Dear Forum Members,

We are planning a trip to Krakow in Oct and as part of it im looking forward to visit Auschwitz.

We have a 4 year old daughter and im aware that Auschwitz is not the place to take my daughter. My wife is also not very keen and would prefer to stay with my daughter.

1. Now, since we would like to be together...I wanted to know if there is any waiting area/ restaurant outside, so while i visit the Camp/ Museum, my wife and daughter can wait there for me till i finish the visit.

2. In case thats not possible, can i opt for a half day tour and my wife and daughter can spend the half day in Krakow itself in some play area/ amusement park etc.

However, we would prefer option 1 ...

looking for help and advice please...

Thanks....

We were in Krakow early May and visited Auschwitz, but I don’t remember any restaurant or waiting area near the site, just the ticket office and entrance. My suggestion would be for your wife and family to stay behind while you make the trip, you can meet up with them on your return, either at your hotel or at a pre-decided spot.

There are hotels and cafes in Oswiecim but no place I'd want to while away the time that I recall. IMO it would be MUCH better for your wife and child do something fun in Kracow.

There are two concentration camps at the site, Auschwitz and Birkenau (aka Auschwitz II). Even if you visit just Auschwitz, this is not a 'wait in the cafe' visit.

My mom took her grandkids to an indoor water park in Krakow while my wife and I visited.

I agree with the other comments that your wife and daughter may want to stay in Krakow while you are at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial. To give some perspective on timing, we were in Krakow in August 2023. We left our Krakow hotel via private driver at 7 am for a 9 am reserved tour. The tour of both Auschwitz-Birkenau finished around 12:30 pm and we arrived back at our Krakow hotel around 2 pm. It was a very emotional and meaningful experience.

Dear All,

Thank you so much for your guidance and advice. I will leave them at the Krakow to explore some kiddie stuff and as i got a perspective...will leave early in the morning and return back by 2 pm.

Thanks again so much

FWIW, you might want to be a bit flexible about the time for rejoining your family. For one thing, you might want longer than you think at Auschwitz and/or Birkenau. For another, you might want some time to decompress afterwards. Just a thought!

I agree -- You may find that 2PM will leave you quite rushed.

I provided information about the timing of our visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum as illustration only. Your specific timing will most likely vary based on the time and type of on-site tour that you select and your transportation to and from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.

If you haven't already, go to the official website at https://visit.auschwitz.org/ You can select the date and time of your on-site tour up to 90 days in advance. The General Tour with a Museum educator lasts around three-and-a-half hours. Note that there are also shorter guided tours, as well as tours for individuals without an educator, but these tours are only scheduled later in the day.

In our case, we reserved our tour in advance and selected an English-language guided tour that started at 9 am. We also pre-arranged a driver who suggested that we depart our Krakow hotel at 7 am in order to arrive at the site with enough time to go through formalities and security, etc., prior to the start of our tour. Our driver met us outside Birkenau at the conclusion of the guided tour and drove us directly back to our hotel in Krakow. As I recall, we arrived back at our hotel in Krakow around 2 pm.

As kja correctly noted, we definitely needed time to decompress after this highly emotional experience.

I noticed that there are several companies that offer organized tours from Krakow to Auschwitz-Birkenau. We made arrangements on our own so I'm not familiar with these tours but one of them may work out for you.