Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland: How to Visit With Intention

Over 2.3 million people visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2025. That number should not make you think the visit is routine.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Oswiecim, southern Poland, is the preserved site of the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex, where more than 1.1 million people – predominantly Jews – were murdered between 1940 and 1945. The site encompasses Auschwitz I, the original camp with the “Arbeit Macht Frei” gate, and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, about 3 kilometres away, the much larger extermination complex where the majority of the killings occurred. Visiting both in a single day is possible but requires focus; most guided tours cover both sites in 3.5 to 4 hours.

Booking: On-Site Tickets No Longer Exist

As of March 2026, on-site ticket sales have been permanently discontinued. Every visit – including free individual entry – must be booked online in advance at visit.auschwitz.org. A standard 3.5-hour guided tour for individuals costs 150 PLN (approximately 35 euros) and is led by a licensed museum educator with a headset system. Tours run in English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish. Free individual entry without a guide is available only in the afternoon, limited to groups of ten, and still requires an advance booking pass.

Book several weeks ahead for peak season (May through September). The summer crowd is large; arriving without a booking will turn you away.

The Visit Itself

Arrive at least 30 minutes before your scheduled tour due to security checks. Do not bring large bags.

Auschwitz I is the original camp: red-brick prisoner barracks now housing the permanent exhibition, the gas chamber, and the reconstructed crematorium. The exhibition blocks include rooms filled with the possessions removed from victims on arrival – eyeglasses, shoes, suitcases with names still painted on them – and a room with seven tonnes of human hair. These are the objects that resist being described from a distance.

Auschwitz II-Birkenau is where the scale becomes apparent. The camp covers 175 hectares. The remaining barracks buildings extend to the horizon. The remains of the destroyed crematoria are at the far end of the main railway line, where cattle cars delivered victims directly to the selection ramp. Walking from the entrance gate to the memorial at the back of the camp takes about 20 minutes and covers only a fraction of what was here.

Krakow as a Base

Krakow, 60 kilometres from Oswiecim and connected by regular trains (around 1.5 hours, PKP regional services), is the standard base for a visit. The city itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site with its Old Town, Wawel Castle, and the historically Jewish Kazimierz neighbourhood.

Schindler’s Factory Museum in the former enamelware plant in the Podgorze district documents the Nazi occupation of Krakow specifically and is a separate, worthwhile half-day. Galicia Jewish Museum in Kazimierz covers pre-war Jewish life in Galicia through photographs. The Ghetto Walls and the Podgorze district are walkable from both. These sites do not duplicate Auschwitz; they provide the local context for what happened there.

For accommodation in Krakow, the Kazimierz district has the most interesting concentration of independent hotels, restaurants, and bars, and places you close to the most historically relevant neighbourhood.

Practical Notes

The museum is open all year, seven days a week, except January 1, December 25, and Easter Sunday. Dress appropriately: covered shoulders and legs are expected. Photography is permitted in most areas, though many visitors choose to take few or no photographs in the gas chamber and crematorium areas.