Auschwitz

argentum

Looking for a good site for information on traveling to Auschwitz or if anyone has gone there any tips you could give.
I'm hoping to just to fly over to poland and back in the shortest possible timeframe so any hints welcome

laros

Start here....
http://auschwitz.org/en/visiting/

visitor booking
https://visit.auschwitz.org/?lang=en

harr

Book a local company when you get over to Poland ... we hired a mini bus with driver for a day and it worked out cheap .. went to Auschwitz in the morning and then the Salt mines. We were surprised at how cheap it was. Hotel we staying at recommended a driver. Plenty of tours available with or without guided tour.

TuringBot47

I stayed in the Radison Blu hotel in Krakow and booked an Auschwitz tour with https://www.seekrakow.com/en/

Their bus stopped directly outside the hotel.

Plumbthedepths

Have been there a few times. There was 3 of us. We hired a guy at the train station in Krakow. He drove us to Auschwitz and then on to Birkenau. As far as I can remember the cost was about 70 euro. Well worth it. He was an excellent guide brought us back to a regular Polish restaurant and ordered typical Polish food for us.
We went for 4 days, a visit to the Salt mines is a must.
Krakow itself is a beautiful city, a visit to Wawel Castle is also a worthy trip.

amber2

Can recommend Artur DreamCab Kraków for a private transfer, car will be waiting for you after Auschwitz tour to take you to Birkenau along with a sandwich and drink. Have change for the toilets and only take a small bag as you won’t be allowed through security with a big bag. Price was 600zl for 4 of us that included everything guide, entry and transfer.

http://www.dreamcabkrakow.com/en/contact/

Email : office@dreamcabkrakow.com

MonsterCookie

I travelled with a bunch of friends. The taxi driver that brought us to our hotel from krakow airport offered to bring us to auschwitz and back the next day and it worked our very cheap.

My tips would include

1. spending time in krakow- it’s beautiful and steeped in history
2. Get a tour guide in auschwitz. The woman who walked us round was a local historian whose family home had been taken by the nazis during the war and it took them a generation or two to get it back
3. Be prepared to be moved by the stories, the photos, and the overall experience.
4. A decent guide book would be worth it

TuringBot47

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

..a visit to the Salt mines is a must.

+1 On the Salt Mines.
Amazing place, even has the equivalent of a church carved out of the cave.

Plenty of space in the mines, you won't feel claustrophobic.
Really, it was only the stairs down and the lift up that was somewhat narrow.

Seamai

Your best bet would be to do it as a trip from Krakow, I didn't go as part of any tour, I think the train took about an hour. Auschwitz 1 has exhibitions about the camp which I would go to first, it can get quite busy there and sometimes a bit frustrating,whatever you do don't be tempted to leave it at that, I found Auschwitz 2 (Birkenau) much more moving (it's mabe 2km away), it's huge, I remembered wandering through the empty barrack sheds and latrines with no one around, it's hard not to be moved. Give yourself the full day.

Tenzor07

argentum wrote: »

Looking for a good site for information on traveling to Auschwitz or if anyone has gone there any tips you could give.
I'm hoping to just to fly over to poland and back in the shortest possible timeframe so any hints welcome

I'm guessing you're travelling solo as I did;

I visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial recently enough, was short on time also..
The basics are, have your guided tour booked in advance, Do Not go "self-guided" for the Auschwitz part, the guides are very very knowledgeable and will talk you through each part of the tour.. While you can walk around the Birkenau Memorial yourself, which I did for the most part, it's worth having the guide for this half of the tour also.

Don't bother with taking the train, it takes a fair amount of time, and you still have to get a taxi or bus from the station at the other side..

I basically stepped outside my hotel, used the "Freenow" taxi app and the driver arrived within 10mins, he offered to wait and we worked out a price. He dropped me at the museum and picked up at the Birkenau Memorial afterwards, drove me back into Krakow city centre after, also drove me to the airport the next day as part of the deal...

So basically if you're short on time, just use a taxi app, same getting from Krakow airport, the main taxi rank cabs are pricey!

nutjobb

Two of us stayed in radisson blu in Krakow. Booked an official tour from the auschwitz.org, booked the "study" tour I think it was called and took 6 hours if I remember correctly. Excellent tour with a relatively small group.
We booked bus tickets online before hand and got the earliest bust there, straightforward and inexpensive.

argentum

Thanks for all the information to date.
I'll certainly use the info when i start looking at the flights/tours when i go back to work and can book some time off

spurious

Get there as early as you can, ideally before the tour buses all start to arrive. This is one reason I always used a taxi/local driver.