tamtot

We will be making our first trip to Europe in a couple months. Dachau is one of the places we wish to see the most. Would you wise folks do it on your own? or would you pay for a guided tour? Also how much time should we plan to spend there to see everything?
Thank you so much!
Tammy

mjs

Dachau is a very short train trip from Munich. It will be cold in November/December so dress appropriately. I see no reason to take a tour. I seem to recall spending a few hours visting

greg

>>> how much time should we plan to spend there to see everything?
You can triangulate how much time you care to spend.
The visitor site says https://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau....r-a-visit.html
There are followings at the site.
Museum with exhibits and film.
Recreated barracks
Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant memorials
Convent
Crematorium
I have spent 3 hours over all.
I have watched the film and read all the panels in the museum. This is where you would spend lion's share of the time. How much depends on how much you care to learn about this place.
>>> would you pay for a guided tour
My opinion is that you will be a passive visitor with a guide. You have to decide how much time you care to invest there. The museum exhibits are well described. I did not feel need for someone else to tell me what I was looking at. You can spend as much time as you care on certain exhibits that call you if you do it on your own. You might read about inconvenient truths you care to ignore or spend more time to learn about them as eye openers.

thibaut

I visite Dachau and Auschwitz on my own. Guides are a liability for me : if I want to skip something I am stuck. If I want to spend more time in a place I have to go.
And it is not like you need a lot of explanations to understand utter barbary.

interestingplaces

It's been a while since I visited Dachau but there were free maps for people to use to wander around. Some sites you'll pass by quickly, others you'll want to linger for a bit.

There's film presentation that reviews the history of that concentration camp. It's prisoners were not typical.

Dukey1

I, too, would not opt for a guide. There are some sections which are less compelling than others and there are some parts, such as the very room in which some of the more barbaric activities took place, which will make an impact. The massive-sized pictures on display of the actual camp and its inhabitants are unforgettable IMO.
And I agree some of the prisoners definitely were not "typical" but were nonetheless treated poorly at best.
You can get there with a combination of train and bus pretty easily.

PalenQ

Plan on a half day including transit there - no direct S-Bahn and half to change to bus - though not a bad walk from S-Bahn station. Not nearly as extensive as Auschwitz-Birkenau - can get guided tours once there or as dukey says self-directed printed sheeets - may have audio tours too probably.

Masterphil

I have been to Dachau on two different occasions. Walked from S-Bahn station once (nice walk) and drove there once.

Never used a guide, but I am not much of a guide person. There is enough visual presentations there to get you around.

I guess it depends on the amount of information you need.

Fodorite018

We were there last September and spent about 3 hours or so there. We did not take a tour. Everything was well marked with a lot of information. Sometimes tours give much more information about a place, and for all I know that might be true here too. I would take a look at online reviews and see what people who have actually taken the tours have to say and then decide for yourself.

walkinaround

I visited many years ago so things are likely different now in terms of visitor services, information and exhibits. I agree with others that getting there on the train is very easy so you don't need a tour from Munich. At the time of my visit, there were tours of the camp that you could join and for me it was well worth it. Our guide had been doing it for many years and in her role she was able to speak to hundreds of visitors who were prisoners there, local residents in the Dachau community, liberating American GIs/Allies, and others who were there and part of its history. She was a historian and that was her research. She told some stories that I still vividly remember years later, including stories she heard directly from those visitors who were there. Not all were of what she learned over the years was exactly as written in history books.

Most of Dachau has been destroyed so there is not much to see. My opinion is that you don't go there to look at things. People go for different reasons but generally i think they are to pay respects to the victims of this horror, learn about it, reflect on it, etc. If you care to learn, sure you can walk around and read the little explanations and watch the film. But there is no substitute for a good guide who knows how to tell the stories.

PalenQ

Yes Dachau is about the most bare of such camp/memorials of the several I've been to but that don't make much difference - just by having remains of gas chambers there reminds one of the horrors that were committed not that long ago with survivors of such camps still living. Very sobering that in such a 'cultured' country that this could have happened and again not that long ago. Very worthwhile going though disturbing - guided tours are nice but also be by yourself to just ponder it all in silence.

tamtot

Thank you all so much.
As a follow up, what would you recommend for the rest of the day following that tour?
We are trying to see everything!
The day prior we are taking an afternoon third Reich walking tour.

PalenQ

Rest of day go back to Munich - not much around Dachau - maybe Nymphenburg Palace is on train route back?

Fodorite018

We visited the BMW museum that same afternoon.

Dukey1

IMO Nymphenburg may be a better reach using a tram from downtown Munich.

The Residenz and treasury would be another possibility in town

tamtot

Thank you so much.
Going to read up on both now.

Sue81

tamtot, We did not have a gude at Dachau, my husband roamed much of the area of the site and I found it a bit overwhelming, and simply wanted to sit and listen to the birds after seeing as much as I wanted too. I assumed that the birds might have been one of the few free/happy sounds for the past residents. I'd opt for your individual response that is not tied into a "tour". It is a heavy place as it should be.

greg

>>> I found it a bit overwhelming, and simply wanted to sit and listen to the birds after seeing as much as I wanted too. I assumed that the birds might have been one of the few free/happy sounds for the past residents.
In Birkenau concentration camp, there is a birch forest between the camp and the crematorium complexes. If you visit now, you see lush forest you can hear birds chirping. Behind this peaceful looking place was an unspeakable misery. This was the staging ground for prisoners when there was a backlog with the crematorium. You can find pictures of family with small children waiting in this forest unaware of what fate awaited them in a few hours. I could imagine small children sitting on the ground perhaps listening to the chirping of birds for the last time.

After the trip to Dachau, I did not want to see any more Nazi site that day. I went to the BMW museum and then to the English Garden to see children of various ethnicity playing in peace.

thibaut

I recommend a Sauerkraut in a Hofbrauhaus in Muenchen the evening. Beer, sausage, cabbage sitting with total strangers having ... beer and sausages will reconcile you with mankind after Dachau. Be sure to visit the toilets of the Brasserie - a must do imo.

tamtot

This sounds perfect. Thank you. Curious about the toilets...........................