visit auschwitz tickets

Online guided tours for individual visitors

Individual visitors can visit the Auschwitz Memorial with a guide online thanks to the "Auschwitz in Front of Your Eyes" platform.

Groups are organized in three language versions, and the visits starts at a predetermined time.

Entry cards are available at visit.auschwitz.org  at "online individual visit" section. 

The online tour lasts about two hours and is divided into two parts – in Auschwitz I and Birkenau. The guide's narration is conducted live. Additionally, the educator will also use multimedia materials, archival photographs, artistic works, documents, and testimonies of Survivors. Thanks to the application, interaction with the guide and asking questions is also possible.

Online tours hours (time in Poland):

• English: 12:30 daily • German: 12:15 pm Saturday/Sunday • Polish: 12:00 pm Saturday/Sunday

• Polish: 13:00 Saturday/Sunday • German: 13:15 Saturday/Sunday • English: 13:30 daily

• English: 14:30 daily • German: 14:15 Saturday/Sunday • Polish: 14:00 Saturday/Sunday

APRIL - SEPTEMBER

• English: 8:30; 14:30; 17:00 daily • German: 14:15 Saturday/Sunday • Polish: 14:00 Saturday/Sunday

• English: 13:30 daily • German: 13:15 Saturday/Sunday • Polish: 13:00 Saturday/Sunday

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER

• English: 12:30 daily • German: 12:15 Saturday/Sunday • Polish: 12:00 Saturday/Sunday

More information about the "Auschwitz in Front of Your Eyes" platform .

  • via @auschwitzmuseum" aria-label="Udostępnij na Twitter">

Images from www.auschwitz.org may be used only in publications relating to the history of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau or the activities of the Auschwitz Memorial. Their use must not tarnish the good reputation of the victims of KL Auschwitz. Any interference in the integrity of the images – including cropping or graphic processing – is prohibited. The use of the images for commercial purposes requires the Museum’s approval and information about the publication. Publishers undertake to indicate the authors and origin of the images: www.auschwitz.org, as well as to inform the Museum of the use of the images ([email protected]).

From what time are free dates available?

Please be informed that booking of entry passes is available everyday from 12:00 noon (90 days in advance for individual visitors and organised groups)

Is entry to the premises of the Memorial free?

Entry to the premises of the Auschwitz Memorial is free. A fee is only charged for visits with a Museum educator, i.e., a person authorized and prepared to conduct guided tours on the premises.

Why have entry passes been introduced?

For the convenience of visiting and to ensure the safety of visitors the maximum number of persons that may enter the premises of the former Auschwitz I camp in one hour is specified. To this end, every visitor receives upon booking an individual entry pass, a document that grants entry into the premises of the Museum. The entry pass is issued to both individual visitors and those visiting with an educator.

Can I enter the Museum upon arriving without a pre-booked entry pass?

Entrance to the Museum is only possible with a personalized pre-paid entry pass. Reservations can be made at visit.auschwitz.org. The number of entry passes available is limited. We cannot guarantee the availability of entry passes on site on the day of the visit.

Should I have the entry pass on me?

Yes. Every entry pass has an individual bar code. The entry pass may be printed or saved, for example to a tablet PC or mobile phone. Entry Pass for Guided Tours for a tour without an Educator authorizes the holder indicated with a name and surname of proof of identity to explore the Museum upon presentation at the entrance to the Museum.

I paid for the reservation but have not received the entry pass, what should I do?

Entry passes are sent automatically by the system. If such an e-mail is not visible in your Inbox, it may have ended up in the spam folder. Check the spam folder. If you do not find the entry passes in your spam folder, contact us via email [email protected].

How do I book entry to the Museum without an educator?

In the system, select the following options: Visit for individual --> select a date --> Tour for individuals without an educator

How do I book a tour for an organised group?

In the system - after user registration - you should send a booking request via the booking form:  Visit for groups.  After sending the query you will receive an answer by e-mail.

Is there a tour organised with an educator for individual visitors?

Yes. Such tours are organised throughout the year in several languages and at specified hours. You can book such tours in the system. You should select the following options:

Visit for individuals --> select a date --> select language --> select the visiting hour --> basket

What should I do if I want to book an extended tour?

The panel has a “Visit for groups” tab, where you will find several tour options, e.g. 1- and 2-day study visits, tours for middle school groups etc. If you cannot find the desired tour option, please contact the visitors’ service centre:  [email protected]

Can I make changes to my reservation?

The system allows you to make changes to reservation parameters (day, hour or tour language). You can make changes within available dates. To effect changes, please contact our visitor’s service centre ([email protected]). Changes are limited to entry passes for organised groups.

Is the chosen hour of the visit the hour of entry into the Museum?

Yes. Please remember to leave bulky luggage in a car or bus before entering the Museum; organised groups must pick up their headsets and proceed to the security check. We recommend you arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of the tour.

What happens if I am late for my reserved hour?

An individual visitor will be able to enter the Auschwitz Memorial in the first available time slot in between the hours for individual visitors without an educator.

Visitors who made a group reservation with an educator will have to reserve another entry time. These groups must start the visit at the specified time.

Organised groups of individual visitors who made a reservation for a visit with an educator will be able to enter the premises in the first available hour. It may, however, result in a shorter visiting time or impossibility of entering the Museum.

