Auschwitz Tours Memorial and Museum Guided Tour from Krakow

Posted By : luke s
The guide was very unenthusiastic, it was very rushed and you didn’t get enough time to take in the displays. The guide spoke in a very monotone voice and very quickly, without emotion, almost robot like. She so idk walk off without the group meaning she would be out of range if the audio system you had to wear. It was like she couldn’t get the tour over quick enough. It was disappointing at a sight as significant as auszwich bercenau. We have done numerous guided walking tours and this was Janus’s down the worst we’ve done
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Posted On : 2023-07-16 03:17:41

Posted By : SHARON_L
From the start to the end our trip driver was excellent, well organised trip and a must trip when visiting Poland. Thank you Michael 😊
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Posted On : 2022-06-04 04:27:42

Posted By : aufiero
This a must trip for everyone, beware it gets very busy and have been told it,s busier in the summer. The guides are very knowledgable and take you throughout Auschwitz 1 but you must also see the outlet museum at Auschwitz-Birkenau where you will really feel what it must have been like
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Posted On : 2020-02-19 12:03:59

Posted By : fozjon
this is probably about the most significant thing to see in the Krakow area. Our tour started ridiculously early, we had to be out to meet the bus at 5:55 a.m. Then it's a 90 minute drive to the camps. Our guide, Jacek, really knew his stuff and did a great job with the tour. The bus was comfortable and we watched a film on Auschwitz on the way to the camp. There are huge numbers of people traveling to see the camps. Auschwitz is a bit concentrated, so there were always masses of people with us. At Birkenau, there was much more space to just walk around. I'm glad we did this tour today.
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Posted On : 2019-11-02 12:30:36

Posted By : Victoria_N
Great trip - very humbling and glad we experienced this place. Tour operators were brilliant, great communication and transportation to and from sites were excellent!
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Posted On : 2019-10-21 16:23:55

Posted By : smith_carla
I went with my daughter. I received a whatsapp and e mail the day before advising me of pick up time 9am. Driver was there 20 minutes early and we were waitting for him. He took us to the tour guide and explained everything where to meet etc. It was all very straightforward. Guide took the group of about 30 round Auschwitz then had half hour break and met us at Birkenau. Very well organised. No eating selfies or photos smiling allowed guide told us straightaway..!!. We took water and ate in between camps. Bring your own food and leave in taxi / coach.
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Posted On : 2019-10-05 08:47:42

Posted By : Laurence H
The tour visited 2 of the 3 Auschwitz camps (very little remains of the 3rd camp). On arrival we joined a larger group for our guided tour of both camps. We had previously visited Sachsenhausen so used this experience as a reference point. Whilst there were many similarities, the sheer scale of Auschwitz was staggering with over 1 million prisoners (the vast majority of whom were Jews with three quarters of these either from Poland and Hungary) systematically murdered by the despotic Nazi regime. This sobering reminder of “man’s inhumanity to man” was graphically brought home to all by the mountains of luggage, hair, shoes, glasses and numerous personal items of the holocaust victims. The other thing that struck us was that whilst conditions in Sachsenhausen were appalling due to a combination of malnutrition disease, cruelty and overwork it seemed to be principally designed as a work camp. Auschwitz in contrast had a far more sinister purpose with the sole intention of murdering Jews and those who opposed Nazi ideology in the most efficient way possible and with the intention of ensuring these atrocities were never discovered. It is therefore important to visit such sites to ensure that the memory of such ones is not forgotten and such callous acts never repeated.

On the practical side, arrangements for collection and return were excellent with the journey from Krakow taking about an hour each way in a comfortable, spacious air-conditioned vehicle. Both camps were very busy on the day we visited and due to the size and layout of Auschwitz 1 we were in single file through many of the exhibits. Our tour guide used a radio microphone to provide information which we could hear through a headset. This meant in practice that our tour guide often reached exhibits several minutes before those in the rear of the group and began explaining about things that some in the group hadn’t had opportunity to see. It also made it difficult to ask questions. Auschwitz-Birkenau (camp 2) required significantly more walking and the pace set meant that those in the group who were less able, had difficulty keeping up. Our biggest complaint (and one echoed by other reviewers) was that prices charged for food, drinks and use of toilets were amongst some of the most expensive we encountered during our stay in Poland. Many of those visiting the site appeared to be doing so as some kind of pilgrimage, so it seemed to us that this crass commercialization and taking advantage in this way, was inconsistent with the aim of making this important experience memorable for the right reasons.
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Posted On : 2019-09-19 06:34:49

Posted By : Wendy W
Excellent service from start to finish. They kept in touch from the booking to the day of the tour. Would highly recommend their services for tours whilst you visit Krakow.
The tour within the camp is by official guides.
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Posted On : 2019-09-17 14:17:04

Posted By : candles22
We had a private pick up and guided tour.
The driver was very helpful and pleasant. On arrival we joined our guide along with others.
She was very informative and was very knowledgeable about such an atrocity as she took us round.

