Auschwitz Birkenau & Salt Mine One Day Tour from Krakow

• Join our best-selling tour to Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum and Wieliczka Salt Mine.

  Auschwitz-Birkenau & Salt Mine tour from Krakow

  The Auschwitz and Salt Mine Tour (1-day tour) offer an unparalleled journey through history, delving into two remarkable sites near Krakow that stand as poignant reminders of Poland's past.

  Auschwitz Birkenau & Salt Mine One Day Tour is a top-notch guided tour with an opportunity to explore the history of the most horrifying death camp in Europe along with the top tourist attraction near Krakow, which is the Wieliczka salt mine. 

  • Located 66 km from Krakow, Auschwitz is the largest German Nazi concentration camp and extermination centre. The Auschwitz Birkenau Museum and Memorial attract people from the entire world, who pay their highest respect to the victims of World War II. 
  • Wieliczka Salt Mine is associated with the next noteworthy tourist spot near Krakow, which has been functioning continuously since the Middle Ages. 
  • Both places are deemed a crucial part of Poland’s history and inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list.
  • Your journey is accompanied by a thoughtfully prepared lunch box, considering various dietary preferences including regular, vegetarian, vegan, or customized options based on individual allergies. The assortment includes delectable choices like chicken pasta salad, a ham sandwich, a wafer, and a bottle of water. Our lunch boxes are prepared daily from fresh ingredients and ensure that hunger will never be a concern during your daily tours. The lunchbox is included in one of the options we offer. Please make sure to choose the correct option.

  

What is Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum?

The Auschwitz State Museum is an institution whose mission is to cherish the memory of those who died during the Holocaust. This institution strives to venerate the victims of World War II to emphasize the mistakes of the past to avoid devastating repetition in the future. Auschwitz Birkenau stands as a haunting testament to the atrocities of World War II. It remains the largest German Nazi concentration camp and extermination center in Europe.

The Auschwitz Birkenau Museum and Memorial draw visitors from across the globe who come to pay their respects to the millions of lives lost during one of the darkest chapters in human history. It consists of an Auschwitz I Museum, exhibits, and Birkenau sites. As part of the one-day tour, you will explore all of them and with feasibility to memorate and pay your respect herein. This is an exceptional chance to experience the horrors placed between Auschwitz concentration camp walls killing 1,5 million innocent humans.

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Wieliczka Salt Mine attracts a record-breaking number of tourists each year and is one of the most valuable places near Krakow, Poland. Considered as one of the oldest working salt mines in the world, also delivers unforgettable moments due to the underground chambers (2300) and hundred kilometres of corridors (250 km!). Thus, this place resembles a mysterious labyrinth with the possibility of discovering natural monuments and the Miocene salt deposit. The salt mine constitutes a great place for various happenings, including underground concerts, balls or life events. Poles treat this place as a National Health Resort thanks to the clean air being filled with salt-related aerosols contributing to health improvement. With roots tracing back to the Middle Ages, this salt mine isn't just a tourist attraction; it's a living testament to centuries of continuous operation and human ingenuity. Its underground passages, intricately carved chapels sculpted from salt, and breathtaking chambers showcase the remarkable talents and resilience of generations past.

A day trip to both places is an English-speaking tour giving a chance to check top-notch places from the UNESCO list of Global Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Explore the Wieliczka Salt Mine, hailed as one of the most astonishing salt mines globally, and discover its breathtaking underground wonders. Check availability and book your guided tours to experience outstanding memories near Krakow. By visiting the places, you gain an opportunity to explore top natural heritages on the same day. guided tours.

How long does the Auschwitz & Salt Mine tour take?

The tour covers the exploration of two top-notch places and takes about 11 hours to complete. You will spend 2.5 hours in the underground city of the Wieliczka mine and 3 hours in the Auschwitz Birkenau Museum and Memorial. Once you visit Auschwitz, you'll find yourself uncovering a place that will warmly linger in your thoughts forever.

