Today our day in Krakow starts a little earlier than usual and it is that at 7:45 we have to be in Matejko Square 2, very close to the Barbican, which is the meeting point to go to visit Auschwitz from Krakow The tour that we will do with Civitatis and that will take us to one of the most amazing places in the world, but at the same time, one of the best tours and excursions in Krakow.
Breakfast at the Logos hotel starts at 7 in the morning, so taking into account that the tour to visit Auschwitz from Krakow starts at 7:45, but we must be there 15 minutes before and from the hotel we have about 10 minutes more walking, about 700 meters, to the meeting point, we decided take a chance and go down 15 minutes before the breakfast room, where we find practically everything already placed and we can enjoy an excellent breakfast before starting a day that we intuit, it will be quite hard.
And so, when it is 7 and a few minutes in the morning, we leave the hotel on the way to the Plaza de Matejko 2, very close to the Barbican, finding a very clear day and practically deserted streets that allow us to enjoy the streets of Krakow in a much quieter and lonely way than yesterday when we toured the city on a route through Krakow on a most complete day.
To get to the Barbacana, we pass before the Puerta de San Florian, one of the most charming places in the city, especially because of the perspective of the Basilica of Santa Maria in the Market Square and at this time of the morning we can enjoy for ourselves alone and where we can not help but stop for a few minutes to charge ourselves with energy for this morning in which in a few minutes we will start one of the most chilling visits in the world, Auschwitz tour in Spanish.
San Florian Gate
As we mentioned before, the meeting point of the tour to Auschwitz is in Matejko Square 2, where we arrive when there are still a few minutes left for the agreed time and we took the opportunity to take some photos of this area of Krakow, which we did not reach yesterday and from which you have interesting views of the Barbican.
Barbican from Matejko Square
When it's 7:45 in the morning, we deliver our vouchers to our guide today in the Auschwitz tour from Krakow and when it's 8 in the morning, we leave the city for a visit that we know, will not leave us indifferent.
Tour to visit Auschwitz from Krakow in Spanish
Even knowing that this visit is shocking and overwhelming, we also know that going to Auschwitz from Krakow It is an essential visit. In it you enter one of the most creepy concentration camps of the 20th century, in which they killed more than one million people.
Tour to visit Auschwitz from Krakow
What is visited on the Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour?
The tour for visit Auschwitz from Krakow It starts at the meeting point, in Matejko Square 2, from where you take a bus that takes you to, Oświęcim, where the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps are located.
During the tour, approximately 1: 15h, depending on traffic, you can watch a documentary about Auschwitz, in which you can get a pretty broad idea of what happened and the barbarisms committed in the place you will visit next.
Tour to visit Auschwitz from Krakow
The first part of the visit is a tour of Auschwitz I, where different blocks, the gas chamber and crematoriums are visited, the only ones that are preserved after the war. The entire visit to Auschwitz is done with a guide in Spanish that gives you explanations at all times of the places that are visited and the history of the place.
Tour to visit Auschwitz from Krakow
The visit to Auschwitz I is approximately 1: 30h, after which a small 15-minute stop is made, in order to rest, buy or eat something in any of the places that are at the exit, including services.
After this short break, you return to the bus to, in a journey of less than 5 minutes, go to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the next stop of the excursion to visit Auschwitz from Krakow.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Auschwitz II-Birkenau was devised as an extermination camp in which "the final solution to the Jewish problem"would be his maxim and his true reason for being. In this place you can visit some of the barracks, the train tracks, one of the most symbolic places in Auschwitz next to the Death Gate, the latrines, the remains of a Crematorium oven and gas chamber, one of the most overwhelming places of the visit.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
After the visit to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, another small 15-minute break is made, and then return to Krakow, where you arrive at 3 in the afternoon.
Tour details to visit Auschwitz from Krakow
- The tour to Auschwitz starts at 7:45 a.m., but the meeting time is 15 minutes before.
- The meeting point is in the Plaza de Matejko 2, very close to the Barbican.
- The duration of the tour is approximately 6 and a half hours, although it may vary depending on traffic.
- The tour to Auschwitz takes place in Spanish.
What does the tour to visit Auschwitz from Krakow include?
- Transportation from Krakow by bus to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II
- Spanish speaking guide during the trip and during the visit.
- Entrance to the two concentration camps.
- Voucher to eat at the Beer House or Pub Crawl restaurant with 4 glasses.
Recommendations and tips for the Auschwitz tour from Krakow with a guide in Spanish
- For a few months now they have not allowed to enter with backpacks or larger bags of a DINA4, so they must be left on the bus.
- At the entrance of the Auschwitz I security control is passed, such as an airport, somewhat lighter, but water, food ... etc. is allowed to enter
- In August there are many people and being inside barracks, especially Field 1, you have to go as close as possible to the guide, since the visit is usually done somewhat faster.
- The journey by bus is about 1: 15h and at the entrance to the two courses there is a shop, drinks machines and bathrooms, for 1.5PLN per person.
- You can take photos in both fields, except for some rooms in which the guide informs in advance. Outside you can always take pictures.