Will I receive a refund if I am late for a booked tour with an educator and cannot enter the Museum?

Due to the limited number of entry passes, we recommend making a prior reservation. At the moment there is no possibility of refunding payment for a tour with an educator; therefore, we ask visitors to make an informed and thoughtful decision prior to the reservation.

Can I use a drone at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial?

The grounds of the Memorial are in the no-fly zone DRA-P EP P20. The permit to fly over the Museum grounds is issued only in special cases (e.g. TV programmes or documentaries). Permissions are not given to recreational and private flights over the Museum grounds. More at  http://auschwitz.org/epp20

Can I cancel my reservation?

Reservations can be cancelled, but the cost of  visits with an educator cannot be refunded.

Copyright © 2014 Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau. All rights reserved

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Visiting Auschwitz – How to Plan the Auschwitz Tour

Visiting Auschwitz, albeit a very somber experience, is one of the must things to do in Poland. The largest Nazi Germany concentration and extermination camp during World War II, where over 1,3 million people lost their lives, needs no introduction. Conveniently located near Krakow , Auschwitz can be an easy addition to your Poland itinerary.

It took me almost 37 years to finally visit Auschwitz (although I’ve been to other Nazi Germany camps in Poland), and even if I knew very well what to expect, the place still overwhelmed me with its cruelty and tragedy. And I think everyone should plan a trip to Auschwitz to understand history better and see what people are capable of when the ideology brainwashes them. And, of course, to pay respect to all the unnecessary victims. It’s important to visit places like Auschwitz so we can do our best to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future.

visiting auschwitz tour

If you are visiting Poland (especially Krakow , Warsaw , Katowice , or Wroclaw ), I prepared this guide to help you plan your Auschwitz tour without too much hassle. There are different ways to visit Auschwitz, but no matter which one you choose, be prepared for one of the most difficult yet necessary travel experiences of your life.

visiting auschwitz tour

Table of Contents

Where is Auschwitz

The former Nazi Germany Concentration Camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, is located in a town of around 37.000 inhabitants called Oświęcim in southern Poland. Krakow is less than 70 km away, and Katowice is 35 km away. Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is around 330 km away from Oświęcim.

A brief history of Auschwitz

Even if Auschwitz is known mainly as the extermination camp, it was established as a concentration camp in mid-1940. It was one of over 40 camps in Poland that were supposed to be a solution to the problem of overflowing prisons full of arrested locals. The first people were brought to Auschwitz on June 14th, 1940, from the prison in Tarnow.

Since 1942 Auschwitz has also been used as the extermination camp where Nazis implemented their plan to murder Jewish people from all over Europe. At the peak of its operation, in 1944, Auschwitz was divided into three parts: Auschwitz I (the oldest one, in the old Polish military barracks), Auschwitz II-Birkenau (the largest one, founded in 1941, the majority of victims were killed here), and Auschwitz III (this was a group of over 40 sub-camps created near industrial plants, made for work prisoners).

Numerous Polish villages were demolished, and locals were evicted to develop such a large institution. The camps were isolated from the outside world. The total area was around 40 square kilometers, including all three Auschwitz camps and the so-called “interest zone” used for the technical or supply background, offices, and barracks for Nazis.

Since Auschwitz had a strategic location on the front line, in August 1944, the camp’s liquidation began – the prisoners were taken to Germany, and the evidence of the crimes was covered up. The liberation of Auschwitz took place on January 27th, 1945, when around 7,5 thousand prisoners were still held there.

Altogether, in the almost four years of operation, over 1,3 million people lost their lives in Auschwitz; the majority were Jewish (around 1,1 million), but also Polish (about 150 hundred thousand), Roma people (23 thousand), and other nations.

In 1979 Auschwitz was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List – it is the only former Nazi concentration camp with that title in the world.

visiting auschwitz tour

How to visit Auschwitz

You can visit Auschwitz two ways: with a tour from where you are staying in Poland (most likely Krakow, Katowice, Warsaw, or Wroclaw) or independently, reaching the site by car or using public transport. Both options are doable; however, the tour is a slightly better one as everything will be taken care of for you.

There is a wide selection of tours to choose from that depart from Krakow as well as other mentioned cities. Most of them cover more or less the same things: pick-up from your accommodation, transportation to/from Auschwitz and back, the entrance ticket to the concentration camp, and the guided tour on-site.

When I visited Auschwitz, I arrived by train from Warsaw, with the change in Katowice. I was at the museum almost an hour before my guided tour of the site was supposed to start, and despite the poor weather (it was raining on that day), there was no place to hide and wait for the tour. Visitors were not allowed to enter the museum until a few minutes before the tour was about to start. Me and a few other unlucky visitors just stood near the trees, hiding under the umbrella and waiting for our time to enter the site. I can’t say it was a comfortable situation (but at least the weather worked perfectly well for such a sad place to visit). Recently, a new visitors center was opened so hopefully the situation is better.

When using public transport, you need to rely on the schedule of trains/buses and, just in case, plan to be at the site with some extra time ahead; hence a tour is a better option. Still, visiting Auschwitz is doable independently – I did it, and once the tour of the site started, it was really good.

visiting auschwitz tour

Visiting Auschwitz – practical information

Visiting Auschwitz memorial site is free of charge; however, I recommend joining the tour with the educator provided by the museum. They have a huge knowledge of the place and the tragedy that occurred here and can answer all the questions visitors always have. Tours are available in various languages: Polish, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Czech, and Slovak.

