Germany, and the evidence of the crimes was covered up. The liberation of Auschwitz took place on January 27th, 1945, when around 7,5 thousand prisoners were still held there.

Altogether, in the almost four years of operation, over 1,3 million people lost their lives in Auschwitz; the majority were Jewish (around 1,1 million), but also Polish (about 150 hundred thousand), Roma people (23 thousand), and other nations.

In 1979 Auschwitz was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List – it is the only former Nazi concentration camp with that title in the world.

How to visit Auschwitz

You can visit Auschwitz two ways: with a tour from where you are staying in Poland (most likely Krakow, Katowice, Warsaw, or Wroclaw) or independently, reaching the site by car or using public transport. Both options are doable; however, the tour is a slightly better one as everything will be taken care of for you.

There is a wide selection of tours to choose from that depart from Krakow as well as other mentioned cities. Most of them cover more or less the same things: pick-up from your accommodation, transportation to/from Auschwitz and back, the entrance ticket to the concentration camp, and the guided tour on-site.

When I visited Auschwitz, I arrived by train from Warsaw, with the change in Katowice. I was at the museum almost an hour before my guided tour of the site was supposed to start, and despite the poor weather (it was raining on that day), there was no place to hide and wait for the tour. Visitors were not allowed to enter the museum until a few minutes before the tour was about to start. Me and a few other unlucky visitors just stood near the trees, hiding under the umbrella and waiting for our time to enter the site. I can’t say it was a comfortable situation (but at least the weather worked perfectly well for such a sad place to visit). Recently, a new visitors center was opened so hopefully the situation is better.

When using public transport, you need to rely on the schedule of trains/buses and, just in case, plan to be at the site with some extra time ahead; hence a tour is a better option. Still, visiting Auschwitz is doable independently – I did it, and once the tour of the site started, it was really good.

Visiting Auschwitz – practical information

Visiting Auschwitz memorial site is free of charge; however, I recommend joining the tour with the educator provided by the museum. They have a huge knowledge of the place and the tragedy that occurred here and can answer all the questions visitors always have. Tours are available in various languages: Polish, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Czech, and Slovak.

Even if you decide to visit the site independently, you still need to book the entry pass – those with free entrance start in the afternoon. You can buy/reserve your ticket online at the website of Auschwitz Museum here.

Currently, the price for the tour with the educator is 80 PLN for Polish and 90 PLN for other languages. When booking the ticket, you must state your full name and surname – this will be checked later.

Since tickets can sell out quickly, booking one at least a month in advance is recommended. If there are no tickets left for the day you want to visit Auschwitz, you can join the organized tour from Krakow or other cities, as tour operators usually have tickets booked in advance. Due to the sensitive nature of the place, children under 14 years old should not visit Auschwitz Museum.

Once you have your ticket, you need to arrive at the Auschwitz visitors center 30 minutes before your tour starts to go through the security check (it’s rather thorough, similar to the airport), have your ticket inspected (remember to have the ID or passport with you), get the headset for the tour and meet your group. You are allowed to have a bag or backpack with a maximum dimension of 30x20x10 cm; any larger luggage must be left in the paid lockers.

Auschwitz Museum is open every day except January 1st, December 25th, and Easter Sunday. Opening hours vary depending on the month and are as follows:

• 7:30-14:00 in December
• 7:30-15:00 in January and November
• 7:30-16:00 in February
• 7:30-17:00 in March and October
• 7:30-18:00 in April, May, and September
• 7:30-19:00 in June, July, and August

The closing time means the last entrance – after that, you are allowed to stay on-site for an hour and a half. However, if you want to see Auschwitz Museum properly, you need at least 3,5 hours for that – that’s also how long the standard tour with the educator lasts. It is usually divided equally between Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II- Birkenau. A free shuttle bus runs between the two sites every few minutes.

Taking pictures and making videos is allowed in Auschwitz, for individual use, except in two places: the hall with the hair of Victims (block nr 4) and the basements of Block 11. Your educator will remind you not to take pictures there.

Remember what sort of place you are visiting and behave there with respect. It might be obvious for most, but I can’t count how many times I’ve read news about inappropriate behavior in Auschwitz and other similar sites in Poland, so I think it’s worth reminding this is not your typical tourist attraction but a place of one of the greatest tragedy that ever happened in the world.

Getting to Auschwitz independently

If you decide to visit Auschwitz on your own, you must get to the visitors’ center, where your tour will start. The new visitors center, which opened just recently, is located at 55 Więźniów Oświęcimia Street in Oświęcim ( here is the exact location ). If you drive there, there is a large parking lot where you can leave your car before visiting the museum.

If you use public transport, there are both trains and buses you can take to reach Oświęcim. I recommend trains as they are slightly faster and more comfortable; however, some buses stop next to the museum, so that’s convenient. You can check all the connections on this website , where you can also find the location of the bus stop in Oświęcim (there can be three different ones).

The train station in Oświęcim is located at Powstańców Śląskich Street, some 20 minutes walking from the Auschwitz museum. It’s a straightforward way; you can check the map with the directions here . I recommend catching the train that gives you at least an hour between arriving at Oświęcim and when your tour starts.

