Learn about the dark past of World War 2 with this private day trip to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp from Kraków.
Day Trip Details
When making your booking, you'll be able to choose from the following two private day trips from Kraków:
Auschwitz-Birkenau Day Trip
Between 6 and 8 am, we'll pick you up from your hotel in Kraków and set off for Auschwitz-Birkenau. In just over 1 hour, we'll arrive at what was the largest Nazi extermination camp during the Second World War. This place has been declared a World Heritage Site since 1979 so that we don't forget the crimes of the Holocaust.
We'll start the tour in the prison blocks; today there are several exhibitions that explain how prisoners were punished for resting after hard work or for any issue that occurred to the SS guards. Afterwards, we'll continue through to one of the most shocking areas of the concentration camp: the gas chambers and cremation area. There we'll learn how far the regime's brutality and how fearful political propaganda could lead people to commit such disgraceful crimes.
We'll continue with the tour, discovering the most recognised part of this terrifying place. Here we'll see the train tracks that were used to enter the camp itself with thousands of people on board. When the train stopped, some were selected for imminent extermination, as prisoners or for medical experimentation. Jews, Gypsies, Spanish Republicans, political prisoners and homosexuals all lost their lives in this camp.
From here we can see the barracks, latrines and the remains of four crematoriums with gas chambers that were destroyed in an attempt to hide what had happened in Auschwitz-Birkenau from the Soviet troops. At the end of the visit, you'll have 45 minutes of free time for lunch and we'll return to Kraków, where we'll arrive back at your hotel after six and half hours.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, Kraków Ghetto and Schindler's Factory
If you choose this option, we'll likewise begin by picking you up from your hotel in Kraków. We'll take you to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp to learn about its tragic history.
After travelling through the camp, we'll pause at the Judenrampe. This sombre part of the camp is the ramp used by the SS until 1944 to "unload" Jews from different parts of Europe.
At around 1:30 pm, we'll return to Kraków and stop at a traditional Polish restaurant so you can have lunch on your own. After lunch, at about 2:45 pm, we'll go on a private tour in English through the Kraków Ghetto. During the tour, you'll see the areas of the city where the Nazis separated and persecuted the Jewish population.
Next, we'll take you to Oskar Schindler's Factory. You'll visit this factory on your own and see where hundreds of Jews worked, whom the entrepreneur Schindler managed to save from an almost certain death.
It'll then be time to take you back to your hotel in Kraków.
Closing time: this option is not available on Mondays, the first Tuesday of every month, and during festive dates.
Full Auschwitz-Birkenau Trip
If you choose this option, we'll pick you up at your hotel in Kraków. You'll be accompanied by an English-speaking guide from the moment you are picked up.
The first stop will be at Auschwitz I, where you will be accompanied by a Polish-speaking guide and an English-speaking interpreter. In the same way, we'll also have a guided tour of Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
Afterwards, we'll visit the Judenrampe of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. From there we'll make our way town of Oswiecim, where we'll see the Market Square from our vehicle.
Finally, we'll visit the Auschwitz III-Monowitz memorial and return to your hotel in Kraków, where we will conclude this 7-hour and 40-minute tour.
Group Size, Guides, & Documentation
- During the booking process, please ensure that the name you provide is exactly the same as the one on your ID. Any discrepancies will prevent you from entering the Auschwitz site.
- The camp visit is only permitted with official guides authorized by the museum itself and cannot be conducted with external guides. Guide confirmation is provided 12 to 16 hours before the activity.
- All operators require a minimum group size to be able to access the camp with a guide, so sometimes, if this is not reached, the activity could be cancelled or rescheduled.
- On our side, tickets and guides are locked in as soon as the minimum group is reached, but in case of last-minute bookings, there might not be guides available and the activity might be cancelled.
- If, for any reason, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum does not confirm the private tour, the provider will contact you to offer other available alternatives. If none of the proposed options are suitable, you can cancel your reservation free of charge and book the group tour, which is usually more frequently available.
Reservation Confirmation & Cancellations
- The activity will be considered definitively confirmed once you receive a detailed description of the service from the provider, along with the hotel pickup time.
- A private tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum is always subject to final confirmation and the operational availability of the Museum itself.
- On certain dates throughout the year, exceptional circumstances may arise, such as a high concentration of school groups, official visits, or institutional delegations, as well as unforeseen absences of Museum staff due to health issues or other organizational reasons. These types of visits and the Museum’s internal needs may take priority over private reservations and, in exceptional cases, may affect the previously scheduled availability.
- For this reason, even if all necessary arrangements have been made in advance, it may happen in exceptional cases that the Museum is unable to confirm the private tour or that a tour initially planned cannot ultimately take place under the requested conditions for reasons entirely beyond the provider’s control. In such a situation, the local team will contact you immediately and do everything reasonably possible to offer an alternative solution that will allow the tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial to take place.
- Possible alternatives may include a change in time, a different date, a different type of tour, or joining a group tour, always subject to availability at that time. Only if there are no possible alternatives or if none of the proposed options are suitable may the reservation be canceled, and a refund will be issued for the services that ultimately cannot be provided.
- These situations are exceptional and occur only a few times a year, but they depend on decisions, operational circumstances, or force majeure situations related to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and are therefore beyond the local team's control.