Tour of Auschwitz

skint_chick

Auschwitz is busy whatever time of year you go - the best time to go is very early in the morning straight after opening or closer to the end of the day when all the tour buses have left - although you then might not get to spend as much time there as you want to.

I've done both trips by public transport and a rebooked bus trip - which felt more rushed. Going by public transport gives you more time to look round Birkenau after your official guided tour and really think about what you're seeing.

You can also visit the old Schindler factory and the Jewish quarter of Krakow, Kazimierz - there's a free downloadable In Your Pocket guide to Krakow that gives you lots of info about sights to see and places to eat. We went to a fab and reasonably priced Italian just off the main square called Fabrycky Pizza which I would highly recommend!

maman

We caught a bus in from the airport to the centre of Krakow. Easy and you get to see a bit of the city on the way. It depends how pushed for time you are as I'm assuming it takes a bit longer than the train.


IIRC we bought a 3 day travel pass and used that. It was cheap and we used it a bit on the trams while we were there although most of Krakow is walkable if you're staying close to the centre.


Generally I find travel passes excellent value for money and so easy when you can just hop on and off. Definitely worth it for bigger places like Warsaw, Budapest and Milan that we've visited lately and Venice where you can use them on the vaparetto as well as the trams.

sarah69696pink

Rockman wrote: »

Thanks Sarah. Do you know which taxi company you used

Just PM'd you the details...

Essex_Jim

We are going mid February.

The Hotel has tried to sell us a tour. I really want to go by Train and pick up a tour on arrival. Has anyone got experience of travel from Krakow by train and joining a tour on arrival?

NoodleDoodleMan

We did Auschwitz as a single day tour in October with official guides, offered by one of the many tour operators seen on Trip Advisor.

A much better option than DIY in my opinion, our party's guides were for English speaking visitors only.

The operator's escort who accompanied us had all the tickets organised when we arrived, otherwise there was a longish queue to buy them.

Same applies to the salt mines - very long queues for DIY visitors.

Essex_Jim

NoodleDoodleMan wrote: »

We did Auschwitz as a single day tour in October with official guides, offered by one of the many tour operators seen on Trip Advisor.

A much better option than DIY in my opinion, our party's guides were for English speaking visitors only.

The operator's escort who accompanied us had all the tickets organised when we arrived, otherwise there was a longish queue to buy them.

Same applies to the salt mines - very long queues for DIY visitors.

The tour did not include transport there? This would work well for my wanting to go by train!

zagfles

Essex_Jim wrote: »

We are going mid February.

The Hotel has tried to sell us a tour. I really want to go by Train and pick up a tour on arrival. Has anyone got experience of travel from Krakow by train and joining a tour on arrival?

The train is slow and a fair walk from the station to the camp. Bus is easier, they go straight there from the central bus station next to the train station in Krakow. Joining a tour on arrival is easy - just go the desk and buy one. They do regular English ones. I went in December so I guess it'll be similar in Feb, might be bigger queues in peak periods. But they do have several guides per time slot and split the group into 10-15.

zagfles

Essex_Jim wrote: »

The tour did not include transport there? This would work well for my wanting to go by train!

I think only official tours allowed in the main camp, when I went (it was a few years ago) there were several companies offering "tours" from Krakow but on investigation found that most were just transport there - they'd send you in alone with tips on where to go/what to see which is no substitute for a guided tour of the camps. Check carefully if you buy a tour in Krakow.

Essex_Jim

Thanks folks for the reply.

Reason for Train travel is what I would call a 'morbid curiosity' as people arrived by train. If quite a walk half a mile we would be OK with that . Couple of miles maybe reconsider.

I like the idea of having a tour booked and making our own way there.

NoodleDoodleMan

The train we got from the airport into Krakow was modern and comfortable - far removed from the freight trucks used by the SS as transport to Auschwitz.