Auschwitz Memorial Reviews 

We booked via the official Auschwitz website, Tour was a bit rushed and you don't really have time for the true horror and suffering to sink in that this place meant to over a million souls. If you try to read the info boards or study the pictures in any great detail you will be left behind, You are often waiting to get into a room/exhibit so the preceding tour can exit and are rushed out for the following tour just as you get in.. The guide was OK, we never really felt much passion or empathy from her though, almost like she was reading a pre prepared script that she was a little bored of.. Huge chunks of info was missed, like the Mengele history and poor children that were twins. Also no mention of the Sonderkommando revolt and the effect on camp procedure and Gas Chamber IV. You can re-enter Auschwitz II after the tour ends, for a more indepth visit and to read all the posted info, but not Auschwitz I, this is a real shame. A place like Aushwitz should stand as a memorial to the worst and best of humanity, alas the tour is a dry and mechanical/commercial version of what it could/should be. The entry system and visit organisation needs a better approach and the tour guides better training. The memory of those that died and suffered in this place deserve better.

While the exhibits and displays were extremely informative and deeply impactful, our tour guide was absolutely not qualified for the task. She kept talking in circles, and had pronunciation so poor that as a native English speaker I believe I'd have had a better chance of understanding the Japanese tour. It is my opinion that such a historically significant and tragic place is deserving of well educated staff who can deliver justice to the atrocities that took place there, rather than an inarticulate mumbler who spent more time talking to the floor than to the group. This was an expensive experience mentally and monetarily, and to be met with such subpar service is absolutely disgraceful.

Our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 4 August at 4:30 PM left me with a deep sense of disappointment, something I never expected to feel in a place that carries such unimaginable human tragedy.

Ten years ago, when I visited with my husband, our guide spoke with genuine emotion, clarity, and respect. He shared stories that stayed with us for years, stories that cannot be found in books, stories that made us stop, breathe, and truly understand the human suffering behind every number and every building. That visit shaped us.

This time, we brought our children hoping they would experience the same depth, the same gravity, the same humanity. Instead, the tour felt empty.

Although I am Polish and speak fluent English, I struggled to understand the guide’s pronunciation. My family, who are native English speakers, also found his speech unclear and confusing. It was painful to watch them try to follow a tour that was meant to help them understand one of the darkest chapters in human history.

What hurt the most was the complete lack of emotion. The guide spoke in a monotone, detached way that made the tour feel boring, something that should never happen in a place like Auschwitz-Birkenau. This is not a site for reciting basic facts. It is a memorial to unimaginable suffering. It requires empathy, depth, and a sense of responsibility. None of that was present.

The tour felt rushed and important areas and stories I remembered from my previous visit seemed to be skipped entirely. There was no space for reflection, no moment to absorb what we were seeing. It felt mechanical, not meaningful.

I wanted my children to understand the tragedy of Auschwitz-Birkenau in a way that would stay with them, not frighten them, but teach them compassion, awareness, and respect. Instead, they left confused and disconnected, because the guide did not bring the history to life. He did not honour the memory of the victims in the way this place deserves.

I am sharing this feedback because Auschwitz-Birkenau is not just a museum. It is a place of memory, grief, and responsibility. The way its history is told matters profoundly. I hope you will take this seriously, because visitors, especially younger generations, deserve a tour that reflects the weight and humanity of what happened here.

Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of the most profound and important experiences one can have — which makes it all the more disappointing when the guided experience falls significantly short.

Our guide Charles, who led the 3pm English language tour on 30 July, was unfortunately not up to the task. He walked at a pace that made it difficult to absorb anything, spoke with little clarity and even less passion, and offered nothing beyond what was already written on the information boards. On an English language tour, our family caught perhaps 10% of what was said — and having discreetly listened to other guides nearby, the contrast was stark.

A site of this gravity deserves guides who can do it justice — who speak with clarity, move with purpose and convey the weight of what visitors are there to witness. Sadly that was not our experience.

We would strongly encourage the memorial to review guide standards and audibility — this is too important a place for the experience to be left to chance. We hope future visitors are better served.