Even if you decide to visit the site independently, you still need to book the entry pass – those with free entrance start in the afternoon. You can buy/reserve your ticket online at the website of Auschwitz Museum here.

Currently, the price for the tour with the educator is 80 PLN for Polish and 90 PLN for other languages. When booking the ticket, you must state your full name and surname – this will be checked later.

Since tickets can sell out quickly, booking one at least a month in advance is recommended. If there are no tickets left for the day you want to visit Auschwitz, you can join the organized tour from Krakow or other cities, as tour operators usually have tickets booked in advance. Due to the sensitive nature of the place, children under 14 years old should not visit Auschwitz Museum.

Once you have your ticket, you need to arrive at the Auschwitz visitors center 30 minutes before your tour starts to go through the security check (it’s rather thorough, similar to the airport), have your ticket inspected (remember to have the ID or passport with you), get the headset for the tour and meet your group. You are allowed to have a bag or backpack with a maximum dimension of 30x20x10 cm; any larger luggage must be left in the paid lockers.

Auschwitz Museum is open every day except January 1st, December 25th, and Easter Sunday. Opening hours vary depending on the month and are as follows:

  • 7:30-14:00 in December
  • 7:30-15:00 in January and November
  • 7:30-16:00 in February
  • 7:30-17:00 in March and October
  • 7:30-18:00 in April, May, and September
  • 7:30-19:00 in June, July, and August

The closing time means the last entrance – after that, you are allowed to stay on-site for an hour and a half. However, if you want to see Auschwitz Museum properly, you need at least 3,5 hours for that – that’s also how long the standard tour with the educator lasts. It is usually divided equally between Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II- Birkenau. A free shuttle bus runs between the two sites every few minutes.

Taking pictures and making videos is allowed in Auschwitz, for individual use, except in two places: the hall with the hair of Victims (block nr 4) and the basements of Block 11. Your educator will remind you not to take pictures there.

Remember what sort of place you are visiting and behave there with respect. It might be obvious for most, but I can’t count how many times I’ve read news about inappropriate behavior in Auschwitz and other similar sites in Poland, so I think it’s worth reminding this is not your typical tourist attraction but a place of one of the greatest tragedy that ever happened in the world.

visiting auschwitz tour

Getting to Auschwitz independently

If you decide to visit Auschwitz on your own, you must get to the visitors’ center, where your tour will start. The new visitors center, which opened just recently, is located at 55 Więźniów Oświęcimia Street in Oświęcim ( here is the exact location ). If you drive there, there is a large parking lot where you can leave your car before visiting the museum.

If you use public transport, there are both trains and buses you can take to reach Oświęcim. I recommend trains as they are slightly faster and more comfortable; however, some buses stop next to the museum, so that’s convenient. You can check all the connections on this website , where you can also find the location of the bus stop in Oświęcim (there can be three different ones).

The train station in Oświęcim is located at Powstańców Śląskich Street, some 20 minutes walking from the Auschwitz museum. It’s a straightforward way; you can check the map with the directions here . I recommend catching the train that gives you at least an hour between arriving at Oświęcim and when your tour starts.

visiting auschwitz tour

Auschwitz tour from Krakow

Numerous Auschwitz tours depart from Krakow, so you will easily find the one that suits your itinerary and needs. Here are some recommended ones:

  • Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial Guided Tour from Krakow
  • Auschwitz & Birkenau – Fully Guided Tour from Krakow
  • Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour with Private Transport from Kraków
  • Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour by Private Transport from Krakow

You can also combine visiting Auschwitz with Wieliczka Salt Mine , another UNESCO-listed site near Krakow and a must-visit place in Poland. Here are the tours that go to both places in one day:

  • Day Trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Wieliczka Salt Mine from Krakow including Lunch
  • Full-Day Tour of Auschwitz and Wieliczka Salt Mine from Krakow
  • Auschwitz-Birkenau and Salt Mine Tour with private transport from Krakow
  • Combined: Auschwitz Birkenau and Salt Mine private chauffeur from Krakow

If you decide to go to Auschwitz from Krakow on your own, you can take the train from the main train station to Oświęcim. They are rather frequent, more or less every hour, and the journey takes a bit over an hour (depending on the connection, the longest one is 1h20min).

If you want to take the bus, they depart from the MDA bus station, next to the main train station. The price for trains and buses is similar, between 15 and 20 PLN, although trains tend to be cheaper and faster. You can check all the connections and buy a ticket here .

visiting auschwitz tour

Auschwitz tour from Warsaw

Even if Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is located over 300 km away from Oświęcim, it is possible to go for a one-day Auschwitz tour. However, you can expect a long day, and a large part of it will be spent traveling. But if you are visiting Warsaw only, Auschwitz can be a good addition to your Poland itinerary, so you can better understand the country’s complex history.

Here are some of the recommended Auschwitz tours from Warsaw:

  • From Warsaw Auschwitz and Krakow one day tour by train with pick up and drop off
  • One day tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau from Warsaw with private transport

Going for the day trip from Warsaw to Auschwitz independently is also possible using trains. You can take the 6 am train to Katowice and then change for the train to Oświęcim, arriving in the town around 10:30. If you decide to do that, you can book your Auschwitz tour for 11:30 or 12:00. On the way back, you can catch the train after 16:00 from Oświęcim to Katowice, and after changing for the train to Warsaw, you will be in the capital after 20:00.

visiting auschwitz tour

Auschwitz tour from Katowice

Since Katowice is less than 40 km from Auschwitz, it’s easy to go for a day trip. You need to take the local train to Oświęcim, it takes less than 50 minutes, and the connections are more or less every hour.

Or you can go for a tour, here are the Auschwitz tours from Katowice:

  • Auschwitz – Birkenau from Katowice
  • Auschwitz & Birkenau English guided tour by private transport from Katowice
  • Auschwitz tour from Wroclaw

Wroclaw is another popular place to visit in Poland, and since it’s located around 230 km from Oświęcim, you can go for an Auschwitz tour from Wroclaw too. If you decide to do it independently, you can take the train to Katowice and then change for the local train to Oświęcim. A one-way trip should take you less than 4 hours.

Or you can go for a tour; here are the recommended ones from Wroclaw:

  • Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour from Wrocław
  • Private Full-Day Tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau from Wroclaw

visiting auschwitz tour

Auschwitz Museum Tour

As for the museum itself, here is what you can expect.

You will start in the oldest part of the concentration camp – Auschwitz I, where the infamous gate with the sign “Arbeit macht frei” (meaning “Work Sets You Free”) is located. Here, you will visit numerous barracks where inmates were kept – now you can see different exhibitions there, showing the reality of Auschwitz and halls with personal belongings taken from arriving prisoners – luggage, shoes, glasses, etc., or hair of Victims. You will learn all about cruel practices here, including medical experiments or torture.

Visiting this part of Auschwitz museum is a very somber experience, and it’s really difficult to comprehend the tragedy that happened in this very place.

Besides the barracks in Auschwitz I, you will also see where the camp commander lived or the first crematorium where Nazis started their experiments with killing using gas. In this part of the Auschwitz tour, you can take pictures everywhere except the two places in Blocks 4 and 11 – they will be clearly marked, and your educator will remind you about this restriction.

The visit to Auschwitz I takes around 1,5 hours. Afterward, together with your group and educator, you will take the shuttle bus to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, located some 3 km away.

visiting auschwitz tour

Auschwitz II-Birkenau is where around 90% of victims died. It is a huge area that worked kind of like the killing factory, with four gas chambers and crematoriums. This is also where most prisoners arrived – you most likely know the view of the railway tracks and brick gate – that’s Auschwitz II-Birkenau. This part of the visit is mostly outdoors.

You will walk around the area, see the remnants of the camp, visit some barracks inside, and learn all about the horrific tragedy that happened here. When Auschwitz I has a more intimate, even claustrophobic feeling, Auschwitz II-Birkenau can overwhelm you with its scale and enormity.

You will spend around 1,5 hours here, too; afterward, you can take the shuttle bus back to the visitors center when you started your tour.

visiting auschwitz tour

Final thoughts on visiting Auschwitz

Even though I’ve lived in Poland almost my whole life, and Auschwitz has been a familiar topic since I remember, it took me nearly 37 years to finally visit the place. Before I was in different Nazi Germany sites in Poland, mostly in Majdanek in Lublin, so I didn’t feel the need to visit Auschwitz too. But I don’t regret the decision to go there eventually.

You can read and learn about the place, but nothing can prepare you for visiting Auschwitz. Some areas look familiar (after all, pictures of the “Arbeit macht frei” sign or Birkenau gate are present everywhere), but you will still be overwhelmed by the place and seeing it in real life. It’s hard to comprehend the cruelty and tragedy that happened here, and dealing with all the thoughts invading your mind afterward can take a while. It can be one of the most difficult-to-understand places you will ever visit.

Still, despite it all, I think everyone should go to Auschwitz to see where fanaticism and totalitarianism can lead and why we should avoid them at all costs.

visiting auschwitz tour

Further reading

I published many articles about Poland that you might find useful when planning your trip there. Here are some of them:

  • 37 Amazing Things to Do in Krakow, Poland
  • 20 Great Places to Visit As Day Trips from Warsaw, Poland
  • 17 Amazing Things to Do in Lublin, Poland
  • The Complete Guide to Visiting Slownski National Park, Poland
  • Visit Grudziadz – One of the Hidden Gems of Poland
  • 19 Amazing Things to Do in Gdansk, Poland
  • Visit Sandomierz, Poland – One of the Prettiest Towns in the Country
  • Visiting Malbork Castle, Poland – the Largest Castle in the World
  • 25 Amazing Things to do in Wroclaw, Poland
  • and many more!

If you are looking for articles about a specific destination – check out the map with all the articles I’ve published (and their locations). You can also join my Facebook group about traveling in Central Europe and ask your questions there.

Travel Resources

You can find the best accommodation options at Booking . They have many discounts and excellent customer service. Click here to look for the place to stay in Poland

Never travel without travel insurance , you never know what might happen and better safe than sorry. You can check the insurance policy for Poland here.

I recommend joining organized tours to get to know the place better and to visit more places during your trip. You can find a great selection of tours at Get Your Guide – click here .

