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Auschwitz ISelf-guided activities

Our most recommended Auschwitz I Self-guided activities

Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour Hotel Pickup & Lunch Options

1. Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour Hotel Pickup & Lunch Options

Visit Auschwitz on a day trip from Krakow. Learn about the history of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps during a guided tour with a certified historian and guide. Auschwitz-Birkenau was founded in 1940 by Nazi Germany and was the largest concentration camp operated by the Nazis. It became the final resting place for millions of people, mostly Jews and Poles, who were murdered in gas chambers. Pass through the gate with the inscription "Arbeit macht frei" to enter Auschwitz I, where your guide will show you around the preserved area and explain the history of the site.  Then, visit the second camp at Birkenau, where mass killings took place as part of the Nazi "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."

From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour with Transportation

2. From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour with Transportation

Leave Krakow for a day to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial. Enjoy the convenience of an independent tour and make use of transportation from Kraków. Explore on your own the historic monuments Auschwitz and Birkenau and feel the weight of the tragic events that took place in these locations. Start your day trip from the meeting point located in the center of Krakow and journey by air-conditioned vehicle to the Town of Oświęcim. Rent informational booklets that are available in your language and receive all the important information regarding your visit. Head into the museum to visit numerous permanent exhibitions intended to provide an account of the horrors of this camp. See the remnants of prisoner barracks and the notorious gas chambers. Finish your tour and relax on the ride back to Kraków, as you pass by various landmarks on the way.

Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour

3. Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour

Reflect on the past on a day trip from Krakow to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum. It is one of the most important and tragic places in the world, where you can see proof of the horrors one human being can do to another. With an English-speaking driver, get picked up from a chosen location and enjoy a comfortable bus to the city of Oświęcim, where the Auschwitz 1 death camp was located. A greeter will meet you on arrival to introduce you to the place and pass you to the official museum guide. Your tour begins at the legendary gate, Arbeit Mach Frei. The place where murderous and destructive work was performed by prisoners. The tour route leads through all the most important barracks, which are dedicated to specific topics, such as daily life, work, selection, and extermination. There is an original exhibition in each of the barracks. Original and stolen belongings of prisoners, such as suitcases, glasses, and children's toys, when combined with your guide's story, invoke a picture of the tragic circumstances and events we must never forget. Finish your tour at the most dramatic place on the Auschwitz 1 route, the gas chamber, and the cremator where the corpses of prisoners were burnt. After visiting the first part of the camp (Auschwitz 1) there will be a short break. Board the bus to the second part of the camp called Auschwitz II (Birkenau). The ride takes 10 minutes, and you will join the same guide you already know on site. Visiting the second part of the camp will take about 1 hour. Auschwitz II Birkenau is an open space that shows the scale of the crimes that happened there. Reflect as you think of the thousands of people murdered here. See the place where the selection was made, the so-called ramp. It was here that the decision about life or death was made. In Birkenau, you will walk about 1 km so you should wear comfortable shoes. After the guided tour and a short break, return to the bus for the trip back to Krakow.

From Krakow: Auschwitz Birkenau Small Group Tour with Pickup

4. From Krakow: Auschwitz Birkenau Small Group Tour with Pickup

Visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and experience one of the darkest chapters in European history on a full-day guided tour from Krakow. Learn about the inhumane conditions people had to live in as you tour the site with a guide. Arrive at Auschwitz, the site of extermination during Nazi occupation. With a licensed guide, contemplate the barbed wire fences, watchtowers, barracks, gallows, and gas chambers. Spend 2 hours here with a short 20-minute break.  Continue to Birkenau, a 5-minute drive from Auschwitz. Explore the site, comprised of 300 buildings, including watchtowers, latrines, and gas chambers. Gain an understanding of the people who passed through the camp and the memory of those who perished. Spend approximately 1.5 hours at Birkenau before the 1 hour and 20 minutes drive back to Krakow.

From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp Complex Guided Day Trip

5. From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp Complex Guided Day Trip

Discover the human stories of the Holocaust on this guided trip from Krakow to the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Monowitz. Learn how the camps were set up and the purposes each one served. Pause to reflect on what happened in these sites. Start with your pickup in Krakow. From there, you will ride about 45 kilometers to reach the former main camp in Auschwitz. Listen to your guide discuss the camp’s former use as barracks for the Polish military. At the entrance, note the gate with “Arbeit macht frei” over it. Visit the prisoner blocks, which now house artifacts from the camps and belongings left by the prisoners. See photographs and documents, shoes, suitcases, and glasses among other personal effects. From Auschwitz, travel a short distance to the former camp at Birkenau. There you will find the gas chambers and crematoria. Keep the camp’s victims in mind as you make your way around the memorials.  After Birkenau, your tour will finish at the concentration camp in Monowitz. Learn about the connection between corporations and the camps. Unlike Auschwitz and Birkenau, Monowitz supplied workers to nearby factories. The trip will end with your return to Krakow.

Krakow: Full-Day Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour with Transportation

6. Krakow: Full-Day Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour with Transportation

Visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum and explore at your own pace on a self-guided tour. Enjoy the confidence of a pre-booked ticket and transfer from Krakow. Leave Krakow for a confrontational day of reflection with a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. The camps are a ceremonial place that leaves an indelible impression on all visitors and are also an important monument to the victims of the Holocaust. Funded by the Nazi party in 1940, Auschwitz-Birkenau became both a symbol of human suffering and a witness to physical and emotional exhaustion. As the largest concentration camp served by the Nazis, it became the final resting place of millions of people, mainly Jews, who were killed in hideous gas chambers. After arriving at the museum, collect a admission ticket with the help of your tour leader and pick up an informational booklet. Spend approximately 2 hours of free time in the Auschwitz I Museum. Take a short break and spend about 1 hour in the Auschwitz-Birkenau II Museum. After a total of 3 hours in both museums, the tour leader will be waiting for you in the same place in the parking lot to take you back to Krakow.