A Bureaucratic Nightmare That Monetizes HistoryI chose to cancel my visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau out of sheer frustration with their broken, deeply flawed, and exclusionary booking system.Marketing this world-renowned memorial as a "free historic site" is a complete illusion. In reality, individual visitors who do not wish to take a guided tour are actively marginalized. The free admission slots are intentionally choked—restricted to very few tickets hidden at highly inconvenient times early in the morning or late in the evening.The entire system is rigged to favor commercial tour operators who buy up ticket quotas in bulk. This creates a shameful, hidden coercion where regular people are practically forced to pay third-party companies just to guarantee entry to a place that is officially free. To make matters worse, as of 2026, they have completely shut down on-site ticket sales, erasing any chance of spontaneity. You are forced into a stressful digital lottery weeks or months in advance.It is deeply hypocritical that a site meant to educate humanity about its darkest chapter has allowed itself to become a bureaucratic assembly line that prioritizes corporate profit over individual reflection. If you do not want an English tour and your native language isn't offered, you are simply left behind by their system.This is a disrespectful, commercialized barrier to a piece of world history. Terrible management, and a massive disappointment.

I would like to express my profound disappointment with the new regulations at the Auschwitz Museum, which completely ruined our family trip today. We traveled a distance of 800 km, only to be denied entry simply because we did not have a pre-booked online ticket. The staff's behavior was completely inflexible—no exception was made, and no alternative was offered.A historical museum that is supposed to teach humanity and compassion instead demonstrated cold bureaucracy today. Restricting entry strictly to online tickets is discriminatory against those who travel from afar or do not use smart technologies. I strongly urge the museum management to review these rules and establish an option to purchase tickets on-site so that other travelers do not have to experience the same humiliation.

My advice looking at these reviews is firstly book in advance of your trip to Poland and directly with the Auschwitz museum website. Tickets are guaranteed and no last minute cancellations as with other tour operators. We stayed in Krakow and got the local bus from the main krakow bus terminal costing £5.65 each way. Great valueas it takes1 hour and 30 minutes roughly on a Sunday. Advice book on line at least the day before as the driver takes all tickets first then people who haven’t booked can get seats only if any left. On a Sunday the bus runs hourly. Take any snacks in a back pack or carrier bag as drivers allow no food or coffee cups on bus. Water bottles are ok.
The museum entrance was busy but looked organised. Our tour was at 11.30am and we got there early at 10am luckily a nice day so once registered with our sticker to identify English speaker we sat and ate the snacks we had brought. There are vending machines with crisps, chocolate bars and juice aswell as a coffee machine. Toilets plentiful but sometimes queues form so leave time before your tour. You can enter through security 30 minutes before your tour with sitting area inside. TAKE PHOTO ID either passport, ID card or driving license as you won’t get in without it.
The tour at 11.30am on 19th April 2026 with English speaking guide was exceptional. I am sorry I did not catch the man’s name, his knowledge was second to none and you felt informed as you went through each section absorbing the details and the realisation of the utter inhumanity of the Second World War and the Nazi regime. It was amazing what I did not know even after reading books and watching films. At no point did I even think or would have wanted to take photos as I feel this is something each person should experience once in their lifetime with your own thoughts and feelings through this tour that allows us to reflect on. We spent just over 1 1/2 hours in Auschwutz before taking the free shuttle bus along to Birkenau a very short journey there where the same tour guide met us again and you go on a hours walk around the site with short explanatory stops, it is on uneven ground so a good pair of walking shoes is advised. All in all a very emotional insight walking through somewhere that saw over a million people killed before the end of the war. A trip I will never forget but glad I was able to experience it and as other people have said it is not a leisure/feel good trip but a poignant experience of something that occured less than 100 years ago and should never be forgotten by us as individuals or those in power throughout the world to make sure it never happens again

We never managed to get inside.. we qued for entry at 08:30 and we waited over 2 hours in the freezing cold to be told that they ran out of tickets…the time was 10:30…so all tickets ran out in one hour (site opens at 07:30 and closes at 15:00 on Sundays).

Apart from the poorly managed headcounting and organisation for the que, the staff were extremely neglectful, unhelpful and outright rude. One staff member had an arguement with this man at the front of the queue when he questioned why there was no tickets left. I left the queue to ask a staff member if there are any tickets left as we only heard rumours of this in the queue to then get told that there is none left and everyone is queuing for no reason. I said to her, that she should announce to everyone in the Queue that there is no remaining ticketing, but she shrugged, cared so little and then of course did nothing about this.
I told most of the queue at the back and everyone started to leave as the staff couldn’t do their job properly. POOR customer service, the staff at Auschwitz do not represent Poland well, real pitty.

