General Info about my Tours
Auschwitz is located about an hour driving from Krakow. There are 2 Camps to see: KL Auschwitz I and KL Auschwitz II Birkenau. General tour takes about 2 hours in Auschwitz I and 1,5 hour in Birkenau. When your tour around Auschwitz I is completed I drive you to the second Camp - Birkenau. It's located 2 miles driving from Auschwitz so we get there in a few minutes.
Auschwitz Museum and Memorial Site are open almost everyday. The only exceptions are: 1st January, 25th December , Easter Sunday and during 'The March of The Living' (no constant date). Visiting on 17th January (Liberation Anniversary) is possible however only with a private guide.
Museum is open from 8:00am in low season and 7:30am in high season. I recommend you pick up in Krakow as early as possible (7am). Museum Auschwitz is the most visited tourist destination in Souther Poland and very often there are more than 8 thousands visitors a day! It's really worth to wake up early and avoid all crowds and queues. If early pick up is not possible You can consider afternoon tour (pick up after 2 pm). Please note that late afternoon option is available only during summer months when Auschwitz and Birkenau are open until 6 - 7 pm.
Sightseeing former Death Camps in Auschwitz and Birkenau is a very personal experience therefore I offer You 3 sightseeing options. Below you can find my recommendations based on my long-term experience. I hope you find them helpful.
Guided Group: A good option for smaller parties (up to 5 people) due to affordable ticket cost. If you prefer to listen to the guide instead of individual reading info from plaques and guide book it would be a good option for you. If reading Polish, English or Hebrew language is not your strong point it's also better to join a guided tour which is available in many languages. A disadvantage of this option is lack of flexibility and being a part of larger group. At 9:30am Museum runs also extended 6 hours study tour which is good option for more interested visitors.
Private Guide: This option requires a reservation, ideally 2–3 months before the visit date. In addition to the standard 3.5-hour and 6-hour extended visits, you can also choose 8 hours day visit or 2-day visits ( 3 hours each day or 4 hours each day ). Private guide can be booked in one of 20 langagues ( Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian ).
Individual Tour: Currently this option is not the best choice as you can enter Auschwitz only after 4pm ( in winter time earlier ) Considering time needed to see everything is Auschwitz is hard to enter Birkenau before closing time, except months like June, July and August when day, so opening hours are very long.
