Krakow

irishuser2222

I'm traveling to Krakow in early September. Looking for advice on planning auschwitz visit. From experience should I book with in a tour group in advance or are you better off just doing it yourself and booking train or bus out to it?

Thanks

spurious

Go down to the Rynek (square) end of Florianska and there are plenty of companies touting for business. You can also book in one of the many Biuro Podrozy who handle bookings for all the various tour companies. They all have the tourist information symbol (blue and white 'i') outside.. It's OK to book the day before. There's no need to book before you leave, unless you particularly want to.

You can do the public transport route (and it IS cheaper), but it's a lot more hassle and personally I don't think it's worth it to save the 30-35 euro a company would charge you to pick you up from your hotel, bring you out and drop you back.

If there are a few of you in your party, many taxi companies will run you out early and get you there before the crowds , or get you to see both Auschwitz/Birkenau and the Wieliczka saltmines in the one day for a reasonable price.
This is a company I have used many times before: http://www.auschwitz-krakow.com/tours/auschwitz-birkenau-nazi-camp/

whomitconcerns

I actually would say the opposite. Go to the central train station and get the train to Oswiecem (Auschwitz) and walk up to the camps.. It's a much more meaningful visit if that's what you want. Imho better than following around some bint with an umbrella in the air..

Also wieliczka I would leave to a separate day.. It's not that it's an all day thing but there's more than enough to experience in both vastly different experiences that I don't think the combo does justice...

But that's just me..

spurious

While you're there, go down to Plaszow, where the 'Schindler's List' camp was, it's close to the factory, which is worth seeing.

irishuser2222

whomitconcerns wrote: »

I actually would say the opposite. Go to the central train station and get the train to Oswiecem (Auschwitz) and walk up to the camps.. It's a much more meaningful visit if that's what you want. Imho better than following around some bint with an umbrella in the air..

Also wieliczka I would leave to a separate day.. It's not that it's an all day thing but there's more than enough to experience in both vastly different experiences that I don't think the combo does justice...

But that's just me..

Thanks for info. Can this be done on the fly or does anything need to be booked in advance. Just definitely don't want to miss out on it but would like flexibility on visit too. Can you get audio guides instead of actual tour guides if you do it this way?

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

uck51js9zml2yt

If you do a draft of this forum you will find countless threads in Krakow with lots of advice

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

uck51js9zml2yt

Patww79 wrote: »

Does search work on this site now? Because it'll be a first if it does.

https://touch.boards.ie/search?q=Krakow

2800 results !

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

spurious

irishuser2222 wrote: »

Thanks for info. Can this be done on the fly or does anything need to be booked in advance. Just definitely don't want to miss out on it but would like flexibility on visit too. Can you get audio guides instead of actual tour guides if you do it this way?

See http://auschwitz.org/en/ for the official information.

Having visited many many times with groups and individually, I would recommend getting out there as early as possible. From 10am on the place is black with visitors, both group and individual.

Train takes between 1 hr 10 minutes and about 1 hr 45 depending on whether you get the slow or fast one, with different prices of course. The train station is about 2km from the Memorial. The museum provides a shuttle bus between Auschwitz I and II (Birkenau/Brzezinka). http://rozklad-pkp.pl/en for info on times. Polish trains (especially the slow ones) are an experience all on their own.

There are a number of bus companies do the trip in about 45 minutes with very frequent trips. The buses drop you at the Memorial.

I used to get a taxi company to take us out in a bus really early so we got at least one site (we usually went to Birkenau/Brzezinka first) with very little crowds. The memorial opens at 7.30am.

Notch000

your better off to go in a tour group. You still need to go on an guided tour of the site, there is no free acess allowed in the sites. There are tour office in the city everywhere offering pretty much the same thing . Pick you up, drop you at gate, bring you to birkenau (austich 2), the tour groups skip the regular ques outside too.  Then cart you home again afterwards

fabvinny

irishuser2222 wrote: »

Thanks for info. Can this be done on the fly or does anything need to be booked in advance. Just definitely don't want to miss out on it but would like flexibility on visit too. Can you get audio guides instead of actual tour guides if you do it this way?

we booked it before we went,collected from hotel and dropped back after.i would go with a tour guide,so much better. book birkenau as well,its very close,we had the same tour guide for both camps.