Auschwitz-Birkenau tickets: the named entry pass, the guided tour and the bus from Kraków

💡 The Short Version: Entry to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial is free, but every visitor needs a named pass for a date, booked online at visit.auschwitz.org, and an ID that matches it. No passes are sold at the entrance. Passes go on sale up to 90 days ahead and cannot be changed or refunded. Before a cut-off hour that depends on the month (16:00 in October, 17:00 from April to September) an individual enters only with a Memorial educator, on a guided pass of PLN 150 (£29) in English, about 3.5 hours. The free unguided pass works only after that hour. Or book a tour: GetYourGuide’s guided tour with hotel pick-upad, rated 4.5 from 41,471 reviews, includes the coach from Kraków, the entry pass and a guide from the Memorial, and the booking is made for you (GetYourGuide).

Tickets and prices

Admission to the grounds is free. The Memorial charges for the guided pass and the headset. The prices below are from the Memorial’s Entry Pass Price List valid from 2 January 2026, and are subject to change without notice (auschwitz.org).

Booking is at visit.auschwitz.org, the Memorial’s own system. A guided tour takes you through both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau with an educator, a headset and the shuttle between the two sites. The language and the time are chosen when you book, and the sale of a guided pass ends 15 minutes before the tour.

• Name and ID. The name on the pass must match your ID. A child without an ID is entered under the guardian’s details.
• How many. Up to six unguided passes for one day per user.
• How far ahead. Up to 90 days. Each day at 12:00 the Memorial releases the newest date in that window.
• Changes. Individual passes, guided or unguided, cannot be changed or cancelled. A late guided visitor has to book another slot and gets no refund; a late unguided visitor enters at the next free unguided slot. If the Memorial cancels a day, you are offered a new date, or a refund if you decline it.
• Groups. A group of 11 or more is booked as an organised group, up to five days ahead.

When you can enter, and with whom

The site is open every day except 1 January, 25 December and Easter Sunday. You can stay on site for up to 90 minutes after the last entry hour.

English guided tours start at these times:

Other languages run at fewer, fixed times. The exceptions to “educator only” are holders of a disability ID with a guardian, veterans of the anti-Hitler coalition, and museum and ICOM members (auschwitz.org).

Tours that include the pass

A tour books the pass for you, and the pass is personal, so you give the operator your name as it appears on your ID when you book. GetYourGuide’s price varies by option and date, and the checkout shows the total.

Guided tour with hotel pick-up (coach from Kraków)

Rated 4.5 from 41,471 reviews · 7 to 10 hours · operator Royal Cracow

The Auschwitz-Birkenau guided tourad includes the entry pass with a licensed Memorial guide, the coach from Kraków, hotel pick-up or a central meeting point depending on the option, and a tour leader. The pick-up window runs from 05:00 to 14:00, and the exact time is sent the day before. It is not suitable for children under 12.

Guided pass, starting in Oświęcim (no transport)

Rated 4.3 from 5,397 reviews · 3.5 to 4 hours · operator Royal Tours Krakow

The skip-the-line guided tourad starts at the Memorial and does not include the journey from Kraków. It includes the pass, the Memorial’s guide, a headset and the shuttle between the camps. The entry ticket and guided tourad (4.4 stars from 3,561 reviews, 3.5 to 4 hours) is the same format from another operator. Both suit a visit by the Lajkonik bus or the train, where you want the pass and guide bought for you. Auschwitz tours from Kraków compares every coach tour.

What the visit covers

The standard guided tour starts at Auschwitz I, the former barracks where the permanent exhibitions are housed in the original buildings, and continues at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where it takes in the prisoners’ barracks, the unloading platform and the ruins of crematorium II or III. The Memorial says it is essential to visit both: the sites are 3.5 km apart, and a free Museum shuttle links them for guided individual visitors. The 6-hour study visit adds the area called Kanada and the ruins of crematoria IV and V (auschwitz.org).

The railway line leading to the gatehouse at Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Photo: Leeturtle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

• Auschwitz I. Allow about 90 minutes. A temporary exhibition, “Prussian Blue” by Yishai Jusidman, is in Block 21. Part of the exhibition in Block 5 and the Russian exhibition in Block 14 are closed. The courtyard of Block 11 is a silence zone.
• Birkenau. Allow about 90 minutes. Parts of Birkenau are closed to visitors.
• Photographs. Allowed for your own use, without flash or tripod. They are forbidden in Block 4, Room 5, where the victims’ hair is shown, and in the basement of Block 11. Do not photograph security checkpoints.
• With or without a guide. The Memorial suggests a visit with an educator, to understand the history of the site.

The gate at Auschwitz I. Photo: Fallaner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Practical information

Getting there on your own

Lajkonik bus from Kraków MDA, 1 hour 25 minutes, PLN 27 (£5) each way

The Lajkonik bus runs from the MDA bus station (ul. Bosacka 18, lower level, stand D10) to the Museum car park every day except 1 January, 25 December and Easter Sunday. The timetable is valid from 1 March 2026.

The fare is PLN 27 to the Museum, and PLN 22 reduced for students under 26 and over-65s with a document. Board at the first stop 15 minutes early. The buses arrive at the Museum car park, so the 07:10 bus reaches it at 08:35 (lajkonikbus.pl).

• A day on the bus in October. The 07:10 bus arrives at 08:35, which is too late for the 08:30 English slot once you allow 30 minutes for security. Book the 09:30 English slot, which ends at about 13:15, and take the 14:00 bus back, arriving at MDA at about 15:25. An unguided visit does not fit a bus day in October: the free pass is valid only from 16:00, the site closes at 18:30, and the last bus back leaves at 18:30.
• By train. Koleje Małopolskie runs from Kraków Główny to Oświęcim roughly hourly: via Trzebinia in about 1 hour 10 to 15 minutes and via Skawina in about 1 hour 15 to 30 minutes, on timetables valid to 24 October 2026. The station is 1.5 km from the Museum, about 20 minutes on foot.
• By FlixBus. Fastest 1 hour 25 minutes, from £5.67, at least eight a day.
• By taxi or car. HALO Taxi has a rank in front of the entrance (+48 32 19 194). The visitor centre is at ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 55, with paid car parks at both camps.

Rules, bags and what is allowed

• Arrive at least 30 minutes before the start, for the security check and bag drop. Allow for the sale of a guided pass to end 15 minutes before the tour.
• Bags. The largest bag allowed is 35 x 25 x 15 cm. Paid luggage lockers at the visitor centre take larger bags, up to 30 kg.
• Behaviour. The Memorial asks for due solemnity and respect, and dress to match. Eating, alcohol, smoking and e-cigarettes, music, phone calls inside buildings, flags and drones are prohibited; so are audio or video guides, including phone apps, and recording the educator.
• Age. The Memorial recommends the visit for ages 14 and over. Prams may not enter buildings.
• Access. Wheelchairs are free at the Visitor Service Centre, but the buildings are limited to their ground floors, and the Memorial warns that moving around can be difficult because the site has been kept as it was (auschwitz.org).

Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of the day trips from Kraków. Auschwitz tours from Kraków compares the coach tours that include the pass, and Auschwitz and Wieliczka in one day covers the combined tour; the other trip that needs only a train is the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Kraków public transport covers the way to the MDA bus station, 3 days in Kraków shows where a day away fits, and where to stay in Kraków has the areas for the nights either side. What to book before you go to Kraków has the city tickets.