Unfortunately, not the experience that it deserves. We booked a 1:10 self guided tour of Auschwitz. Incredible experience. We then wanted to go to Auschwitz 1 which was the museum (this isn’t clear at all on the website, we thought it was all one location)

Went to the museum, it was shut at 3pm. There were hundreds of tourists waiting to get it. I’m not complaining about opening times or anything, that is what it is but the information just simply isn’t clear at all.

I tried to book another ticket after what happened for another day but it’s all fully booked. Brilliant… so no chance we’ll be able to get to the museum.

We looked around Auschwitz II which I’ll be grateful for, but it just wasn’t the whole experience we thought it’d be.

I’m astonished at the negative reviews. maybe we were lucky to have an amazing guide who was able to provide such an in depth insight into Auschwitz and the sufferings of the people held there. I spoke with many of the other people on the tour who agreed what a valuable experience it was. still thinking about it. Will never forget.

Awful tour. You cannot go in on your own to visit the site, instead you have to go on a tour. Wheelchair user in my party was not allowed in any building even though the website said that some could be entered. We were ushered round with no time to look at any of the exhibits and when a member of the tour asked if they could stop at the memorial, they were told 'no' there was no point as the numbers were wrong! I agree with the comment that this is a “push/shove” conveyer belt of paying tourists with no regard to inclusivity which is totally at odds with the history of the site.

disgraceful treatment by the staff as one of our party did not have photo id, even though it was not mentioned that id had to have photo, totally couldn't care less attitude

This memorial site has been totally spoilt. It is a “push/shove” conveyer belt of paying tourists. You can’t go round on your own, and reflect. You have to buy a tour from one of the thousands of tour operator. You get pot luck whether you have chosen a good one or not. I felt very little as we were herded around. I had no time to look for more that 30 seconds at each exhibit. You had to constantly get out of the way of the tour behind. On occasions you have to just wait while the tour in front moves on. It took away any feelings and reflection

I highly recommend booking the Auschwitz tour directly with the museum on their website, as they are the only people who can secure your spot. Many of the private tours cancel last minute. I booked the English tour for around £20 per person for 3.5hrs. This was a really detailed and informative tour, and public transport to the museum is frequent from Krakow and shuttle buses from the museum.

I’m seeing all these negative reviews and I’m flabbergasted. I believe everyone should do this tour at least once in their lives! It is such an important time in history that we should keep alive. From my own experience, what happened during the Second World War now means so much more after having experienced the horrors that happened in Auschwitz & Birkenau. Our tour guide, Ziggy, was wonderful and he deserves a mention. We all had headphones and a machine that connected to Ziggy’s microphone so no matter how far away you were standing, you could hear everything he had to say.

History is an incredibly difficult subject to give, and I can only imagine how difficult it is to talk about what went on in Auschwitz & Birkenau during the war. Ziggy sometimes seemed to be touched by the stories he told us which only added to our experience. He explained everything so well and with so much passion and emotion that we were all able to follow him very clearly, and experience his stories ourselves.

Auschwitz is a horrible place to be, let’s keep it realistic. You’ll go into the original buildings, see original human remains, pictures, numbers, hear personal stories of people who lived and died there in horrible circumstances, etc. But, it is so incredibly important that you visit, learn, remember, and keep the stories alive.

It was HOT
We booked tickets to a guided tour by bus to Auschwitz
The bus was HOT without air-conditioning
The guide weren’t able to talk loud enough for everyone to hear
She was stressed and yelled at people
We had 15 min for toilets together with the other 500 guests
We walked like prisoners through the blocks in lines listening to the guide telling about things we could not see
And when we got there she talked about something else

Next time I am going on my own
I would really like to dive into what happened and pay my respects in my own pace

What a humbling, educational, harrowing experience.
I recommend that everyone should experience this tour once in their life so that they get to understand the horrors that one human can inflict on another.
The tour takes you across both camps and you learn the history of the camp and the stories of the people who were imprisoned there. The brutality, the horror. Be warned this is NOT a pleasure tour.

There are things that everyone should be aware that isn’t clearly indicated by just looking at this tour. There is a LOT of walking, and all of it on uneven ground there are also a lot of steps in the buildings of camp 1 so if you are unsteady on your feet or in a wheelchair, this tour may not be for you. If you are attending the tour- wear sturdy, sensible shoes and take a good coat, hat and scarf if you’re going in the winter or early spring. It was cold being out in the open for 3-4 hours.

im pretty gassed about the tour ngl BIT SMOKEY tho