Private two-day trip from Dresden: drive to Kraków with a guided city tour and overnight stay, then a morning guided visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau before returning to Dresden.
Tour Details
- Duration: 2 days, with one night in Kraków
- Tour type: private tour by car or minivan with an English-speaking driver
- Distance: around 500 km from Dresden to Auschwitz
- Drive time: around 7 hours from Dresden to Kraków (day 1); around 1.5 hours from Kraków to the Memorial (day 2)
- Pickup: early morning from your hotel in Dresden; drop-off at your hotel in Dresden on day 2
- Guided visits: Kraków (day 1) and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, up to 3.5 hours (day 2)
- Guide languages at the Memorial: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish
- Price: on request
Description
The Auschwitz tour from Dresden divides the journey into two parts. On the first day, you drive east to Kraków and explore the city with a licensed guide. The second day is set aside for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum and the drive home. With around 500 km between Dresden and Auschwitz, this pace leaves enough time for the visit without compressing everything into a single day.
You spend the night in a hotel in Kraków city centre. In the morning, your driver collects you for the hour-and-a-half drive to Oświęcim. There, a local guide leads you through the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp for up to three and a half hours: around two hours in Auschwitz I and around an hour and a half in Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Entrance tickets are reserved for you, and the private vehicle with its English-speaking driver stays with your group from Dresden and back again.
The guided visit at the Memorial follows the history of the camp from its founding in 1940 to its liberation on 27 January 1945. You learn who was brought there and how they were treated. The victims were mostly Jews, but also Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities. The guide links that history to the places along the route, from the brick blocks of the main camp to the ruins at Birkenau.
Auschwitz Tour from Dresden Itinerary
Day 1: From Dresden to Kraków
- Departure from Dresden
The driver meets you at your hotel in Dresden early in the morning. Exact times for pickup and the rest of the programme are confirmed by email before the tour. - On the road to Kraków
The drive from Dresden to Kraków takes around seven hours in an air-conditioned car or minivan reserved only for your group. - Kraków with a local guide
On arrival in Kraków, a licensed guide meets you for a guided tour of the city. - Evening in Kraków
After the tour, you check in at a hotel in Kraków city centre and stay there overnight.
Day 2: The Memorial and the drive home
- Pickup at your Kraków hotel
Your driver collects you from the hotel in the morning. - To Oświęcim
The journey from Kraków to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial takes around an hour and a half. - Start of the guided visit
At the Memorial, your guide meets you, and your reserved tickets are ready. You receive headphones to hear the guide clearly throughout the visit. As tickets are issued in each visitor’s name, keep your passport or ID card with you. - Auschwitz I (around 2 hours)
The guided route begins in the main camp, which the Germans set up in 1940 in former Polish army barracks near Oświęcim. Above its gate is the inscription “Arbeit macht frei”. Inside, the brick blocks now house exhibitions on the deportations and on the lives and deaths of the prisoners. You also visit Block 11, used as the camp prison, and the Death Wall in its courtyard. - Transfer to Birkenau
The second part of the Memorial is about 3 km away, and you travel there as part of the guided visit. - Auschwitz II-Birkenau (around 1.5 hours)
Birkenau, the largest part of the Auschwitz complex, was the main site where European Jews were murdered. The guide takes you along the railway unloading ramp and past the wooden and brick barracks to the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria, destroyed by the SS before the camp was liberated. The visit concludes at the International Monument to the Victims. - Lunch break
After the visit, there is free time for lunch. - Back to Dresden
Your driver brings you back to Dresden and drops you off at your hotel.
Prices
Prices for this tour are available on request: send us your preferred date and the number of travellers, and we will reply with a quote.
What is Included
- Private car or minivan with an English-speaking driver
- Transport in a high-quality, air-conditioned minivan or minibus
- Hotel pickup and drop-off in Dresden
- Guided tour of Kraków
- Reserved entrance tickets to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau
- Guided visit of up to 3.5 hours at the Memorial in your chosen language
Before you go
- Reserve early: Guided visits at the Memorial are often booked out weeks ahead, especially between spring and autumn. Early booking helps secure your preferred date and guide language.
- Identity document: Tickets are issued by name, so every traveller must carry a passport or ID card.
- Luggage: Bags inside the Museum may not be larger than 30 x 20 x 10 cm. Your overnight bag can remain in the vehicle during the visit.
- Children: The Museum does not recommend visits for children under 14.
- Weather: Much of the visit, particularly at Birkenau, is outdoors. Bring comfortable shoes and clothing for the season.
- Overnight stay: Pack for one night in Kraków, as the Memorial visit takes place on the morning of day 2.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
Dresden is around 500 km from Auschwitz, so a return trip in a single day would be very long. The tour therefore includes an overnight stay in Kraków, which allows a guided city tour on day 1 and an unhurried visit to the Memorial on the morning of day 2.
The drive from Dresden to Kraków takes around seven hours on the first day. On the second morning, the drive from Kraków to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial takes around an hour and a half.
The overnight stay is at a hotel in Kraków city centre. After the guided tour of Kraków on day 1, you check in there, and the driver picks you up from the hotel on the morning of day 2.
Yes. Your group has its own car or minivan with an English-speaking driver for the whole trip. At the Memorial, a licensed local guide leads the visit in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish or Polish.
Yes. Reserved entrance tickets to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau are included, together with a guided visit of up to 3.5 hours. Each traveller needs a passport or ID card, as tickets are issued by name.
The price for this tour is given on request. Send us your preferred date and the number of travellers, and we will reply with a quote.
Bring a passport or ID card, comfortable shoes, weather-appropriate clothing and what you need for one night in Kraków. Bags inside the Museum must not exceed 30 x 20 x 10 cm, so larger luggage stays in the vehicle during the visit.