For the end I left a few announcements that might interest you:

  • Sign up to my newsletter or follow me on Bloglovin to get updates about the new posts
  • Join my Facebook group about Eastern Europe, the Balkans and former USSR and connect with fellow travellers and enthusiasts of these regions – just click here!
  • I’ve included a few handy links of services and products I personally like and use so you can plan your own trip to Poland too. They are often affiliate links. This means I will get a small commission if you book/purchase anything through my links, at no extra costs for you. Thank you!

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visit auschwitz tickets

Admission and Tickets

Free timed-entry tickets  are required to enter the Museum’s Permanent Exhibition only. Tickets are not required for Daniel’s Story and other special exhibitions.

How do I get a ticket?

Reserve tickets online before your visit to the Museum. The Museum and its exhibitions are open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET.

Advance tickets online : Tickets through August 2024 are available now. 

Tickets for September – November 2024 will be available starting July 8, 2024

Tickets for December 2024 – February 2025 will be available starting October 7, 2024

Tickets for March – May 2025 will be available starting January 6, 2025

Same-day tickets online :  A limited number of same-day tickets will be available online each day at 7 a.m. ET.

Are tickets free?

Yes, tickets are free. However, tickets reserved online before your visit are subject to a $1 transaction fee.

Can I reserve tickets for groups?

Yes, you can reserve tickets for groups of 55 or more people through our group ticketing system. 

Groups that are not affiliated with a school or tour company, or groups smaller than 55 people, can reserve tickets through our general ticketing system. Small groups can reserve 25 tickets per transaction. Learn more about group reservations .

This Section

Resources and tips to assist you before, during, and after your visit to the Museum

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visit auschwitz tickets

  • Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum

Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum tours

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Auschwitz and Birkenau self-guided tour with transfer from Krakow

Auschwitz and Birkenau self-guided tour with transfer from Krakow

Self-guided tour to UNESCO museums Auschwitz and Birkenau including guidebook in 19 languages and transport to the museums from Krakow city center.

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Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial guided tour from Krakow

Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial guided tour from Krakow

Book a guided tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial from Krakow. Follow a licensed guide and visit the concentration camp.

Auschwitz-Birkenau skip-the-line entrance ticket and official guided tour

Auschwitz-Birkenau skip-the-line entrance ticket and official guided tour

See the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau and attend the fully guided tour at Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau.

Auschwitz-Birkenau tour from Krakow with hotel pickup

Auschwitz-Birkenau tour from Krakow with hotel pickup

Learn about the enormity of the human tragedy and the lives of prisoners in the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp. Take part in a guided tour and organized transport from Krakow.

Auschwitz - Birkenau guided Memorial tour from Krakow

Auschwitz - Birkenau guided Memorial tour from Krakow

Book your tour from Krakow and visit Auschwitz Birkenau, a former concentration camp with a professional English-speaking guide.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Skip-the-Line Entry Tickets

Auschwitz-Birkenau Skip-the-Line Entry Tickets

Visit Auschwitz Birkenau, a former concentration, camp with an official museum guide-educator. Book your tour from Krakow.

en,  it,  fr,  es,  de,  +1  pl

Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum guided tour

Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum guided tour

Visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex, the largest of the Nazi concentration camps, and learn more about the everyday life of prisoners from a licensed guide.

Auschwitz-Birkenau guided tour with transport

Auschwitz-Birkenau guided tour with transport

Book the guided tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau with a transport service from Krakow. See the Holocaust memorial and learn about the story of WWII.

Auschwitz-Birkenau fast-track entry pass and guided tour

Auschwitz-Birkenau fast-track entry pass and guided tour

Visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. Save time at the entrance thanks to the fast-track entry and visit the venue with a professional guide.

Auschwitz-Birkenau and Wieliczka Salt Mine in one day tour

Auschwitz-Birkenau and Wieliczka Salt Mine in one day tour

Visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Wieliczka Salt Mine in one day! Make most of your time with this fully organized day trip from Krakow.

Auschwitz Birkenau and Wieliczka Salt Mine in one day from Krakow

Auschwitz Birkenau and Wieliczka Salt Mine in one day from Krakow

Visit Auschwitz Birkenau, a former concentration camp with a professional English speaking guide and Wieliczka Salt Mine registered on the UNESCO list.

Auschwitz Shuttle

Auschwitz Shuttle

Use a convenient shuttle bus and visit Auschwitz - Birkenau Concentration Camp by yourself. It is the fastest and the most comfortable way to get there from Krakow,

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Visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum and follow a self-guided audio tour through the camp.

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Book tickets for a Krakow evening cruise including one drink.

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Discover medieval artifacts in the heart of Krakow, visit the most famous church in Krakow, take an afternoon stroll through the streets of Krakow.

Guided E-Scooter tour of Krakow with food tasting

Guided E-Scooter tour of Krakow with food tasting

Book an eco-friendly scooter tour of Krakow with food tastings. Cover more ground and explore the top attractions of the Polish capita - in a relatively short amount of time.

Self guided tour with interactive city game of Krakow

Self guided tour with interactive city game of Krakow

Explore Krakow in a unique and affordable way. A self-guided city trail will guide you to the best spots in the city while playing fun riddles and assignments on your smartphone.

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Wieliczka Salt Mine Tour

Wieliczka Salt Mine Tour

Visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow with an expert tour guide, and admire this UNESCO World Heritage site.

Chopin concert in Krakow

Chopin concert in Krakow

Book a concert ticket in Krakow and listen to the masterpieces of Fryderyk Chopin, one of the best pianists in history.

Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum tour from Kraków

Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum tour from Kraków

Visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Site on this 7-hour tour from Kraków with entrance tickets and roundtrip transportation.

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Wawel Castle's Greatest Exhibitions with English Guide

Wawel Castle's Greatest Exhibitions with English Guide

Explore the Royal Wawel Castle, one of the most spectacular castles in Europe, with an expert English-speaking guide and learn about the history of Polish Kings.

Wieliczka Salt Mine guided tour with hotel transfers

Wieliczka Salt Mine guided tour with hotel transfers

Explore caves and chambers carved out of the rock at Wieliczka Salt Mine and visit one of the original World Heritage Sites listed by UNESCO. Book your tour online and enjoy private transportation from Krakow.

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Guided Krakow self-balancing scooter tour of the old town

Guided Krakow self-balancing scooter tour of the old town

Book your Guided Krakow self-balancing scooter tour of the old town to experience the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Wawel Castle, the Sukiennice Museum, St. Mary's Basilica and many more with a local guide.

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One-day tour of Dunajec river gorge and thermal baths from Krakow

One-day tour of Dunajec river gorge and thermal baths from Krakow

Head to southern Poland's most picturesque district for a rafting trip on the Dunajec River.

Extreme off-road quad bike tour from Krakow

Extreme off-road quad bike tour from Krakow

Book an adrenaline-pumping, off-roading quad bike tour with transportation from Krakow. Ditch the asphalt roads and set off on different tracks through forests and fields.

Wieliczka salt mine tour from Krakow

Wieliczka salt mine tour from Krakow

The inside story

The Auschwitz-Birkenau complex has left its inglorious mark on human history. A symbol of the Holocaust, during its five years of operation over a million Jews, along with Poles, Romani and other groups, were systematically killed by German Occupiers in WWII. Confronting and emotionally charged, a visit to the complex is an essential part of the human experience.

Composed of two sections, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, together they convey the magnitude of the compound. Auschwitz I was the main site opened in 1940 with the now infamous sign on its gate Arbeit macht frei (‘Work sets you free’). It held the first camps, the offices of the SS and was where criminal medical experiments and the first gassings using Zyklon B took place. Auschwitz II-Birkenau came later and for all intents and purposes became an extermination camp. The remains of its gas chambers and crematorium, along with primitive barracks, can still be seen.

Since 1947 this site has become a memorial and museum dedicated to the many victims of Auschwitz. Both camps require at least 90 minutes each to gain a comprehensive understanding of the events that took place here. With over two million visitors per year, it’s well advised to book in advance.

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  • What Is Cinema?

The Man Who Ran Auschwitz, and the Woman Who Survived It

visit auschwitz tickets

By Julie Miller

Image may contain Clothing Coat Person Walking Adult Overcoat Accessories Bag and Handbag

Auschwitz is made even more horrifying by the simple fact that someone had to dream up its atrocities in the first place. One of those people was Rudolf Höss, an SS officer who was tasked with devising a method to efficiently kill Jews. As commandant of the notorious concentration camp, Höss oversaw the use of Zyklon-B pesticide, sometimes donning a gas mask himself to supervise the mass murder of what he estimated to be 2.5 million victims. After World War II, Höss was sentenced to death at the Nuremberg Trials, and hanged in 1947.

But Höss’s son Hans-Jurgen Höss, now 87, never knew the commandant as a monster. Even though his family lived a few hundred yards from the concentration camp, separated from it by just a garden and a high concrete wall, Hans grew up oblivious to his father’s awful truth. Hans and his young siblings were told that the camp, inside occupied Poland, was a prison and their father ran it. The family was privileged: They had a pool and staff—and some of Hans’s happiest memories were from that early-1940s period in Auschwitz. (The Höss family’s dissonantly idyllic home life was recently dramatized in the Oscar-winning narrative film The Zone of Interest. )

When filmmaker Daniela Volker first contacted Hans several years ago, he was in such denial about his father’s role in history that he hadn’t even read the memoir Höss had written in prison. “It was too painful and just too much to deal with,” Volker says. “I understood pretty much the first time I met him that Hans-Jurgen Höss had spent 80-something years avoiding dealing with who he was. He had an extremely idealized vision of his father, because at home, the father he knew was a loving, kind, wonderful father—actually, for the 1940s, very involved with his children, whenever work permitted it. Auschwitz seemed to be the place where he’d been happiest as a child, unaware of what was happening beyond the garden wall.”

Hans’s idea of his father was at complete odds with the man who wrote matter-of-factly in his memoir about enabling mass murders. “It was almost like a true-crime story in which the criminal wrote his deathbed confession,” says Volker, who was “absolutely floored” to discover the autobiography existed.

Volker says that it took her about a year to convince Hans, through his pastor son Kai, to face his father’s legacy—and to do so on camera in The Commandant’s Shadow, a documentary in theaters May 30. Asked why she thinks Hans finally felt ready to confront the past, Volker suggests it was part age, part logistics. “I came along and sort of facilitated it,” she explains. While filming, Hans returned to his childhood home and visited the concentration camp his father oversaw for the first time. “We organized the trip, so it didn’t require any more effort beyond turning up,” Volker says. “I don’t think psychologically he would’ve been able to actually organize it.”