1. First and foremost, you will be provided with an English-speaking guide. Auschwitz is around 66km from Kraków. It takes about 1,5 hours to drive from Kraków to reach your destination. You will spend the next approx. 2 hours in Auschwitz I Museum and 1 hour in Auschwitz II Birkenau (Birkenau Camp).
2. Once the first part is completed, you will have a short lunch break - depending on the daily schedule - and next, you will be transported to the next sport to continue your salt mine tour.
3. The second part of the trip covers transportation to the salt mine where you spend around 2.5 hours to proceed with your underground journey. Both food and drinks will be provided on the way to the next place. Also accompanied by an English-speaking guide who will assist you with any queries during the tour. Discover salt mine on the same day!

More detail about this tour

Here is a breakdown of all the activities on the tour:

Visiting Auschwitz State Museum

At Auschwitz I Museum, you will join an English tour – provided by the Museum’s guide – for about 2 hours. After that, we will transfer You to Auschwitz II – Birkenau, which is about 2 km away. You will spend there about 1 hour with the same guide.

Please note that you must bring your ID or passport to enter the Museum’s grounds.

Please note that this tour is not available on the 25th of December, 1st of January, Liberation Anniversary, Easter Saturday afternoon, Easter Sunday and March of the Living Day.

History and memory

Auschwitz is the most well-known Nazi concentration camp, somehow a “point zero” in the history of other camps. Operating from 1940-1945, it ended up being the place of massive extermination, not known in human history before. 1 million Jewish people were exterminated there, which also makes it the main place where the Holocaust took place.

Auschwitz consisted of around 40 sub-camps, but the most tragic events happened in Auschwitz I (administrative headquarters) with Crematorium I and Birkenau (Auschwitz II) with Crematoria II-V. The inmates in the first mass transport in June 1940 were political prisoners – Poles, there were around 700 of them. Ever since 1942 and the Wannsee Conference, a massive transportation of Jews from all over Europe has started. Initially, Auschwitz was not a death camp and the first gassing was in September 1941 – it included Soviet soldiers and some of the most sick prisoners. The situation quickly changed, though.

Due to the great location of Oświęcim – the city where the camp was located – where railroad tracks from many places in Europe crossed their paths, it was possible to organise transports of Jews, Roma, Russians and various other nationalities. Auschwitz was the only Nazi concentration camp with such an organised number and tattooing system, which later allowed to estimate almost the exact number of prisoners/murdered there. There were around 1.3 million inmates in Auschwitz-Birkenau during the 5 years of its existence, with approximately 1.1 million (mostly Jews) of them being killed.

Visiting Salt Mine

Please remember to take comfortable shoes and warm clothes (the temperature in the mine ranges between 17° and 18°C). The route includes approx. 800 stairs, 380 of which are at the start.

Transportation

Door-to-door service is included in the price of this tour. Our licenced (always English speaking) driver will pick you up directly from the place where you currently stay to take you to your final destination in a comfortable, air-conditioned minibus. Once the tour is over, they will take you back to the same place, also free of additional charge.

Guides

If you are concerned with a new place and want to experience local heritage to the fullest, check out our offer and find out more about top Krakow tours. Time is money. Taking a guide service is a guarantee of well-used time if you crave for unique experience. A professional tour guide will arrange a route to meet your expectations and deliver useful information as much as it is possible. Embarking on private tours (or group tours) to Auschwitz Birkenau and the Wieliczka Salt Mine allows for a more intimate and personalized exploration of these historically rich sites.

Wondering if sightseeing is feasible for non-English speakers? Sure thing! Contact us to see if we can offer you a tour in different languages. We can offer you tours in English, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, French and Polish. Please get in touch with us and we will do our best to meet your needs.

Please note that admission tickets to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum are personalized.
Each participant is required to provide their full name as it appears on their official ID during the booking process.
Any errors in names or failure to provide this information at least 24 hours before the tour may result in denied entry to the museum.

Lunch package

Our lunch box includes chicken salad, fruit (banana or apple, etc.), a chocolate wafer, and a water bottle. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or lactose-free option is available on request.