Price of Visiting Auschwitz: Cost of Tickets and Guided Tours

Traveling to Poland on a tight budget is possible, and visiting Auschwitz won't make your trip overly expensive.

I'll tell you what to expect in terms of the costs of this trip, the prices of tours, tickets, and transportation to get there, and how to save money if you want to keep your expenses to a minimum.

If you want to visit the Auschwitz museum on your own and without a museum educator, you can enter freely, but you must reserve your pass online in advance. Be sure to do this well in advance, as these slots are quite limited. Since May 2025, free passes can no longer be purchased at the ticket office.

However, the most common way to visit the complex is with a museum educator on a guided tour where you can learn about the historical significance of the site. The cost of these tickets (without transportation) may vary depending on attendance and date, but is approximately as follows:

• Standard rate for adults: around €25
• Standard rate for under 21s: around €20
• Senior citizen rate: €19
• Group visits (more than ten people): around €19 per person. These visits must be booked in advance and accredited as a group by registering on the official website

To avoid any headaches when visiting Auschwitz, we recommend booking the Auschwitz skip-the-line tour, which includes a guided tour and round-trip transportation from Krakow by minibus. The price is around $53 which is slightly more than general admission, but well worth it to get to the concentration camp in the most comfortable way possible.

An all-inclusive guided tour to Auschwitz from Krakow costs around €39 if you book with Hellotickets. On this tour, you will be accompanied by an expert guide and will arrive at the gates of the concentration camp in just over an hour, without unnecessary waiting or queuing at the Auschwitz ticket office. What's more, if something unexpected comes up, you can cancel the tour at no cost.

What does this excursion include?

• Professional expertguide, usually in several languages
• Skip-the-line tickets to the entire Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex
• Private bus transportation from Krakow (they can pick you up at your hotel)
• Return to Krakow city center or your hotel on the same private bus

Why do I recommend this option?

This is undoubtedly the best value for money option you will find for visiting Auschwitz. Taking the tour with an expert guide (and especially in your own language) will help you delve deeper into the history and the visit, and also allow you to forget about the logistics of making the round trip on your own.

If you are concerned about transportation between Krakow and Auschwitz but prefer to visit on your own rather than join a guided tour, one option to consider is booking a tour without a guide (i.e., transportation only), which usually costs around €30-35 per person and includes only round-trip transportation.

Given the small difference in price, in my opinion, it is 100% advisable to choose the excursion that includes the guided tour, but if you think you will get a better view of the concentration camp by doing the route on your own, this is a good option.

As these are the two most popular excursions in Krakow and its surroundings, there is the opportunity to get a guided tour of both attractions combined from around €90. With this option, you save time (as you won't have to queue at the ticket office) and money (by avoiding having to buy them separately).

The tour takes place on the same day and a private bus will take you from the center of Krakow to Auschwitz and then to the Salt Mines. At the end of both visits, you will return to the starting point.

If you would like more detailed information to organize this visit, you can check out my article on excursions to Auschwitz and the Salt Mines.

If you decide not to join a guided tour with transportation included, you will have to use public transportation. The best options are the bus and the train. A round-trip bus ticket to Auschwitz from Krakow costs about €5 (approximately €2.50 each way).

If, on the other hand, you choose to take the train, the price is a little higher: €8 each way, or around €16 return, although Oświęcim station is about 2 km from the museum, so you will have to walk or take a local bus to the entrance. In general, I recommend taking the bus, as it drops you off closer to the concentration camp (the train station is 2 km from the entrance to Auschwitz).

For more details on schedules, duration, and transportation prices, I recommend my article on how to get to Auschwitz from Krakow.

Access to Auschwitz-Birkenau is free, but you must book your pass online in advance on the official website. Without this reservation, you will not be allowed to enter, even for a visit without a guide. Until a few years ago, it was possible to obtain free passes directly at the ticket office, but since May 2025, this option has been eliminated: all visits must be booked online with a specific date and time.

As for the most common type of visit, with a museum educator, there are no notable discounts, promotions, or discount codes as such, but there are reduced rates for groups, seniors, and young people under 21.