In The Commandant’s Shadow , Hans’s confrontation with his father’s past climaxes when he meets Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a 98-year-old survivor of the Auschwitz hell that Höss commanded. “I persuaded [Hans] that it’s important, not just for him but for the historical record, to document the encounter of two eyewitnesses who saw Auschwitz from two really, very different sides,” says Volker. “He had to overcome himself in order to be able to do it. But he understood why it was important.”

Lasker-Wallfisch’s life was spared only because she played cello. Her lawyer father and violinist mother were killed upon arrival at Izbica, a transit ghetto in Poland. But the Auschwitz guards apparently took their entertainment seriously, and needed a cellist for the orchestra they had assembled from the prisoner population. Lasker-Wallfisch and the other “lucky” musicians played marches morning and night amid the camp’s horrors.

“Their circumstances couldn’t have been more different,” says Volker of her film subjects. “He lived in utter luxury. She was in a barrack. She was lucky she was a musician because they had better food—not that that was much to talk about, but at least they had better rations.”

Lasker-Wallfisch, who has spoken publicly about her experiences during the Holocaust, didn’t flinch at the idea of welcoming Hans into her London sitting room. In the scene, Hans is understandably nervous when he greets the Auschwitz survivor. It is Lasker-Wallfisch, a no-nonsense type with a cigarette in hand, who puts Hans at ease.

“It was brave of you to do this,” she tells him, piercing the tension in the room. When Hans tells her, referring to his father’s actions, “We live with the guilt,” Lasker-Wallfisch replies, “You weren’t asked whose son you want to be.” She later concludes, “You can’t forgive what happened but the important thing is that we talk to each other and understand each other.”

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Volker didn’t know what would happen when the two came face-to-face. “It was interesting—they were both, of course, German, so they spoke German to each other. You realize that these people were quite similar. They came from close families. [Lasker-Wallfisch’s] father was a World War I veteran, so was [Hans’s]. And they were separated by ideology. It makes you think about the power of ideology. In another life, maybe Höss would’ve been a car salesman and would’ve sold the most cars of anyone in Germany. But he just happened to subscribe to this deadly, crazy ideology.”

Hans and Lasker-Wallfisch were joined in the meeting, and in the documentary, by their adult children—Hans’s son Kai and Lasker-Wallfisch’s daughter Maya, a psychoanalyst, both of whom have been indelibly shaped by their parents’ histories. In The Commandant’s Shadow, they describe haunted childhoods in which their parents refused to discuss their pasts, and the way that second-generation secrecy and trauma impacted them.

“Whether a descendant of a victim or a perpetrator, in a way what happens is quite similar—it’s the silence which is corrosive and toxic, and the sensation of knowing that something very wrong is there, lingering,” says Volker. The filmmaker wanted to capture “the shock waves that events in the past sent down the generations. The past is not just the past—it’s important because it ripples down. It has an effect on the present, and we can learn from it.”

The generational effect of trauma is something that Lasker-Wallfisch’s daughter Maya has spent her life untangling. After surviving a lonely childhood and drug addiction, Maya became a psychoanalyst. She wrote a memoir about her family, Letter to Breslau, that was published in German. Mother and daughter had a relationship that was, at times, difficult; given what Lasker-Wallfisch had experienced at Auschwitz, she could not wrap her mind around Maya’s suffering. At one point, Lasker-Wallfisch told Maya that she was not the right mother for Maya—a line that devastated Maya, and that Lasker-Wallfisch repeats in the documentary. “I was emotional,” Maya explains. “I had human needs, as every human does.”

Now, Maya says in an interview, she and Lasker-Wallfisch have reached a point of understanding in their relationship: “She gets it now completely. She gets how her absence was devastating for me.”

The making of the documentary brought mother and daughter slightly closer too. Lasker-Wallfisch appreciated that her daughter went to Auschwitz to accompany the commandant’s son on his first trip to the concentration camp, giving him a tour of the hellscape his father supervised.

“His terror was greater than mine, and his suffering was greater than mine in terms of what he had to grapple with,” recalls Maya, who found herself, as a psychoanalyst, wearing many hats throughout that emotionally grueling day with Hans. “I was being my mother’s daughter, Maya the therapist. All the time I’m conscious of the whole dynamic that is unfolding, so it was hard. But it should be hard.”

When Maya visited her mother afterward, Lasker-Wallfisch greeted her in an uncharacteristically warm manner. “Her words to me were, ‘Welcome home, hero. Tell me everything,’” Maya recalls, savoring the memory. “The film relieved me of one thing: I got to make my mother proud.”

The sit-down between Hans, the Auschwitz commandant’s son, and her mother, the Auschwitz survivor, happened about a day after this triumphant homecoming. Inside Lasker-Wallfisch’s home, both she and Hans marveled at the fact that they were coming together amicably given their pasts.

“A historic moment,” Lasker-Wallfisch said.

“Who would have thought it?” Hans replied.

The survivor is not one to waste breath on adjectives, but afterward she called the meeting with Hans “beautiful.”

“That’s not a word that she commonly uses for anything, including her own daughter,” Maya points out. “But for the word to come out of her mouth in that context.… She was just so remarkable in her generosity.”

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  1. Auschwitz-Birkenau: Memorial Entry Ticket and Guided Tour

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COMMENTS

  1. Visiting / Auschwitz-Birkenau

    Before the visit please read " the rules for visiting ". • The grounds and buildings of the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps are open to visitors. The duration of a visit is determined solely by the individual interests and needs of the visitors. As a minimum, however, at least three-and-a-half hours should be reserved.

