Day Tour to Auschwitz Birkenau Museum with Transportation
Description
Discover the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Holocaust Memorial with the freedom to explore at your own pace, without the constraints of a guided tour. Immerse yourself in this profoundly significant site as you reflect on its history without rush or hassle. To enhance your visit, you will receive an official museum guidebook in your preferred language, providing in-depth historical insights, detailed explanations, and key information about the memorial. This ensures you have all the necessary context to fully comprehend the impact and significance of this place. Walk through the preserved barracks, watchtowers, and remnants of the gas chambers while absorbing the powerful history that shaped the world. Whether you seek quiet reflection or a deeper understanding of the Holocaust, this self-guided experience allows for a meaningful and personal journey.
Tour Options
Itinerary
The Judenrampe (Jewish Ramp) was a railway unloading platform used during the Holocaust between 1942 and 1944 at the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. It was located between the Auschwitz I (main camp) and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps. Today, the Judenrampe is a memorial site with commemorative plaques honoring the victims. Unlike the well-known "Gate of Death" at Birkenau, the Judenrampe played a critical but lesser-known role in the mass deportations.
First, we will take you to Auschwitz camp by walking through the gate of Auschwitz I, the first camp, initially established as a concentration camp for Polish citizens arrested after Germany annexed the country in 1939. You'll pass under the infamous sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes You Free). This portion of the tour typically lasts two hours, during which you'll use a headset to hear your guide clearly. The group size is limited to 30 people, as per the Museum's regulations, ensuring a comfortable and accessible experience for all participants. Explore the original wooden barracks, fortified walls, barbed wire fences, gas chambers, and crematoria, which together leave a haunting impression and allow visitors to grasp the immense scale of the Holocaust.
After Auschwitz camp, we will take you to the second, larger camp —Birkenau (Auschwitz II), located just 3 minutes away from Auschwitz. Birkenau, the largest camp, was built and operated with the sole purpose of making Europe "Judenrein" (free of Jews). Your guide will continue the powerful narrative at Birkenau, located in the village of Brzezinka. Constructed in 1941 under the orders of SS commander Heinrich Himmler, the camp could hold around 90,000 prisoners. You’ll hear harrowing accounts of the brutal living conditions, the cruel selection process, and the pseudo-scientific medical experiments carried out by Nazi doctors, including Josef Mengele. The tour concludes with a story of liberation when soldiers from the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, leaving you with a profound understanding that such genocide should never have occurred—and must never happen again.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please note that in the camps there are mostly dirt tracks, which may cause minor difficulties for strollers
- As it is mandatory in Auschwitz Birkenau museum to confirm your personal details, you are required to take with you passport or ID to be presented at the entrance to museum. Please do not forget it, otherwise you may be not allowed to enter museum.
- The maximum size of your carry-on can not exceed the following dimensions: 11.8 x 7.8 x 3.9 inches (30 x 20 x 10 cm). You can leave your larger luggage in the car
- In Auschwitz-Birkenau visitors are generally allowed to take pictures with a few, clearly indicated exceptions. Taking photos and filming in Wieliczka Salt Mine is possible only after purchasing additional pass
- While in Auschwitz-Birkenau, visitors are required to behave appropriately and respectfully
Reviews(40)
They changed the time to go to the tour just a few a hours before depart. I received the e-mail after 5 pm. The tour was first schedulled to 7 am. They changed to 13 pm. It was impossible for me to be on the tour at the new time because I had a flight at the same day. They didnt answer the phone or e-mails and after that they refused to give me back my money, I appealed to my credit card to try to block the payment. Dont recommend this to anyone!
Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear about your disappointment. Unfortunately, Auschwitz entry times are assigned by the museum and can occasionally change at short notice. In such situations, we inform our guests as soon as we receive the updated schedule. We understand that the change from a morning to an afternoon tour was significant and that it conflicted with your travel plans. We also regret if you were unable to reach us when trying to contact our office. This is certainly not the level of service we aim to provide. Regarding the refund request, cancellations and schedule changes are reviewed according to the booking terms and conditions accepted at the time of booking. If you have opened a case with your credit card provider, we will cooperate fully with their review process and provide all relevant information. We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience.
Incredible experience to see this horrible part of our history. To get 5 stars we would have liked to see the older part of the mine and been a smaller group. Thirty-six people were a little too many. The trip was well planned and an extra plus for the driver who also guided us through the district. He had even arranged a reservation at a restaurant before Auschwitz.
We booked with Krakow Tours as our trip was cancelled at the last minute. From the offset we found the service impeccable. The lady on the phone was so helpful and professional our tour was booked with very little trouble. Adam our driver picked us up from our hotel very promptly and throughout the whole trip he was courteous kind and extremely helpful , collecting our tickets taking us to the areas ready for the tours. Adam was very efficient and friendly an extremely competent driver with a great personality. Thank you all for creating a smooth and memorable tour.
A fantastic tour. Very emotional but presented with respect and understanding. All very well organised.
We were very fortunate to get a last minute booking with KRAKOW DIRECT as our previous booking was cancelled very late . We rang Krakow Direct and the operator was very friendly and got us two tickets for April 29th . ADAM was our guide and he picked us up at the Hotel KOSSAK punctually .he was very friendly helpful , informative and patient . He played a very interesting film for us en route to Auschwitz and got us our tickets when we arrived . All in all an EXCELLENT SERVICE and I would fully endorse Krakow Direct and ADAM. Thank you for a fantastic day - Auschwitz was emotionally challenging but a MUST - SEE for all
Thank you very much for your kind and detailed feedback. We are delighted to hear that, despite your initial cancellation with another provider, our team was able to assist you at short notice and arrange your visit successfully. It is great to know that Adam provided such a professional, friendly, and supportive service throughout the day, from punctual hotel pickup to sharing informative content during the journey and assisting with tickets on arrival. We are also pleased that, although the visit was emotionally challenging, you found it to be a meaningful and important experience. Your endorsement of us and Adam is greatly appreciated. Your feedback is very important to us and helps us continuously improve our services. We hope to welcome you again in the future.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS TOUR! First we was picked up at 1430 in the afternoon. We was then told we wasn’t going to be allowed into the first camp until 1740. And then after that was told that the last shuttle bus back from the second camp would be at 19:45. So we had next to no time to go around the camps. Felt like a very rushed experience with no time to actually take in everything that was around us. And we did not have enough time to properly explore the entire camps and see everything there was to see. Do not go on this tour it is a waste of your money. I would have much rather traveled to the camps myself as there is plenty of parking on site and brought tickets on the gate.
Outing, super well organized guide very very affordable
We arrived at 4 pm at our destination and had to wait 1 hour and a half to enter as they had given us an entrance at 5.40 pm and we could not enter before...
Auschwitz & Birkenhau was a marvellous day trip with comfortable & prompt transportation. Very early start but was worth it with our guide & driver being extremely informative & pleasant. Be sure to take tissues as some of the tour is really moving & you would need a heart of stone to not become emotional. Lots of walking which became difficult towards the end as i use a walking stick.
Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau is an incredibly moving and profound experience, and having the right guide is essential to truly grasp the weight of the history there. Our guide, Kris, was absolutely exceptional. Kris possessed an incredible depth of knowledge, sharing historical facts with profound respect and sensitivity. He guided us through the site at a thoughtful pace, allowing us time to process the magnitude of what we were seeing while ensuring we understood the context behind every location and artifact. His ability to convey such difficult history with dignity and clarity made the tour both educational and deeply impactful. I highly recommend this guided tour, and especially Kris, to anyone visiting. It is a sobering experience that stays with you, made all the more meaningful by a guide who truly honors the memory of those who suffered there.
