Visiting Auschwitz: advice please?

cariad

We've just come back from kracow- fabulous place and we are definetely going back.
I had read that the cheapest and the most scenic way to visit Auschwitz was to use the trains- so we went to the train station and the surrounding area is full of taxis. A taxi driver named George (spoke very good English) and his friend approached us.
We were a party of 6 and decided to book 2 taxis for the w/end- they took us to the salt mines and Schindlers factory on the Saturday and Auschwitz & Berkanbau on the Sunday, we were picked up and dropped off at our hotel- the cost was approx £50 per taxi (3 persons in each)for the w/end.(100 zloty for the Sat & 150 zloty for the Sunday, I think) We negotiated a price and paid each day.The salt mines were about half an hours drive from kracow and Auschwitz was about an hours drive away. George gave us a running commentary on the Polish history, present and past and was a fantastic guide, describing life as it really was and is today.
Have to say the taxi's were worth every penny.

TBeckett100

we drove from Krakow to Auschwitz (got lost!) but watch out for the black merc mafia cabs, you can get ripped off. there is a free shuttle bus service to the second camp.

if any of you are looking for death camps, try Majdenik. this is in my opinion a brilliant camp in terms of low tourism and very much untouched.

Essexdelboy

Thanks for all your great advice, guys. My flights and YH are booked and i am looking forward to the trip. I am not excited, that is the wrong word, just entrigued by what it will be like.

Thanks again

donnie_darko_3

We went by bus and returned on the train so we had two views of the road to aucshwitz.

Its a sorrowful place but with an engaging history of how man could be so cruel to man. When we visited there was an elderly lady with probably her daughter and grandchildren and it seemed as though she had been there and survived and she was in tears, you also find yourself in tears, be prepared.

SallyD

https://www.malopolskapks.pl offer Auschwitz Birkenau day trip lasting 6 hours for 80 PLN. October - March 10am at 2 Matejko Square. Wonderful informative guides and half the price of the Polish Tourist Board. The meeting point is a five minute walk from the Dworzec Glowny Station. If you want to go it alone train is about 11 pln and takes about 90 minutes then bus 2,35 or 27. There is a free bus between Auschwitz and Birkenau. As you are going to be there such a short time for the sake of 80 pln it is money well spent. Wrap up warm though!

Getting from the airport to town is a breeze. Outside the terminal at the foot of the steps that are right in front is a bus stop. This ferries people to and from the station free of charge. The shuttle train takes about 20 minutes and costs a mere 4 pln which you pay the conductor and takes you to Platform 1 of the Dworzec Glowny Station.This little train shuttles to and from the airport every 15 minutes or so.

I stayed at a hostel which was out of town but folk were singing the praises of the Zara Guest House which is in the jewish district........worth doing a search for their website. I shall lay my head there next visit.

I would like to recommend the Chimera restaurant that is in one of the roads off the main square whose name I cannot remember but it is the one with the Department Store on the corner.............yummy grub, but 100% vegetarian and you have to have an ice cream sundae at Wendls on the main square.

You will have an enjoyable few days and I am sure, like me, you will long to go back. Do a chat forum search for "Krakow" with the K and some great infor and suggestions are there.

LizEstelle

DO remember that 'Auschwitz' does not now and never has existed. It is just a germanisation of the REAL, Polish place name, Oswiecim.

In their attempt to take over the world, the Nazis often engaged in this ridiculous ploy of giving foreign place names a germanic makeover.

The Poles have grown fatalistic and resigned to expecting this monotonous 'Auschwitz, Auschwitz, Auschwitz' from unthinking, visiting foreigners ... but you ought, at least, to be aware that this is Poland, not Germany. No German is spoken.

donnie_darko_3

LizEstelle wrote:

DO remember that 'Auschwitz' does not now and never has existed. It is just a germanisation of the REAL, Polish place name, Oswiecim.

In their attempt to take over the world, the Nazis often engaged in this ridiculous ploy of giving foreign place names a germanic makeover.

The Poles have grown fatalistic and resigned to expecting this monotonous 'Auschwitz, Auschwitz, Auschwitz' from unthinking, visiting foreigners ... but you ought, at least, to be aware that this is Poland, not Germany. No German is spoken.

Blimey calm down! Those who have not been will soon find this out but whichever way you look at it auschwitz is the falalistic name that is synonymous with the concentration camps in poland. As for unthinking vistiing foreigners well thats a bit harsh on the people who are trying to learn and understand what happened and with due respect you never will until you visit.

barron_2

To Right Donnie,you tell her!!.

To you all that want to visit,
IT IS A VERY VERY SOBERING EXPERIANCE.

Worst in winter,but spring, summer or autumn,it will Haunt you for life,the minute you walk through the gates.

Dont just look at the Holocaust,but read and learn what they did to their own.

Dumping people(mostly disabled) in freezing water,to determine how long ditching pilots would survive in the North Sea.

I visited back in the late eighties,it still is vivid in my mind!!!!

As for Dachau..............................Well!

All I can Say ...........................Is

Happy Hols.

speedyjoe

I really don't mean to be insulting but am I the only one to find opinions expressed in this thread a bit bizarre?

"I'm so jealous. I love breaks like that"
"Apart from anything else there are less tourists there then."
"Wey Hey, I've just booked for November as a surprise birthday pressie for hubby"
"this is in my opinion a brilliant camp in terms of low tourism and very much untouched."

ergh, appalling human suffering as entertaining tourism? "holidays in the sun" and all that.

I've read the books, I've seen the real life footage, drove through Theresienstadt didn't stop it was late anyway I'd read the book seen the films, saw the Hollywood toned down version, and worst of all i had re-imagined it all.

This appalling horror could/would/has/will happen here. Why do we need to go to certain places to understand? To gain a badge?

As a pointer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_anti-Semitism is maybe a start. I'm sure pretty much anyone can find somewhere close by where horrors happened,, well certainly in England, if they really need to to visit.

I don't see why people need to go on holidays to eastern europe to understand the horror. Will Darfur one day be on holiday Itinerarys? Well at least when the slaughters over and everything is tidied up maybe?

SallyD

Please do not get me wrong.............I loved Crakow,Salt Mines and the like. Auschwitz I did not care for at all...it is not a holiday destination but to me a visit of rememberance. The bus back to town was not full of jolly holiday makers but folk deep in thought - speechless - what could one say!