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 Door into a barrack at
Birkenau by darthmilmoLeave a Comment Theme: Bus
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 Polish Train by kenbac
Getting There
I travelled to Auschwitz from Krakow by train. I had done my homework and was aware that there were several trains to Oswiecim. I went to get tickets from the Orbis office in Krakow at Reynek Glowny, however I was only offered two trains, which would have left us with less than 2 hours in total in Oswiecim. As the Museum is some distance from the Station it would have left very short on time, maybe an hour and a half, which did not seem sufficient. I pressed my inquiry but to no avail. I was unhappy with this and decided to go to the station and make further enquiries there. There is an information desk there, with some staff able to speak sufficient English. My information was correct there were many trains, however to be fair, Orbis were only offering direct trains, while most involve a change. I had no problem with this and the lady wrote down my requirements, which enabled me to go to the ticket desk and purchase my tickets with considerable ease. A point of interest here is that only some trains go from Krakow Glowny (Central Station), most go from Krakow Plaszow, which is a short distance outside the City. You can get to Plastow by tram quite easily. It takes 10/15 mins.I purchased my tickets there and then for the following day. This is a good idea as there are large queues and service can be slow. We travelled as planed (with one change) and got to Oswiecim about 11 am. We then got the bus from the station to the Museum gates (about every 20 mins). You should get a bus ticket in the station before boarding. The journey is quite short. Watch for the "Museum" sign for the place to get off. Our return was much a mirror of getting there. We got the bus from the Museum gates back to the station and got a train at 7.00 pm. This only went to Krakow Plastow (arriving about 8.30 pm), which meant we had to get the tram back into the City centre. Leave a Comment Theme: Train
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You take the bus from the PKS ( behind the train station) and it's perfectly okay to bring your lugggage for the day and store it at the museum. The bus stops ca. 3 minute by foot from the museum. It cost 8 Zloty, and the departure is hourly. Pay at the bus, or at the ticket office in the train station. the train takes longer and you would still have to take the bus to the train station, or walk 20 minutes.
Around: To the second camp it is quite far, i was on a tour so there was transportation. there is a bus going back to the main museum and they don't check if you are part of the tour. Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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 Main Station in Krakow by johngayton
By bus leaving from the main bus station: the buses run roughly every half hour and deliver you pretty much to the main entrance to Auschwitz 1. The journey time is about 1 and a half hours but I didn't really fancy this, not being a great lover of bus journeys.
By train: trains run from the main station roughly every hour, depositing you at the Oswiecim Station, from where you can either walk or get a local bus. The train journey being about an hour I made this my first option and duly arrived at the station. Working out the train times was easy, buying a ticket wasn't - there only seemed to be 2 ticket windows open, both with a scrummage of people around them and no sign of anything as simple as an automatic ticket machine.
As I vacillated a guy approached me and asked where I was going, and on telling him Auschwitz he offered to take me there, run me around and generally act as my guide for the day. Obviously I'm always a bit dubious about these sort of touts and so asked him for a price - 250 Zloty, was his offer. Did a bit of Hmmmming, told him it was a bit more that I wanted to pay and so he lowered his price to 249.95, special price!!! He asked where I was from, then produced a sort of mini-portfolio of thankyou notes from previous customers and produced one testimony from a couple from Aberdeen - ach well if Aberdonians were willing to pay the man then he must be good value and as he explained I don't have to pay until we get back and so if I'm not happy......... Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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 One Of Our Stop Off Points by johngayton
We arranged that he would pick me up in about 2 hrs, but no rush, and take me to Birkenau. I had spent slightly less than the planned 2 hrs but he was there waiting and so off again the mile or so to Birkenau, once again giving me some useful local info such as the fact that the Germans named the camp because of the Birch trees.
As before, he dropped me off and left me to do things in my own time, which he estimated would be about an hour.
It was well over that hour that I exited, sickened and saddened, impressed deeply.
I was glad to escape the place and there he was, parked-up and waiting. Asking him if he was OK to stop off for late a lunch on the way back, resulted in an excellent little restaurant and having eaten he gave me the option of taking me back into town or dropping me at my hotel.
Yep, nice guy and well worth the money when you consider that we set off about 10.30 and got back to the city after 5 pm - I think he was definitely doing this a bit under the board but hey, why not, we all have to make our crust!
Thinking back on it as I update this (Aug 2009) I personally think that using a local guide who just drops you off is the way to make your pilgrimage. This isn't something to do as a "guided tour" nor something to share with a bus load of others.
Nostrovia Kazimierz! Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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 by Raimix
To go back to Krakow from Oswiecim you need to walk to bus stop (from concentration camp) for about 200 meters probably. I think bus and microbus takes about 1,5 hour to go Krakow-Oswiecim route ( it like ~60 kilometres). Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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There are several ways one can get from Krakow to Auschwitz. One can take the train from the central train station. Also, there is an option for taking a bus or even renting a car. Then, there are the tour companies that use the large tour buses. We actually arranged a private car tour from our hotel to come visit this area. The driver first took us around some sites in Krakow such as Kazimierz, the Jewish Ghetto, and Plaszow labor camp. He then dropped us off at Auschwitz I. After touring the grounds and some of the museums on our own, he drove us to Auschwitz II, aka. Birkenau. Again, we looked around on our own pace. when we were finished, we were then taken back to the hotel. It was not really that expensive. I recall it being less than 100$ at the time (even with the tip). Sure, it may cost more than a bus or a train, however we got to see several sites that day, and we could spend exactly the amount of time we wanted at each location and not have to wait before moving on to the next place. Therefore, you do have a lot of options for getting to this area from Krakow. Leave a Comment Theme: Car/Motor Home
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From Krakow train station, buy a ticket for a coach to this site (1.5 hours ride).
It cost 7PLZ in Apr 2005.
The trains do not take you right to the museum (Auschwitz I), unlike the coach, which stops right in front of the gates.
But be warned, the route the bus takes is very winding, and made me feel unwell. I only improved once we reached our destination, and after I walked in the fresh air for a while.
On the way back we (7 of us) took a taxi from Birkenau, & he took a different route! Driving quite fast even he took 1 hour, charging 225PLZ or 36 EUR in all. Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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 by Raimix
When entrancing bus (it was full of tourists), driver asked if we are in english speaking group - we said "yes" (as we speak english:) and we were allowed for free. Maybe this bus was rented by any of touristic groups, but we simply confused driver that we are in that group as well :) In the same way we came back to Auswitz.
Attention! To get transportation back to Krakow you always need at first to come back to Auswitz (Oswiecim) from Birkenau. Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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 by tini58de
There are also train connections, but the Oswiecim train station is pretty far away from the museum, so you would have to wait for a bus, take a taxi or walk quite a distance to get there, that is why I would always prefer the bus option.
For a little bit more information, do read my transportation tip on my Krakow page. Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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