How to get to and visit the Auschwitz concentration camp?

Built after the German invasion of Poland, Auschwitz Birkenau was the best-known of the six extermination camps of the Shoah. The camp still leaves its mark on people’s minds today, and the museum set up in 1947 now allows visitors to pay tribute to the victims.

When should you visit Auschwitz and at what price?

Photo of the Auschwitz gate /Chutterstock

The museum is open all year round, every day of the week except 1 January, 25 December and Easter Sunday. Opening times are as follows (they may vary according to the month):

7.30am to 2pm in December
7.30am to 3pm in January
7.30am to 4pm in February
7.30am to 5pm in March and October
7.30am to 6pm in April, May and September
7.30am to 7pm in June, July and August

You can find prices on the official website “the Auschwitz tours”. Prices range from €22 to €40, and can go up to €74 with a guided tour of Auschwitz Birkenau and Krakow’s Wieliczka salt mine, with an optional lunch.
So don’t wait any longer! You can book now on one of the many websites available:

You can also book through an agency.

How to visit the site with an agency?

Photo of a group of tourists being guided around Auschwitz/Shutterstock

There are many tourist agencies in Krakow offering all-inclusive guided tours for around €30-40. Most can pick you up at your accommodation in Krakow and you can choose your guide in French. You can also pay on the spot, but it’s safer to order online to be sure of availability and avoid any complications. It’s also handy for avoiding queues at ticket offices.

How can I visit the camp on my own?

Photo of a bus going to Auschwitz Birkenau/Shuterstock

If you want to follow your instincts and visit the Auschwitz concentration camp on your own, that’s possible! The journey can be made by train or bus and takes about the same amount of time.

The bus is the most common means of transport, running every 20 minutes from the Central Bus Station (Krakow Glowny).
You can go to the ticket office and buy your ticket there. You can find return tickets for around €7 for a 1? hour journey. Make sure you don’t miss your return bus. During the week, the bus runs every hour from 2pm until 6pm. However, at weekends there are only 3 buses leaving the camp in the afternoon. On-site guide prices vary according to the language chosen (from 14 euros to 23 euros). The guided tour lasts 4 hours and includes the journey between Auschwitz I and Birkenau. It is advisable to arrive as early as possible when the camp opens so that you can choose your language. If you arrive between 10am and 3pm you will automatically be placed in a group with an English guide.

In short, if you decide to book online, make sure you book several weeks or even a month in advance. If you choose to go on your own, plan to buy your tickets as soon as the museum opens. It is also possible to do without a guide.

The historical background to Auschwitz

Photo of clothes worn by prisoners /Shutterstock

Now for a little culture to help you understand the history of the Shoah. Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp in the Third Reich. This period was marked by Adolph Hitler, the German head of state who founded his dictatorship based on his Nazi ideology between 1933 and 1945. This ideology was based mainly on hatred of Jews and gypsies and a belief in Nazi superiority. “Jews are a race that must be completely exterminated” declared Hans Frank, governor of occupied Poland. Indeed, Poland was invaded by the Nazi German army on 1 September 1939, and this event triggered the Second World War. As for the concentration camps, they began to be built in 1933 to house all those who Nazi Germany considered “undesirable”. It was in the mid-1940s that the Auschwitz concentration camp was created in Poland, because there were too many Polish prisoners.

Photo of prisoners’ shoes at Auschwitz/Shutterstock

In 1942, the Auschwitz Birkenau camp became the largest extermination camp, where over 1.1 million people were killed within its walls. From that moment on, Auschwitz became the very symbol of the Holocaust and Nazi terror.

How can we respect the site?

Photo of a memorial in the Auschwitz Birkenau camp/Shutterstock

The concentration camp memorial has already warned visitors about their behaviour in 2023. Several posts on social networks have been published and shared, showing visitors posing in front of the camp, balancing on the rails where more than a million people arrived to be exterminated. Today, the camp is a place of remembrance, where visitors can both pay tribute to the victims and learn more about this dark part of history.

Here are a number of more comprehensive guided tours on offer: