How to visit Auschwitz for free? Easy steps

Located near Krakow, the museum at the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz Birkenau in Oświęcim is one of the biggest tourist attractions. The museum is available to visit for free but the free tour is somewhat complicated. We suggest how to visit Auschwitz for free. Is it possible to visit Auschwitz for free? Is Auschwitz free to visit? Let’s check how to visit Auschwitz for free.

Is visiting Auschwitz free?

Yes, it is possible to visit Auschwitz museum for free. In our opinion, this is the best way to visit because we can spend as much time there as we want, which is either more or less and the tour then takes less time. Polish law guarantees that visits to all memorials at the former German Nazi concentration camps established on Polish soil are free.

Free admission to all state martyrological museums is guaranteed by law. The law is clarified by a decree of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 1 August 2016 (Dz.U.2016.1158) in which a list of state martyrological museums to which admission is free is provided. On the list of these sites is of course the museum at the former Auschwitz Birkenau camp.

How to visit Auschwitz for free?

In the case of visiting Auschwitz, organising free entrance is a bit complicated, leaving aside all the companies which organise hugely expensive trips from Krakow to Oświęcim to the Auschwitz Museum, difficulties arise even if we use only legitimate place to order tickets. What are they?

It’s the fact that admission on free tickets is organised only in the afternoon (it varies according to the season, but is always in the afternoon) making the free admissions fewer than the paid ones for long 3.5-hour guided tour.

If you want to book free entry you need to be vigilant and it is best to do so well in advance, even several months in advance. The museum allows you to book and purchase tickets up to three months in advance and this option is really worth taking advantage of if you want to enter for a free unguided tour.

So, when looking for a free entrance pass, we have to scroll down the page to the list of afternoon hours with free entrance for unguided tours. During such a tour some places may not be accessible but we are not obliged to stick to the group and can explore at our own pace – either faster or slower.

We would like to remind you that the best way to get to Auschwitz from Krakow is by direct buses of the Lajkonik company costing 22 PLN going from the very centre of Krakow to the car park of the Auschwitz Museum and returning from the same place to the very centre of Krakow.

Using them, the whole trip costs 44 zloty per adult. There are trains available which cost 16.50 PLN but they do not go directly to Auschwitz but to a railway station located a few minutes walk from the entrance to the museum.

Free visit to Auschwitz

Organising a free visit to Auschwitz is very simple and in our opinion it is the best way to visit this museum. Free tickets to the Auschwitz museum are available to book on the official Auschwitz website. From Krakow, you get to Auschwitz by direct bus to the museum. There are practically no other interesting places to visit in the town of Oświęcim itself.

It is worth remembering that most of the museum tour is outside! Here you can read the detailed price list for tickets to Auschwitz tours. Read detailed guide on easiest and cheapest ways to get to Auschwitz from Krakow city center.

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