Auschwitz tour from Krakow

Numerous Auschwitz tours depart from Krakow, so you will easily find the one that suits your itinerary and needs. Here are some recommended ones:

• Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial Guided Tour from Krakow
• Auschwitz & Birkenau – Fully Guided Tour from Krakow
• Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour with Private Transport from Kraków
• Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour by Private Transport from Krakow

You can also combine visiting Auschwitz with Wieliczka Salt Mine , another UNESCO-listed site near Krakow and a must-visit place in Poland. Here are the tours that go to both places in one day:

• Day Trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Wieliczka Salt Mine from Krakow including Lunch
• Full-Day Tour of Auschwitz and Wieliczka Salt Mine from Krakow
• Auschwitz-Birkenau and Salt Mine Tour with private transport from Krakow
• Combined: Auschwitz Birkenau and Salt Mine private chauffeur from Krakow

If you decide to go to Auschwitz from Krakow on your own, you can take the train from the main train station to Oświęcim. They are rather frequent, more or less every hour, and the journey takes a bit over an hour (depending on the connection, the longest one is 1h20min).

If you want to take the bus, they depart from the MDA bus station, next to the main train station. The price for trains and buses is similar, between 15 and 20 PLN, although trains tend to be cheaper and faster. You can check all the connections and buy a ticket here .

Auschwitz tour from Warsaw

Even if Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is located over 300 km away from Oświęcim, it is possible to go for a one-day Auschwitz tour. However, you can expect a long day, and a large part of it will be spent traveling. But if you are visiting Warsaw only, Auschwitz can be a good addition to your Poland itinerary, so you can better understand the country’s complex history.

Here are some of the recommended Auschwitz tours from Warsaw:

• From Warsaw Auschwitz and Krakow one day tour by train with pick up and drop off
• One day tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau from Warsaw with private transport

Going for the day trip from Warsaw to Auschwitz independently is also possible using trains. You can take the 6 am train to Katowice and then change for the train to Oświęcim, arriving in the town around 10:30. If you decide to do that, you can book your Auschwitz tour for 11:30 or 12:00. On the way back, you can catch the train after 16:00 from Oświęcim to Katowice, and after changing for the train to Warsaw, you will be in the capital after 20:00.

Auschwitz tour from Katowice

Since Katowice is less than 40 km from Auschwitz, it’s easy to go for a day trip. You need to take the local train to Oświęcim, it takes less than 50 minutes, and the connections are more or less every hour.

Or you can go for a tour, here are the Auschwitz tours from Katowice:

• Auschwitz – Birkenau from Katowice
• Auschwitz & Birkenau English guided tour by private transport from Katowice
• Auschwitz tour from Wroclaw

Wroclaw is another popular place to visit in Poland, and since it’s located around 230 km from Oświęcim, you can go for an Auschwitz tour from Wroclaw too. If you decide to do it independently, you can take the train to Katowice and then change for the local train to Oświęcim. A one-way trip should take you less than 4 hours.

Or you can go for a tour; here are the recommended ones from Wroclaw:

• Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour from Wrocław
• Private Full-Day Tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau from Wroclaw

Auschwitz Museum Tour

As for the museum itself, here is what you can expect.

You will start in the oldest part of the concentration camp – Auschwitz I, where the infamous gate with the sign “Arbeit macht frei” (meaning “Work Sets You Free”) is located. Here, you will visit numerous barracks where inmates were kept – now you can see different exhibitions there, showing the reality of Auschwitz and halls with personal belongings taken from arriving prisoners – luggage, shoes, glasses, etc., or hair of Victims. You will learn all about cruel practices here, including medical experiments or torture.

Visiting this part of Auschwitz museum is a very somber experience, and it’s really difficult to comprehend the tragedy that happened in this very place.

Besides the barracks in Auschwitz I, you will also see where the camp commander lived or the first crematorium where Nazis started their experiments with killing using gas. In this part of the Auschwitz tour, you can take pictures everywhere except the two places in Blocks 4 and 11 – they will be clearly marked, and your educator will remind you about this restriction.

The visit to Auschwitz I takes around 1,5 hours. Afterward, together with your group and educator, you will take the shuttle bus to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, located some 3 km away.

Auschwitz II-Birkenau is where around 90% of victims died. It is a huge area that worked kind of like the killing factory, with four gas chambers and crematoriums. This is also where most prisoners arrived – you most likely know the view of the railway tracks and brick gate – that’s Auschwitz II-Birkenau. This part of the visit is mostly outdoors.

You will walk around the area, see the remnants of the camp, visit some barracks inside, and learn all about the horrific tragedy that happened here. When Auschwitz I has a more intimate, even claustrophobic feeling, Auschwitz II-Birkenau can overwhelm you with its scale and enormity.

You will spend around 1,5 hours here, too; afterward, you can take the shuttle bus back to the visitors center when you started your tour.

Final thoughts on visiting Auschwitz

Even though I’ve lived in Poland almost my whole life, and Auschwitz has been a familiar topic since I remember, it took me nearly 37 years to finally visit the place. Before I was in different Nazi Germany sites in Poland, mostly in Majdanek in Lublin, so I didn’t feel the need to visit Auschwitz too. But I don’t regret the decision to go there eventually.