Krakow: Auschwitz Birkenau Museum Guided Tour with Pickup

7. Krakow: Auschwitz Birkenau Museum Guided Tour with Pickup

It is impossible for the people who were born after WWII to imagine what happened at the time of the Holocaust. A visit to Auschwitz Birkenau helps you understand the extent of the biggest human tragedy in history. The Nazi camp at Auschwitz was established in 1941 when the first prisoners were transported by train. For 4 years, the camp at Auschwitz was being expanded until Auschwitz II Birkenau was built, with gas chambers, and then Auschwitz III – a work camp. In 1945, thousands of people that had been physically and psychologically abused were liberated. The SS hurriedly destroyed most evidence of crimes and tests carried out on prisoners at the site. Your tour to Auschwitz starts at your hotel where your minivan with an English tour leader will pick you up. The distance between Krakow and Auschwitz Birkenau is around 65 kilometres so it takes approximately 1.5 hours. The tour includes visits to the two camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau. You will see the remains of barracks, watchtowers, railway ramps, gas chambers, and crematoriums. The tour takes approximately 3.5 hours.

From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Full-Day Tour with Pickup

8. From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Full-Day Tour with Pickup

Visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum with the convenience of a pre-booked entrance ticket and roundtrip transfer from your Krakow hotel. See original buildings and artifacts on a poignant and informative tour with a licensed guide. After a 1-hour and 15-minute journey, arrive at the Auschwitz I Museum and embark on a walking tour with a certified educator. Explore the remains of the Nazi camp's barracks, watchtowers, and crematoriums. With the help of the provided headset, listen as your guide tells about the ghastly Nazi crimes committed in the camps and hear stories of the everyday lives of the prisoners. Next, continue the walking tour at the Auschwitz-Birkenau II Memorial. Witness gas chambers and the remains of the railway which transported prisoners to the camps. Commemorate the camp’s victims and discover stories of survival on the memorial site. Afterward, get a bit of time to explore on your own before returning to your Krakow accommodation.

From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Self-Guided with Guidebook

9. From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Self-Guided with Guidebook

Discover the largest Nazi concentration camp and pay tribute to the murdered prisoners during a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. This experience includes a round-trip transfer from Krakow and plenty of for you to explore freely at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Depart from Krakow and travel by air-conditioned minibus to the Auschwitz-Birkenau. You can manage your time as you wish during the 3.5 hours stop. Choose to rent a guidebook in your language from your driver or buy it at the bookstore. If you do not have an entry ticket booked in advance, you can easy collect it before visit. After free time, enjoy a quick return to Krakow.

From Warsaw: Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour by Car

10. From Warsaw: Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour by Car

Get picked up from your accommodation in Warsaw in the early morning. Meet your driver and climb into a standart car or minivan, then set off for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. Pick up time depends on entrance time to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and can be different than stated. When you arrive at the site, you will embark on a 3.5-hour guided group tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau with a guide speaking English language. Start in the Auschwitz concentration camp and learn about how it was established by German Nazis on the outskirts of the town Oswiecim in 1940. After the war, the camp was turned into a museum displaying evidence of the genocide. Block no. 11, known as the Death Block, was where people were murdered at the Wall of Death. Outside the camp, see the gas chamber, where 70,000 people were killed in 1940-1943. Watch a film made after the liberation of the camp which is shown in various language versions within the museum. After this, head over to the Birkenau section of the concentration camp. Discover how, in 1941, 3 km from Oswiecim, in the former village of Brzezinka, the German Nazis established a new camp called Auschwitz II Birkenau. In 1942-1945, approx. 1.5 million people lived and died here. Most of them (90%) were Jews, others were Poles, Gypsies, Russians, prisoners from 28 countries of Europe, and people of all nationalities and political and religious persuasions. Since 1944, transports of prisoners from all over the continent entered directly through the Gate of Death. In 1979, Auschwitz – Birkenau Concentration Camp was listed as a UNESCO World Culture and National Heritage Site. During the tour, there will be time to eat lunch in the restaurant. You will get picked up after the tour and returned to Warsaw where you will be dropped off at your accommodation in the evening. The entire tour lasts up to 13 hours. The tour is available in English by default. Other languages: Spanish, Italian, German, and French are available on request.

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What people are saying about Auschwitz I

Overall rating

4.3 / 5

based on 1,168 reviews

The tour of Auschwitz, although heartbreakingly sad was extremely informative. You think you know everything that went on there but have actually no idea of the atrocities inflicted on over 1.3 million men women and children mainly Jews. Everyone should be made to visit in order for it to never happen again!

The guy that set up the trip was very good, funny and organized. Our tour guide was also very good, giving very interesting info in order to understand what happened in the concentration camps. Overall everyone visits Poland should take a guided tour to Auschwitz, it worths the time and money.

The experience was so humbling. So sad to see what happened but so important to see it. The bus pick up and drop off was perfect. Contact with the guide company was so easy. The tour guide was so knowledgeable and so respectful. She answered any questions that were asked. Highly recommend.

Great tour. Excellent communication with us, regarding pickup time and location. Highly recommended.

Great tour, really informative and great value for money