Visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland is a very informative, solemn and emotionally tough experience. For many, it is also an important act of remembrance and respect. In this blog, I will run through what you can expect when visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau (often referred to simply as Auschwitz) in Poland.
Why visit Auschwitz?
It’s a good question – and I won’t go as far as to say anyone should visit. But I will say for me personally, it felt important.
World War II is one of the most important events in modern history, and the holocaust one of the most horrifying acts humans have committed. The Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp was right at the centre of that: it was the largest Nazi camp where up to 6000 people were killed in gas chambers each day. Of the estimated 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz, an estimated 1.1 million died – mostly Jews transported there from all over Europe.
The preservation of the camps helps us never forget that humans were capable of these kinds of horrors and helps us remember the lives of those tortured and killed there. So for me, it felt important to visit as an act of recognition and remembrance.
Practical info you need to know When Visiting Auschwitz
If you are thinking of visiting Auschwitz, there are various practical things you need to know before you go, including some rules for visiting Auschwitz – let’s get them covered off quickly first.
Auschwitz Tickets: Book Ahead
There are a lot of visitors to Auschwitz, so you need to book ahead. The Museum recommends booking a month in advance. You can book tickets here.
Group Tours
When visiting Auschwitz, you will be required to book a guide-educator if you go as a pre-organised group. If you go solo, you may also be required to join a guided tour, because there are only limited times when they allow entry without one.
I’d recommend a guided tour anyway because the guides are incredibly knowledgeable. They are available in many different languages.
Pricing
Prices vary depending on the number of people in the group and the length of the tour. I went on a group tour and paid 60 PLN, which is about £12, but prices have gone up since.
You can view the full 2023 price list online.
Timing
Auschwitz is actually a complex of several sites. Most tours cover two locations: the original camp, known as Auschwitz I, and the large extension at Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz II. There is a free shuttle bus between the two camps.
To explore both camps, allow at least three hours, ideally 3.5 hours.
Rules For Visiting Auschwitz
There are rules for visiting Auschwitz listed on their website (click on the second link for the 2023 regulations), which everyone should read in full before they attend. A couple that I will draw attention to:
- There’s an instruction to ‘behave with due solemnity and respect. Visitors are obliged to dress in a manner befitting a place of this nature.’
- Photography is allowed, but not with a tripod or a flash, and not at all in two specific areas: Block 4 Room 5 and underground Block 11
- Drones are restricted and you need a permit to use one
I guess they have to specify the first one because there have been instances of people acting like they’re sightseeing, which can be very disrespectful. Given this is a memorial to real people who died in some of the most heinous and cruel ways, it’s definitely not a place for selfies.
Consider The Content
This isn’t your typical tourist activity. I’ve been to several museums about war or the holocaust – and this one is, understandably, particularly intense. So, I think it will help to be prepared for the kind of harrowing information and exhibits you will see.
You’ll know your own children best, but the Museum itself does not recommend children under 14 attending, which is, I imagine, because of the nature of what happened at Auschwitz.
Getting There: Visiting Auschwitz FRom Kraków
If you’re visiting nearby Kraków (which is a lovely city, by the way; I highly recommend it!), it is easy to visit Auschwitz as a day trip.
Auschwitz is located just outside the town of Oświęcim (which is the Polish version of Auschwitz). Oświęcim is about 70km from Kraków.
Many people stay in Kraków and travel to Auschwitz by bus. Buses depart hourly from the main bus station in Kraków, MDA dworzec autobusowy (it is right next to the train station), take around 1.5 hours each way and drop you off right by the Auschwitz Memorial (you can check with the driver if you’re unsure).
It is also possible to take the train from Kraków, though the train station is 1.5km away from the Memorial.
Or, if you prefer, you could take an organised tour of Auschwitz, which includes transportation from Kraków – this way you don’t have to worry about how you’ll get there.
Getting into Auschwitz
Timed Entry Pass
When you book your tickets, you will be sent an electronic entry pass with a bar code. It will also show the time you are booked for, and they suggest you get there 15 minutes early.
You can bring this on your phone to be read electronically, or as a paper printout – but if you plan to use your phone, make sure it is charged!
Security
When visiting Auschwitz, security is fairly tight, and you will be subjected to screening as you enter, including x-ray screening of your bag (and you cannot take any bags or backpacks bigger than 30x20x10 cm).
Headsets
Guided tours in most other places involved the guide speaking loudly so everyone in the group can hear. But this would be too noisy for Auschwitz.
Therefore, guides will speak in a normal voice into a mic, and everyone in the group will wear earphone headsets so that they can hear clearly. This helps keep the atmosphere in the memorial appropriately solemn, quiet and respectful (remember the rules for visiting Auschwitz).
You’ll have a chance to check your headset works before you begin – if you can’t hear through it, don’t worry: you’ll be able to change it.
What To Expect When Visiting Auschwitz I
What Is Auschwitz I?
Auschwitz camp I is the original camp, which was founded in 1940. It was originally a prison for political prisoners, and evolved to become a concentration camp where prisoners were slowly killed due to their inhumane treatment. And then in the later years it evolved again into a mass extermination centre, where thousands were gassed upon arrival every day.
What’s In The Tour?
You’ll start at the gates, which bear the cruelly ironic sign, ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’, which means ‘Work Sets You Free’ in English.
