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Original poster

Auschwitz no official tickets left

35 replies

Dinosaurfossil · 15/10/2025 20:18

We’ve messed up! We are off to Krakow and Auschwitz this October half term and all the official tickets are sold out. I’m kicking myself as to why I didn’t do this earlier.
Anyway, whilst there are hundreds of non-official providers offering tours, I believe they only really offer transport and then drop you in the queue… some are leaving Krakow at 5am!
We are instead thinking of getting an early morning train to Auschwitz ourselves and then join the official queue, in the hope that some tickets are released on the day. Has anyone done similar please?

OP posts:
ChillBarrog · 15/10/2025 20:22

We booked a tour, which included transport and tickets. It was through Get Your Guide, and they were very good (even when car sick DS vomited in their very nice minibus)

searchforthesun · 15/10/2025 20:25

We ended up being picked up at 2.45am by a tour operator (who hadn’t purchased tickets) and then standing outside until it opened (ticket sales start at 8.30). It was freezing, no toilets until the gates opened (6.30).

We were at the front of the queue and did manage to get an English Tour on a 10.30 slot.
There were lots of polish speaking tours left.
If I was you I’d head there later in the day once the queues have gone down a bit and go on a polish speaking tour.
Getting the train is easy and Bolts are cheap.
you can go off on your own once you are in the camp and get an app on your phone. There is plenty to read so you will know what you are looking at.
we swapped tours half way round as our guide wasn’t great so you could try tagging onto an English tour once you are inside.
i hope you manage to sort something out.

Original poster
Dinosaurfossil · 15/10/2025 20:26

@ChillBarrogthank you. Do you recall the name of the tour? There are so many on get your guide…

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searchforthesun · 15/10/2025 20:28

All the tour operators are having the same problems getting tickets. There are lots of posts on Facebook.
There have been mixed experiences with Get you Guide and Mr Shuttle. These two seem to be the best but there have still been similar stories about them.
There is a private guide called Michael K who seems to be able to get tickets and he drives in his private car. Might be worth seeing if you can get his contact details from one of the Facebook groups. I think he has contacts at the museum.

searchforthesun · 15/10/2025 20:29

Please read krakow travel guides posts on Facebook before booking anything. They keep reiterating the only way to guarantee tickets is by booking with the museum directly.

Mikart · 15/10/2025 20:30

I used Krakow tours and they were excellent

ChillBarrog · 15/10/2025 20:31

Dinosaurfossil · 15/10/2025 20:26

@ChillBarrogthank you. Do you recall the name of the tour? There are so many on get your guide…

Just checked there, it was Super Cracow tours. They picked us up from hotel at 9am and tickets were secured, we went straight in. If I recall correctly they even gave us a packed lunch. Couldn't fault them at all.

autumnevenings25 · 15/10/2025 20:36

I just went on the official website site and there were tickets for week commencing 27th October half term week…..

RomainingCalm · 15/10/2025 20:37

@DinosaurfossilWhen we went two years ago we booked with Musement. No complaints, we had to keep an eye on emails for the confirmed pick up location and time but it was all fine. It’s a long day, take food and drinks with you (we had about 30mins to eat and wouldn’t have had time to go to the cafė).

Rhubarbandgooseburycrumble · 15/10/2025 20:38

I used Viator to book our tour. It was good.

Original poster
Dinosaurfossil · 15/10/2025 20:39

@autumnevenings25 ours is the week beforehand sadly!

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Original poster
Dinosaurfossil · 15/10/2025 20:43

@searchforthesun thank you, v useful.

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Original poster
Dinosaurfossil · 15/10/2025 20:48

@searchforthesunif we got the train and stood in the queue, do you think we’d get in? Whilst I’d love a tour I’d be happy to walk around solo or with my phone app.

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Hohofortherobbers · 15/10/2025 20:52

We went through get your guide a couple of years ago. Excellent service, hotel pick up about 7am, packed lunch and guided tour of both Auschwitz and Birkinau.

autumnevenings25 · 15/10/2025 20:56

Oh you have left it late then if it’s next week!
that being said I’ve been several times over the years and I didn’t realise you had to book in advance until I saw something on the Auschwitz Facebook feed recently

dancingbymyself · 15/10/2025 20:59

Sadly most of the tour companies are scammers who don’t have tickets, pick you up at 3am so you can be in the queue for 4.30am and effectively guarantee you will get a ticket.
we took ourselves there, joined the queue at 7.30am and got tickets at 9am. The earliest available tour in English at this point was for 2pm, so do be prepared that you’ll need to kill time.
Given it will be the school holidays, I think I would aim to be there for 6am. I wouldn’t pay a tour company a premium to put me in a queue, and I don’t believe any genuine companies would have tickets at this stage.

dancingbymyself · 15/10/2025 21:01

P.S. You can only go in without a tour from 5om onwards and you still have to pre-book. That only gives you two hours for something they say takes 4 hours.
The whole system is designed to push you to a tour.

Yuja · 15/10/2025 21:05

You can just turn up and join the next tour with space. I’ve been 3 times (my great grandfather was killed there and it’s been important for me - I’ve visited with different family members) each time I’ve hired a car at krakow airport, driven there and joined the next available English speaking tour, no issues.

Yuja · 15/10/2025 21:07

Oh and the afternoon is quieter. You’ll get a spot of you aim for 1.30pm or later

Flyonthewall01 · 15/10/2025 21:08

We went with travel company Hello Cracow on Tripadvisor and they were great. We were taken by coach from centre on krakow directly to auschwitz (both sites) and back to the pick up point. Tickets and guided tour included and picked us up 8ish

WarmLilacHiker · 15/10/2025 21:28

We went on one that combined it with a trip to the salt mines and I can't recommend it more. It was such a good day and lightened the mood a bit.

Also don't listen to anyone that suggests getting a foreign language tour, there isn't much to read compared to the amount the tour guide tells you.

NamechangeRugby · 15/10/2025 21:56

We went by train there (very easy, I booked a return on the App and we were even able to amend our return train time just before our return via my mobile. Once at the station there is a public shuttle bus just outside which runs pretty regularly (maybe every half hour). You can walk from the train, but might take 40 mins or so.

I had booked tickets without a guide (family decided - but I really think if you can get on a tour or at least get headphones - definitely do that - from memory you can sort that out as you go through reception or check out the official website). If you look up the official web-site they allocate half the tickets and keep so many aside for people who just turn up. The queue of people waiting was large, but moved reasonably quickly (at least the afternoon we were there).

There are public buses all the way back to Kraków too, which we could have just jumped on (obviously depends if a busy time of year, we were early July) or you again can prebook on the bus App's.

NamechangeRugby · 15/10/2025 22:01

We also did the Salt Mines booking through the official website - again train very easy from Krakow and just a 5 min walk from station.

searchforthesun · 16/10/2025 06:21

A lot has changed recently, the tours were fine but now most of them are not as they can’t pre book tickets (please check recent posts on Facebook, there have been so many disappointed people).
we were in the queue for 3am and by 5am there were about 8 coach loads of people.
The tours have to keep getting people there earlier and earlier to secure the first tickets.
If you are prepared to wait in the queue, I think you will get in on one of the tours. You can always get your ticket, get a bolt somewhere for lunch and then come back for your tour time.
if I went again without a ticket I think I would aim to get there for 12/1 and hope there were later tours left. There seemed to be some left when we came out at 1, just not English speaking.
you do get headphones but they are so you can hear your guide. I’m not sure if they have any pre recorded things you can listen to.

searchforthesun · 18/10/2025 09:52

FYI

Auschwitz no official tickets left