- In the bathroom area, right next to the entrance to the museum, there are a couple of coffee shops where you can buy snacks, snacks, in addition to several coffee machines and documentation store.
- The price of a sandwich plus soda is 13PLN so if you do not want to bring anything to eat, it is not expensive. The coffee machine is 6PLN.
- The arrival in Krakow is about 3 in the afternoon, so you can eat perfectly in the city.
- When you arrive at Auschwitz I leave you 15 minutes to go to the bathroom or buy something. At the exit of the visit to Camp 1 another 15 minutes to eat something or buy, you can go to the bus to the parking lot to find what you bring as it is a few meters away and after the visit to Camp 2, another 15-minute stop.
- The total time to visit Auschwitz from Krakow is approximately 6-7 hours.
- One of the most important things to keep in mind is that despite being a museum today, real barbarities and atrocities were committed in this place, so the visit must be done with a lot of education and respect. Do not forget.
This is extensible to photographs, although in most places they can be done, always do them with respect.
For more information you can consult this post on how to go from Krakow to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz tour extra
If you book the Auschwitz tour with Civitatis, they give you a bonus to spend on a meal at the Beer House restaurant, located on Floriańska Street, which includes a soup and a main course or a bonus for 4 drinks on the Pub Crawl on the You visit 4 different bars.
A good option if you have little time is to book the offer that includes the visit to Auschwitz and the Salt Mines on a day with a guide in Spanish.
Book your tour here to visit Auschwitz from Krakow with guide in Spanish
- Excursion to Auschwitz-Birkenau
After this explanation we have made the Auschwitz tour from Krakow We believe that this visit is not especially given to make a diary, as we usually do other visits or tours we do, so we prefer to make a brief summary of the places we visit, with images, so that more or less can Have an idea of the visits.
What we can confirm is that this is a hard visit, which leaves no one indifferent, but that we understand that it is one of the essential things to see in Krakow.
The visit to Auschwitz I is accessed by the famous door where you can read one of the most symbolic phrases of the concentration camps, "Work free", after which we immediately began to find different barracks, within which in some, visits are made while the guide is giving data of everything that happened there and what we can see today among the views of One of the most inhuman places in the world.
Visit Auschwitz from Krakow
Barracks in Auschwitz
During the visit to Auschwitz from Krakow, the sensation of overwhelm in some barracks is practically constant and increased in those that there was more suffering, causing this some feelings difficult to forget, although some other concentration camp has already been visited, as is our case.
Visit Auschwitz from Krakow
Visit Auschwitz from Krakow
Without a doubt, this is a spooky and really spooky visit, but at the same time essential to know what happened.
Wall of Death
When it's 12:10 in the morning and finishing the visit to Auschwitz I, after 15 minutes we take the opportunity to have a drink, we return to the bus to go to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in the second field we will visit.
The journey from one field to another is less than 5 minutes and the visit to this second field will be more or less than 50 minutes, taking place mostly abroad, so if it is a hot day like today, no It would be bad to wear a cap besides a bottle of water.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau Barracks
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
The safety regulations in Auschwitz II-Birkenau are like those in Field 1 so you have to leave larger bags of a DinA4 on the bus, respect the places where you can not take pictures and above all, be respectful of one of the most chilling places in the world.
Bunk beds in the barracks of Auschwitz II-Birkenau
As in Field 1, the visit to Auschwitz II-Birkenau is essential, but also chilling and more when we know that many of the ashes of the deceased were scattered on the floors we are now stepping on.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
"Work free"In Auschwitz no one was free. They were only free through death.
To go to visit Auschwitz from Krakow it is not necessary to do it with an organized tour, since you can go by public transport in a very comfortable way. Despite this we have hired a tour with a guide in Spanish, as we have commented on several occasions, since we wanted to do this tour with a guide in Spanish and also make it a comfortable way.
According to our experience and what we have seen there, when we arrived at Auschwitz I at 9 in the morning, there were no tickets left for any of the guided tours in Spanish and in the other languages there were no places until 12: 45h, for What if you go for free and like yesterday, there are no tickets, you must wait several hours or return to Krakow without visiting.
Another of the options that we had read and that we confirmed there could be done is to reach Auschwitz by public transport and enter before 10 in the morning or after 4 in the afternoon without a guide, provided there are tickets.
In our case, the truth is that we prefer to take a guided tour in this type of places, but we understand that it is very personal.
It is 13:30 when we return to the bus, ending the Auschwitz-Birkenau excursion from Krakow, moment in which on the one hand we take a deep breath, thinking that the visit is over, but on the other, with a heavy heart, remembering everything we have experienced in the last hours and that we know, will return to our minds and hearts in many moments
We arrived again in Krakow when it is almost 3 in the afternoon, staying at the meeting point from where we left this morning, deciding to go directly to the Przystanek Pierogarnia restaurant, an entire Pierogi institution in Krakow, which is not far from here and how could it be otherwise, we cannot get lost.
