Thank goodness I had done some research on visiting Auschwitz prior to leaving home. I had found out that to visit without a tour, you need to make an online reservation and secure your entry time to ensure you would be admitted. The entry times available to individual visitors are either first thing in the morning or late afternoon before closing. Everything else in the middle required that you sign on with a tour guide. I had heard that it is best to try and get one of the earlier entry times (before 8:30am), because that way you can enter before the tour groups and then you will have all day to explore at your own pace. This option didn’t work well for me, as by the time I went to make the reservation, only the earliest times were available (7:30am). Since it takes over an hour to get to Auschwitz from Krakow, I decided it would be best to take an afternoon bus and enter around 4:30pm, which would leave me with about 2.5 hours to explore. Auschwitz has different closing times throughout the year, with the winter opening hours being significantly shorter.
Most people will say that 2.5 hours isn’t enough time to explore Auschwitz, and I definitely agree, as I was only able to get through Auschwitz I and didn’t have time to make my way over to Birkenau. I was fine with this as I had heard so many stories of how emotionally draining this place could be, that I really didn’t want to spend the whole day here.
Visiting Auschwitz I in the late afternoon turned out to be perfect for me. Early that morning, I made my way to the bus station in Krakow to purchase a one way ticket to Auschwitz that afternoon. It was very easy to find as you just need to follow the signs inside the train station towards the exit. As soon as you exit, you will see the sign for the bus station. The lady who sold me the ticket was even kind enough to point out that I had to go upstairs to catch the bus.
When I boarded the bus, the driver immediately asked if I had a return ticket and proceeded to sell me one even though I thought I would be buying it on the way back. It turns out this must be pretty common as I later noticed that everyone who was returning to the city had pre-purchased their return tickets.
It had been raining all day, but the weather finally cleared up by the time I arrived at Auschwitz. From the bus stop where I was dropped off, it was only about a 5-10 minute walk to the entrance. The bus driver was also kind enough to point out the location of the return bus stop to me. I arrived about 30 minutes earlier than my scheduled entrance time but I thought I’d take a chance and ask if I could enter anyways. Seeing as how it was already the late afternoon and the place wasn’t very busy, they let me in without any hesitation.
Immediately after going through security and stepping foot onto the grounds of Auschwitz I, the reality started to hit me. I had visited numerous war museums and memorials before and those places always have such a peaceful and calm atmosphere. Auschwitz was similar and because there were not too many people left on the grounds at this time of day, the air also had a bit of an eerie feeling. The lack of people made it really easy to visit and I never had to wait very long to go through each camp to read through the information panels.
One thing I didn’t quite understand was the fact that although Auschwitz was open until 7pm when I was there, some of the camps were closed by 4pm or 5pm. By the time 5:30pm rolled around, I pretty much had the place to myself, as there were probably less than 20 tourists at Auschwitz I.
I knew that I would only have time for Auschwitz I and would need to save Birkenau for another day. I decided to make my way back to the bus stop a little earlier than expected but saw a few people already waiting there. The bus ended up being about 30 minutes late and everyone was getting a bit antsy, but thankfully in the end, the bus came and there were just the right amount of seats for everyone. The buses to and from Auschwitz were only big enough to fit about 20 passengers and the ride takes about an hour and a half.
To make a reservation and for the most updated information on visiting, you’ll need to visit the official website.
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