Auschwitz-Birkenau tour from Krakow: guided memorial visit

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Duration7h

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Walk through Auschwitz I and Birkenau with a guide who knows the history

This 7-hour guided tour from Krakow visits the UNESCO-listed Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau Memorial & Museum with a licensed English-speaking guide and a group of up to 30 people. Private transport picks you up from your Krakow accommodation, drives you to the sites, and returns you at the end of the day; entry fees, taxes and the guide are included. The guide spends 2 hours at Auschwitz I and 1 hour at Birkenau, walking the grounds of both camps.

Step-by-step itinerary

Visit Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum

Travel from Krakow by private transport
Tour Auschwitz Museum with licensed guide
Visit Birkenau Memorial Site
Return to Krakow

The Experience

Your driver collects you from your Krakow accommodation at a time confirmed when you book. The drive to Auschwitz takes roughly 90 minutes each way, giving you time to prepare for what you're about to see. Once you arrive, a licensed guide from the Auschwitz State Museum meets your group of up to 30 people and leads you through Auschwitz I, the main camp, for 2 hours. You walk past the barracks, the punishment block, and the gas chambers—the physical spaces where the history happened. The guide explains what each building was, what took place there, and contextualizes the camp within the broader history of the Holocaust.

After Auschwitz I, you move to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the extermination camp built later and larger in scale. The guide spends 1 hour there, walking you through the ruins of the gas chambers, the barracks foundations, and the rail spur where deportation trains arrived. Birkenau is mostly open ground now—the scale of it, the emptiness, is part of what the visit conveys. Your group stays together throughout; the guide answers questions as you walk. The entire tour, including transport and both sites, takes 7 hours from pickup to drop-off.

Bring your ID (passport or driver's license); you'll need it for entry. Backpacks and bags cannot exceed A4 dimensions (30x20x10 cm), so plan accordingly. The sites are wheelchair accessible, and specialized infant seats are available in the vehicle if you're traveling with small children. If you want lunch during the day, ask your driver about lunch box options when you arrive. The tour operates in all weather, so dress for the conditions—Krakow weather in winter is cold and wet, and the camps offer little shelter.

What’s included

Private transport from your Krakow accommodation with pickup and drop-off.
licensed English-speaking guide from the Auschwitz State Museum.
entry to both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
all fees and taxes.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportInfant seats availableNot for heart conditions

Operated by shuttle4you

Is this one for you?You're in a group of up to 30 people with one guide, so this works best if you're comfortable learning alongside others and don't need a private guide's undivided attention. The fixed schedule and included transport mean you don't arrange the logistics yourself—your driver handles the timing and the route, and the guide handles the history.