You can read and learn about the place, but nothing can prepare you for visiting Auschwitz. Some areas look familiar (after all, pictures of the “Arbeit macht frei” sign or Birkenau gate are present everywhere), but you will still be overwhelmed by the place and seeing it in real life. It’s hard to comprehend the cruelty and tragedy that happened here, and dealing with all the thoughts invading your mind afterward can take a while. It can be one of the most difficult-to-understand places you will ever visit.

Still, despite it all, I think everyone should go to Auschwitz to see where fanaticism and totalitarianism can lead and why we should avoid them at all costs.

Further reading

I published many articles about Poland that you might find useful when planning your trip there. Here are some of them:

• 37 Amazing Things to Do in Krakow, Poland
• 20 Great Places to Visit As Day Trips from Warsaw, Poland
• 17 Amazing Things to Do in Lublin, Poland
• The Complete Guide to Visiting Slownski National Park, Poland
• Visit Grudziadz – One of the Hidden Gems of Poland
• 19 Amazing Things to Do in Gdansk, Poland
• Visit Sandomierz, Poland – One of the Prettiest Towns in the Country
• Visiting Malbork Castle, Poland – the Largest Castle in the World
• 25 Amazing Things to do in Wroclaw, Poland
• and many more!

If you are looking for articles about a specific destination – check out the map with all the articles I’ve published (and their locations). You can also join my Facebook group about traveling in Central Europe and ask your questions there.

Travel Resources

You can find the best accommodation options at Booking . They have many discounts and excellent customer service. Click here to look for the place to stay in Poland

Never travel without travel insurance , you never know what might happen and better safe than sorry. You can check the insurance policy for Poland here.

I recommend joining organized tours to get to know the place better and to visit more places during your trip. You can find a great selection of tours at Get Your Guide – click here .

For the end I left a few announcements that might interest you:

• Sign up to my newsletter or follow me on Bloglovin to get updates about the new posts
• Join my Facebook group about Eastern Europe, the Balkans and former USSR and connect with fellow travellers and enthusiasts of these regions – just click here!
• I’ve included a few handy links of services and products I personally like and use so you can plan your own trip to Poland too. They are often affiliate links. This means I will get a small commission if you book/purchase anything through my links, at no extra costs for you. Thank you!

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Getting to the Museum

New Visitor Services Center of the Auschwitz Memorial is located at 55 Więźniów Oświęcimia Street. Read more...

The Museum is located on the outskirts of the town of Oświęcim, on provincial road No. 933. The tour starts at the former Auschwitz I camp. The Visitor Services Center is located at Więźniów Oświęcimia 55 Street. We suggest driving into this street from Legionów Street (DW 933).

The Museum is located approximately 1,500 meters from the railway station. Near the station, there is a multi-storey Park & Ride parking available.

Between April and October it is possible to reach the Museum by a special "M" line connecting the station and P&R with the main entrance to the Museum. The ride takes five minutes and the line runs daily between 9am-4pm. Tickers are available in ticket machines.

Buses of the Lajkonik company arrive directly at the Museum car park from Kraków (timetable: to the Museum | back to Kraków ) 

There are also bus and minibus stops near the Museum, with service from Kraków and Katowice. There are also two international airports within about 50 kilometers of Oświęcim: Kraków-Balice and Katowice-Pyrzowice.

Visitors coming to Oświęcim can find more information at the tourist information website: www.it.oswiecim.pl

More information for visitors (i.e. transport, weather)

Communication between former Auschwitz I and Birkenau concentration camps

Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau are situated 3,5 km from each other.

There are paid car parks available near both former concentration camps. The visit starts at the former Auschwitz I site.

The museum bus shuttles from one part of the Memorial to another. Departures from the former Auschwitz I concentration camp: between April - October every 10 minutes, between November - March every 20 minutes. No bus fare is required. 

Taxi services are provided by HALO TAXI company. You can find a taxi at the taxi rank in front of the Museum entrance. You can also call a taxi using the following phone number: +48 32 19 194.

The three kilometre distance between the former concentration camps can be covered by foot (through streets: Więźniów Oświęcimia, Jaracza, Leszczyńskiej and Męczeństwa Narodów), crossing the by-camp premises, where during the occupation were German industrial plants and workshops, warehouses, offices and technical backrooms, in which the prisoners would work and die. There are preserved remains of a few railway sidings and ramps [ Alte Judenrampe ], where the trains with deportees would stop and the members of the SS would make the selections.

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Images from www.auschwitz.org may be used only in publications relating to the history of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau or the activities of the Auschwitz Memorial. Their use must not tarnish the good reputation of the victims of KL Auschwitz. Any interference in the integrity of the images – including cropping or graphic processing – is prohibited. The use of the images for commercial purposes requires the Museum’s approval and information about the publication. Publishers undertake to indicate the authors and origin of the images: www.auschwitz.org, as well as to inform the Museum of the use of the images ([email protected]).