There’s a lot to take in and the tour lasts about 4 hours in total, that’s at both camps.

It’s a huge eye opener. There’s quite a bit of walking so wear comfortable shoes, plus take a drink.

Be prepared if you need the toilet as it’s 2 zolty pp at each site.

A must see if you’re into History.
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Posted On : 2019-08-18 12:02:13

Posted By : Bloggsy999
I was taking my family to Krakow to visit Auschwitz after my oldest child had learned about WW2 at school. However, there were a few companies offering tours and I thought this company was good value.

I know others offer additions, such as the Salt Mines and Schindler's Factory but I was only really interested in Auschwitz so chose this tour.

I booked through TA and had my tickets emailed to me, although they were also available on the TA website. The vendor also accepts e-tickets, so there's no need to print a paper copy.

Aside from the email confirmation, the vendor also contacted me to confirm the booking and to find out our hotel, so the driver could pick us up there.

The day before we were due to go, the vendor contacted me again, by Whatsapp, and confirmed the time and location of the pick up, and also that we would be joined by another group of 4.

Never having visited Auschwitz before, I wasn't sure about lunch arrangements as the camp is about 80 mins away, by car, and the tour would last about 3-4 hours.

The camp has a cafe and 2 small concession stalls (1 in the car park and 1 in the main building) but the whole place was absolutely packed so there were long queues, however the vendor would supply packed lunches for 30PLN each if you ordered them beforehand (it would consist of a sandwich, bottle of water, a piece of fruit and a chocolate).

I opted to visit a local bakery before being picked up, so my family and I just got a sandwich each and we got a snack or 2 from another shop, as well as a bottle of water each. We were lucky in that our hotel was next to these shops and they were open early, as we were picked up at 7.30am.

After being collected, we picked up the other group from another hotel and then, when we got to the camp, our group joined about 4 other groups where we were given a coloured sticker by our driver to indicate we were all part of the same English speaking group and our driver also gave us his 'card' which had his mobile no, in case we couldn't find him.

After going through airport-like security at the camp, we met our guide who explained the walking tour would last about 3 hours and then we'd move to the other camp for another hour.

For those of you who are not aware, Auschwitz was 'extended' and 2 other camps were constructed. This tour covers Auschwitz and Auschwitz 2 (known as Auschwitz-Birkenau) but not Auschwitz 3 (Auschwitz-Monowitz).

Auschwitz has the gate with the words "Arbeit Macht Frei" and you are shown the buildings where the prisoners were housed. Each building has a 'theme' and due to the amount of visitors, you are led through the rooms in a strict rotation and by a set path which doesn't leave you much opportunity to browse in your own time.

The displays take you through the history of the Jewish 'round-up' and the treatment of the prisoners with some actual recovered artifacts and a few photo's.

At the end, you meet your driver back at the vehicle and are driven to the next camp. You are shown the railway platform where the prisoners were met, and then the wooden huts where they were kept.

Again, each hut has a theme and you are also shown the memorial dedicated to the victims as well as some of the damaged huts where the departing Nazi's tried to destroy evidence of the atrocity at the end of the war.

All in all, I found it very worthwhile and very emotive - several other tourists could be seen crying at various points through the tour. I'm sure most people can gather what will be seen but for those thinking of coming onto a tour, I'd offer the following advice:
- bring your own sandwich, water and a snack. There's no eating allowed in the camp but you can eat in the car park and it's a long tour. My family and I had to scoff down our sandwich in between the trip between the 2 camps.
- wear comfortable shoes. It's a walking tour and there's no place for you to sit and / or rest. You follow your guide and, due to the sheer volume of tour groups, you have to go around behind one group and in front of another, but in a 'set' line.
- most displays allow you to photograph, but not whilst using the flash so make sure your camera is of good quality / resolution and try to book a tour that starts early so you can see the displays in the daytime.
- bring an umbrella or have a jacket in case it rains - there's few places to shelter if it starts to rain (as it did on my tour).
- make sure you have some Polish money (Zloty's) as it costs 2PLN to use the toilet
- finally, because of the amount of visitors / tours remember where your driver parked and what the vehicle registration is. The car park had several people wandering around trying to find their tour group and it's not somewhere you'd want to be left behind at - it's, obviously, in the middle of nowhere!

At the end of the tour, we were taken back and dropped off at our hotel. I must admit that I didn't see much of that journey as we were all knackered and slept for most of the trip back!
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Posted On : 2019-08-12 16:00:38