Auschwitz Opening Times
The first thing you need to know to organise your visit to Auschwitz is the opening hours of the concentration camp. Take note and choose when to visit.
One of the concentration camp buildings | Jean Carlo Emer
There are mainly two ways to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp: either by buying tickets to Auschwitz and doing the tour on your own or by booking one of the Auschwitz tours from Krakow.
Either way, you'll need to know the opening hours to organise your visit. I'll tell you all about them below:
When Auschwitz opens
The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is open every day of the week, from Monday to Sunday. Opening hours may vary according to the summer-winter season, in order to adapt visits to the daylight hours in each season.
The last access to the camp should be no later than 90 minutes before closing time. Please note:
- December: 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM
- January and November: 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
- February: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
- March and October: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
- May and September: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
- Summer (June, July and August): 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
When Auschwitz is closed
The concentration camp is open every day of the year except Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Easter Sunday. If you are travelling to Poland at Christmas or Easter, keep these dates in mind so as not to organise your visit during these days.
Timetable of organised tours to Auschwitz from Krakow
If you decide to book an organised tour with guided visit from Krakow, in Hellotickets you have several timetables to choose from (the tour lasts 7 hours in total). This is the departure time of the tours in English:
- First departure in the morning: 6:30 AM
- 8:00 AM
- 8:30 AM
- 9:00 AM
- 9:30 AM
- 10:00 AM
- 10:30 AM
- 11:00 AM
- 11:30 AM
- Last available time of day: 12:00 PM
How long are the tours to Auschwitz?
Estimate that you will spend between two and three hours inside the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. The distances between one camp and another are long and there are several detailed exhibition halls where you will inevitably stop.
Guided tours are the same length. If you want to know more, I recommend my article on how long Auschwitz tours last.