Auschwitz Birkenau is one of the most important and recognizable places in the world. This place is proof of what one human being can do to another. Our English-speaking driver will pick you up from a chosen location and take you on a comfortable bus to the city of Oświęcim, where the Auschwitz 1 death camp was located, the journey will take about 1.5 hour. When you arrive, you will first meet your official museum guide. He will tell you about the rules of the tour and after you go through security gates, similar to those at the airport, you will receive headphones and a receiver set, so you can listen to the guide's stories, who will speak into the microphone. Visiting this part of the camp will take approximately 1 hour 45 minutes.
The tour begins at the legendary gate "Arbeit Mach Frei". The place where murderous and destructive work was performed by prisoners. The sightseeing route leads through all the most important barracks, which are dedicated to specific topics, such as daily life, work, selection, extermination. There is an original exhibition in each of the barracks. Original and stolen belongings of prisoners, such as suitcases, glasses or children's toys, all this, combined with the guide's story, makes you think and does not allow you to pass by indifferently over this exhibition. The last, but also the most dramatic place on the Auschwitz 1 route is the gas chamber and the place where the corpses of prisoners were burnt. This place and its silence is just terrifying.
After visiting the first part of the camp (Auschwitz 1), there will be a short break (about 15 minutes), then we will take our bus to the second part of the camp called Auschwitz II (Birkenau). The ride takes 10 minutes and you will join the same guide you already know on site. Visiting the second part of the camp will take about 1 hour. Auschwitz II Birkenau is an open space and a place that shows in its vastness the scale of the crime that happened here. Gas and cremator chambers were located here, where thousands of people were murdered. You will see the place where the selection was made, the so-called ramp. It was here that the decision about life or death was made. In Birkenau you have to walk about 1 km so you should wear comfortable shoes. After the sightseeing and a short break, you will return to the driver who will take you back to Krakow.
Here, you will have a break to grab some lunch, and then a second part of the trip will begin: an afternoon Salt Mine tour.
Our driver will pick you up from the agreed place and you will take a comfortable, air-conditioned bus to the city of Wieliczka, where the mine is located. The journey will take approximately 30 minutes. On site, you will meet your guide, who will take you on an underground adventure. The tour starts with going down the wooden stairs to a depth of 65 meters, where the guide will explain the rules of sightseeing and safety on the tourist route, the time of visiting underground is about 2 hours.
The tour is based on an underground walk through the corridors and chambers of the mine. Some of the chambers are dedicated to, for example, famous people who visited the mines (Chopin, Gothe) or how the style of work and technology of miners changed. The highlight of the tour is a visit to an underground chapel considered to be the most beautiful in the world. St. Kinga, where the artists carved a church in salt. There will be a short break there for photos and toilet.
We move further along the corridors to see, for example, an underground lake, a bark in which the world's first underground balloon flight took place, and to listen to an underground concert of classical music. At the end of the tour, we will visit the largest chamber of the mine, where, dance balls or sports events take place. At the very end of the tour, you will have the opportunity to buy souvenirs related to the mine and ride a real mining elevator back to the surface.
Our driver will take you back to Krakow. The journey back will take 25 minutes and you will be done for the day.
