Auschwitz/Salt Mines

During my visit to Krakow, I took a tour of Auschwitz and the Salt Mines. Many people who have visited Krakow recommended the Salt Mines, Auschwitz was a place that I was interested in seeing, as I have already seen many of the other sites of WW2.

Firstly, let me talk explain how the tour was set up. I booked my day tour through Viator and it was around $120. The company Mr.Shuttle, picked me up from my hotel around 6:15am and drove to Auschwitz, which was roughly an hour away. After the tour of Auschwitz, we went back in the van, and visited Birkenau, another concentration camp. Both tours were roughly three hours, we then had lunch at Birkenau, hopped back on the bus and went to the Salt Mines which was about an hour away. The tour of the Salt Mines was roughly three hours as well and including lots of walking and stairs. After the Salt Mines, we were dropped off at our hotels.

The tour of Auschwitz/Birkenau was very informational and sad. WW2 was only 80 years ago and to see how people were treated and to walk through those areas was emotional. I say this because it might not be a tour for everyone especially on vacation. Be prepared to see/hear the horrors that was endured during this time period.

The tour of the Salt Mines was informational as well but not sad. It was very interesting to see how the salt was mined and how far deep the mines went down. Since salt is no longer truly mined, the tour included sculptures that were made of salt and scenes to show how it was mined. The Salt Mines also house three different chapels in which I believe one is available for weddings. Seeing the mines and how much can be done with salt was a bit mind blowing.

While this tour started off with a sad part of our history, it ended on a happier note. I would recommend this tour just for the fact that seeing Auschwitz alone would be very emotional taxxing. The tour was ran smoothly and I was back to my hotel by 5pm which allowed me to do more after returning.