Przystanek Pierogarnia
Keep in mind that inside it only has a couple of small bars with stools and two smaller ones and it is usually full, so it is worth coming to very early or like us, after three in the afternoon, when it is already more clear Another option is to ask to take and eat it in a park bench.
We ordered a pierogi mix for 8,50PLN which is a plate with 9 varied pieces and another one for sweet pierogi, for 8,50PLN, also varied but sweet varieties, more water and pepsi for 22PLN.
Przystanek Pierogarnia
And now comes the time when we must be honest with Polish cuisine again. Both for the people who are right now in the restaurant, as the comments, as a Catalan guide that we meet and that is the guide of a gastronomic tour, this is one of the best places to taste them, but for us it is not precisely the Best dish we have tried, yes, we have to be clear and say that we believe it is more for our tastes than for the dish itself.
So that said, we will say that you have to come, since it is a gastronomic classic and we are sure that you will want to try them, so there is no better place to do it than here, where they say it is the best in the city, although In our case it is not a dish that we especially like.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Krakow
- 10 essential places to visit in Krakow
- 50 things to see and do in Krakow
- The 5 best tours and excursions in Krakow
- 10 restaurants to eat in Krakow cheap
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Krakow
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Poland
And so, almost at 4 in the afternoon, we return to the streets of Krakow, looking for a place where we can have a great coffee that energizes us to continue with today, and makes us at least forget for a while This morning's experience, which we have to confess, is still with us.
After touring Florianska Street again, we decided on the well-known E. Wedel Chocolate Lounge, famous for its chocolate, where we ordered a glass of cold chocolate with banana ice cream, an assortment of chocolates and two coffees for 48PLN.
E. Wedel Chocolate Lounge
Great! If you are in this area and you fancy something sweet, be sure to try it. We assure you that you will not regret it.
And so, when it is 5 pm, we approach again to the Basilica of Santa Maria where yesterday, we could not enter because it is a holiday and where today, in addition to visiting it, we will climb to its tower.
And this is where it seems that Krakow wants to repeat the same story. We meet practically the same thing that happened to us yesterday and it is that just when we arrive at the ticket office they tell us that today it is not that the tower is closed as yesterday, but that the tickets to access are already sold out, so we decided Enter only the Basilica of Santa Maria, for 10PLN per person and leave tomorrow or the day after tomorrow the ascent to the tower, hoping that finally, there are tickets and we can enjoy the incredible views, they have told us that they have.
Basilica of Santa Maria
Located on one of the sides of the Market Square, the Basilica of Santa Maria is one of the most symbolic places in Krakow, besides being one of the visits we believe, you should not miss.
The tallest tower, known as “Hejnalica"It is the one that was used in the past, to give notices to the population, such as attacks, closing doors ... etc and it is from where today, we can listen every hour to the trumpeter, a well-known figure in Krakow, which during the melody makes an interruption, reminding the trumpeter that he was killed while warning the city of the coming attack.
The best tours and excursions in Krakow in Spanish
If you prefer to forget about preparations or have little time, you can book the following tours in SPANISH
- Excursion to Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Wieliczka Salt Mine Tour
- Offer: Auschwitz + Salt Mines in one day
- Private guided tour of Krakow
- Free tour of Krakow Free!
- Free tour of the Jewish district of Krakow Free!- Many more excursions and tours in / from Krakow here
One of the best known details of the Basilica of Santa Maria is its 12-meter altarpiece, with more than 200 carved figures that is considered to be the largest in Europe.
Basilica of Santa Maria
Basilica of Santa Maria
After the visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria we take another tour of the Market Square, and this is inevitably this is the nerve center of the city of Krakow and is one of the places that you will probably go through more times, also losing ourselves by the adjacent streets, full of atmosphere at this time of the afternoon, to arrive, without realizing it until the Collegium Maius, the oldest university building in Poland, where we make a brief visit without entering the interior, closed at this time, although already only by the patio, it really is worth getting here.
Collegium Maius
From here and after a walk around the historic center area, we decided to go to dinner, in this case to the number 1 restaurant in Krakow, the Nago Sushi & Sake, a Japanese restaurant, a gastronomy that we love and that of course It could be otherwise, we cannot resist.
Nago Sushi & Sake
We ordered a tuna tartare plus three varieties of special rolls, water and beer for 185PLN. The summary of the experience is that everything we have eaten is delicious and is a perfect option if you like Japanese cuisine.
After dinner and refusing to return to the hotel, we approach the Market Square again, this time when it is getting dark, moment that you can not miss in a city like Krakow and where we enjoy the atmosphere and hundreds of photos, that we They make us say goodbye to the city with a huge smile.
Marketplace
Town Hall Tower
Basilica of Santa Maria
It's a little after nine o'clock at night when we return to the Logos hotel, where tonight we fall like children after a very intense day, which we are sure, we will never forget.
Day 4: Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz): Old Synagogue, Remuh Synagogue, Tempel Synagogue, Isaac Synagogue, Kupa Synagogue, Wysoka Synagogue, Nowy Square, Corpus Cristi Basilica - Visit the Salt Mines from Krakow