You’ll then have a thorough tour of several of the brick barracks buildings. You’ll learn about some of the cruel and shocking practises of the guards, and you’ll see heartbreaking exhibits, including a corridor of photos of former prisoners and horrifying collections of inmate’s belongings and hair. In addition, you’ll see where medical experiments were conducted and where torture and executions took place.
Some of these exhibits are allowed to be photographed and some are not – there are signs to show you what is permitted, and if in any doubt, ask your guide. To be honest, I didn’t want to take any images of the gruesome details. It felt too macabre.
After touring the barracks, you’ll cross through the barbed wire fences and will see where the camp commander lived, and also where he was executed. You’ll also see the first crematorium, where the Nazis began experimenting with mass gassings.
What Struck Me Most When Visiting Auschwitz I
I think the collection of confiscated shoes got to me the most: I noticed a pair of ladies wedge heels, which looked really smart and stylish. It broke my heart to think of the glimmer of hope that lady must have had to pack them, with no idea of the hell she was being taken to.
What To Expect When Visiting Auschwitz II (Birkenau)
What Is Auschwitz II?
The camp at Birkenau is one of many extensions to Auschwitz that were built to accommodate more prisoners – and it is by far the biggest. It is here that the extermination reached its most horrifying and industrial scale. There were four gas chambers and crematoriums at the peak and the majority—probably about 90%—of the victims of Auschwitz died in Birkenau. This was approximately a million people. The majority, more than nine in ten, were Jews.
What’s In The Tour?
Touring Birkenau is mostly outdoors – there are no museum-style exhibits like there are at Auschwitz I.
You’ll start at the main gates, where freight trains would bring in victims to be ‘selected’ on arrival. This is where those who seemed strong enough to work were selected to stay, and the rest were sent to gas chambers immediately.
You can look inside some of the remaining barracks, to see the terrible living conditions for those not immediately executed. As well as the horribly cramped conditions, I can’t imagine how cold it must have been in those wooden sheds during Polish winters.
You’ll see huge expanses of electric fences and ominous guard towers.
You’ll also be able to see the remains of the gas chambers and crematoria, which were blown up by the Nazis before they fled the camps, in an attempt to hide what they had done.
What Struck Me Most When Visiting Auschwitz II (Birkenau)
Gosh, so many things: the sheer scale of this camp; the absolute inhumanity of the railside selection process; learning about the way the gas chambers worked.
To be honest, by the end of touring Birkenau, I was pretty overwhelmed by the atrocities – which brings me to my final thought…
Manage your feelings After visiting Auschwitz
When visiting Auschwitz, you may feel emotionally drained after your tour. I know I was.
I have no personal connection to the Holocaust, but being in that place of death was emotional, oppressive. My tour took around a few hours, but the effect of it lingered much longer.
I think it was even harder for me than it needed to be because I went to Auschwitz on a solo travel trip – something that I wouldn’t recommend because I had no one with me to help buoy my mood afterwards. I had trouble shaking off the feeling of sadness and I felt very low the rest of my trip to Krakow. Despite being a confirmed introvert, I would have welcomed some company at that time. So for this reason, I don’t recommend visiting Auschwitz on your own.
My top tip is to plan something life-affirming afterwards. I don’t think it is disrespectful to want to do something upbeat after visiting Auschwitz – to focus on life and freedom. After all, the Nazi’s final solution didn’t work; the evil at Auschwitz was eventually defeated.
So after honouring the victims and remembering the horror of the camps, plan something afterwards that will lift your mood and help you to also remember the good in the world.
Auschwitz Map
Here’s a map showing the main sites. It doesn’t note all the different baracks and features within the camps, but it should help give you an idea of where the camps are and in relation to each other.
How To Use This Map: click the tab in the top left-hand corner of the map to view the layers. If you click the icons on the map, you can get more information about each one. If you click the star next to the title of the map, it will be added to your Google Maps account. To view it on your phone or computer, open Google Maps, click the menu, go to ‘Your Places’, then click Maps and you will see this map in your list.
To Conclude
I hope this helps you understand what to expect when visiting Auschwitz – and helps you prepare for a visit. If you want some inspiration for nearby Kraków, read my guide to the top things to do in Kraków.
Is there anywhere you’ve been that was very intense or overwhelming, emotionally? How did you manage that?
Very interesting; it is certainly a place I would visit, despite all the books and films it does not surprise me that the location will have an impact on a visitor. Photography is an interesting dilemma, the images you show have no people on them which to me is more poignant than including visitors.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Phil. I’d read a lot before I went also, but the experience of seeing it all there in very real detail and getting a sense of the magnitude of the horrors was quite a lot to take in
Thankyou for the information..
Pardon me.. what happen there so tourist were not allowed of taking some pic at Block 4 room 5 and underground block 11?
Is it what I think it is? The chamber and the medical experiment took place?? Thankyou.
Hi Ai, thanks for reading my post. If my memory is correct, block 4 room 5 is the one that has an exhibition of human hair that was cut from inmates when they entered Auschwitz and block 11 was an execution site. So I guess the ban on photography in these locations is out of respect to victims. There are signs making it clear where photography is not allowed, and if you explore with a guide they will also reiterate it.
Just reading this article was shocking enough. I can’t imagine how one would feel after seeing this dreadful place – but I would still visit given the opportunity. It is vitally important to preserve this terrible monument for future generations, in memory of all those who suffered and died here.
Thanks for your feedback. There’s definitely a lot of horrible information to take in when you’re there – but, as you say, so important to remember