  2. Online guided tours for individual visitors

    Entry cards are available at visit.auschwitz.org at "online individual visit" section. The online tour lasts about two hours and is divided into two parts - in Auschwitz I and Birkenau. The guide's narration is conducted live. Additionally, the educator will also use multimedia materials, archival photographs, artistic works, documents, and ...

  3. FAQ

    An individual visitor will be able to enter the Auschwitz Memorial in the first available time slot in between the hours for individual visitors without an educator. Visitors who made a group reservation with an educator will have to reserve another entry time. These groups must start the visit at the specified time.

  4. Auschwitz-Birkenau: Memorial Entry Ticket and Guided Tour

    Come to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum (listed by UNESCO as a Natural and Cultural Heritage site) using your own means of transport. Enjoy having tickets for a guided tour already with you and walk to the entrance. Meet your authorised, live guide on-site and follow them into Auschwitz I where you will have a chance to walk on the ...

  5. Visiting Auschwitz

    7:30-19:00 in June, July, and August. The closing time means the last entrance - after that, you are allowed to stay on-site for an hour and a half. However, if you want to see Auschwitz Museum properly, you need at least 3,5 hours for that - that's also how long the standard tour with the educator lasts.

  6. Admission and Tickets

    Reserve tickets online before your visit to the Museum. The Museum and its exhibitions are open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET. Advance tickets online: Tickets through August 2024 are available now. Tickets for September - November 2024 will be available starting July 8, 2024. Tickets for December 2024 - February 2025 will be available ...

  7. Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum tours

    Learn about the enormity of the human tragedy and the lives of prisoners in the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp. Take part in a guided tour and organized transport from Krakow. Book your guided tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Pay your respects while stepping inside the memorials and exhibits of the infamous concentration camp.

  8. Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum Guided Tour with Ticket and Transfer

    Panstwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau. Stop: 4 hours - Admission included. English guided tour in Auschwitz and Birkenau Museum is provided by a licensed museum guide . (Headphones are included) Visiting the camps takes around 3,5 hours and consists of sightseeing of two Nazi camps & Auschwitz and Birkenau. Read more.

  9. Auschwitz-Birkenau: Skip-the-Line Entry Ticket & Guided Tour

    The first part of the museum visit takes approximately 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hours 50 minutes. Between the first and second part there will be a 10-15 minute break, when you can eat your lunch. After the break, you will board a bus for the second part, a visit of Auschwitz II Birkenau, where you will spend around an hour with the same guide.

  10. Auschwitz Ticket and Full-Day Tour from Krakow

    GetYourGuide traveler - Serbia April 25, 2024 - Verified booking. The Auschwitz Tour from Krakow, provided by Mr. Shuttle, was an excellent experience. Our pick-up time was 6 am, and the driver was both polite and professional, ensuring a comfortable journey to Auschwitz. The tour commenced promptly at 7:30 am at Auschwitz and lasted ...

  11. Auschwitz-Birkenau: Skip-the-Line Ticket and Guided Tour

    Skip-the-Line tickets to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Pre-booked tickets for the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Transportation between the Camps: Auschwitz and Birkenau. Local host's assistant who will meet you at the meeting point. Guided tour with an official museum guide. Headset to hear better during your tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

  12. Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away. Tickets

    Not Long Ago. Not Far Away." is an international exhibition of over 700 artifacts collected from Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and various institutions that tell the story of Auschwitz, the deadliest complex of concentration camps employed by Nazi Germany during The Holocaust. Also featuring an additional 400 photos from the era, "Auschwitz.

  13. Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau

    4. Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau and Salt Mine Guided Tour. Take a tour from Krakow that includes visits to the memorial sites of Auschwitz and Birkenau, then continue your excursion with a visit to the salt mines. This 11-hour tour starts in the morning from a meeting point or with a convenient pickup in Krakow.

  14. Auschwitz-Birkenau guided tour from Krakow with Ticket & Transfer

    1. Panstwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau. Stop: 3 hours - Admission included. You will see one of the biggest concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau camp with English speaking guide. The tour in Auschwitz will takes approximately 1,30 hours and an hour in Birkenau camp. All guides are provide by Museum Auschwitz.

  15. From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour & Pickup 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.

  16. The Man Who Ran Auschwitz, and the Woman Who Survived It

    The sit-down between Hans, the Auschwitz commandant's son, and her mother, the Auschwitz survivor, happened about a day after this triumphant homecoming. Inside Lasker-Wallfisch's home, both ...

  17. The Commandant's Shadow (Fathom Events) Showtimes

    The Commandant's Shadow (Fathom Events) PG-13, 1 hr 48 min. "The Commandant's Shadow" follows Hans Jürgen Höss, the 87-year-old son of Rudolf Höss, as he faces his father's terrible legacy for the first time. His father was the Camp Commandant of Auschwitz and masterminded the murder of over a million Jews; the life of Höss and his ...

  18. Auschwitz I, Auschwitz

    Auschwitz I: Our most recommended tours and activities. 1. From Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Guided Tour & Pickup Options. Pay your respects at the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. Make use of transportation from Krakow, and take a guided tour of the historical landmark. Benefit from pick-up at your accommodation in Krakow, and ...