Jeff Moorhouse (19.10.2017 16:11)
Fantastic tour . Very emotional . The guide Karolina was excellent . Her knowledge for such a young person was amazing . You could tell her devotion to her job . Would recommend to anyone . Disabled should be aware there is hard ground and lots of walking , however this is set to improve next year we believe . A good day out overall
Martin Cracknell (16.10.2017 20:18)
We weren't sure at first about including this in our trip, knowing it wasn't going to be a happy experience. Than being said, we are so glad that we went. It felt important to try and better understand the atrocities that went on here, and it was a very emotional experience.
I would also like to add that our guide Berta was extraordinary. I cannot praise her enough. She was so friendly and approachable, and her tour was the perfect mix of informative, descriptive, personalised and respectful. Her wealth of knowledge was great and she was happy to answer everyone's questions. She was also very apologetic about how busy it was, but it is understandable considering how many people were visiting versus how few people the place is clearly designed to have touring at once. However, Berta managed our group extremely well and kept everyone engaged with her tour despite how busy it was.
Scott Watters (02.10.2017 21:11)
Harrowing and rewarding, everyone should visit if they are in Krakow or the surrounding area. Our guide was amazing and so knowlegable, the whole site is really well maintained and taken care of. It is difficult to rate an experience like this, but the five star rating isn't out of disrespect, but more the fact that this should never be forgotten and humanity needs to learn from what happened here.
Catalin P (23.09.2017 09:43)
The place itself is horrifying, cannot be indifferent to the atrocities which took place here.
Unfortunately, was turned into a money making scheme. Such places belong to the world not to an avaricious local or regional authority.
Staff seem to be descendants of the ones who ruled it in the WWII.
Entrance with a guide is somehow forced into visitors(hence the 45 PLN tax - allegedly free...). If you do not want a guide, entrance is allowed at 4pm though opening hours are till 3pm(something which remained unexplained by the ticket seller).
As I was not willing to wait 6 hours I requested a place in an Italian group(with 3 vacancies) which was due to start sooner. Lady refused initially on the premises that I asked for a non guided access first. After I insisted she questioned me in Italian to test my abilities Luckily I am familiar with it and passed the "exam".
I found this to be appalling, ruining the entire experience upfront.
As for the guide, is a yield thing, they need to turn around as may as possible for better income: rushing, missing many galleries, etc
Avery Lieu (02.09.2017 18:48)
Not for the faint-hearted
It's hard to believe the horrors that went on in these camps. There are some shocking sights and moving stories that you'll encounter. As you'd expect, it's a very somber place, and for me, it dampened my holiday mood quite a bit. However, I am glad I went to pay my respects and to educate myself on the history of the Holocaust.
It gets very crowded, and tour groups are quite large. The museum offers tours in a multitude of languages and provides headsets to better hear tour guides. I found the tour to be very interesting and informative, but I also found that my tour guide was quite irritable. Overall, I recommend a visit.
