Auschwitz tour booked with Headout.com. Communication received on Whatsapp from two other sources - ** AT Cracow (atcracow.pl) ** and ** Poland VIP Customer Service***, and I am unhappy with all three (they also advertised a website within Whatsapp called confortwaiting.com selling blankets and chairs - I ordered nothing from that site, but take a look at reviews for that provider!!). I don't know what the interrelationship is between these companies/providers, but as far as I am concerned they should be avoided. If you re booking with Headout, and you receive communication from these other two providers, I would suggest cancelling and finding another provider. Below I explain why.
I booked a ticket with 'jump the queue tickets' for a 6.30AM arrival at Auschwiz gates. Now, my reservation was for a Monday. I could cancel at any time, but because of the weekend my payment was taken on the Friday, 2 days prior to my reservation. On the Saturday I received a message that because of high demand and unavailability of 'jump the queue tickets, it would be necessary for me to be collected at TWO O’CLOCK in the morning! Now, I have read many, many reviews of people who have written how early starts are necessary for Auschwitz due to high demand. Two o’clock is ludicrous, but I was dedicated to visiting and took it on good faith that this would be necessary, but what the reviews do not make clear about it, that that Auschwitz is 1hour drive from Krakow. Gates to Auschwitz car park open at 6.30am. And ticket office opens are 7.30am.
So… get in a bus at 2am as per instruction. Arrive at the gates at 3am. And then, GET OUT OF THE BUS, and stand in a queue with a bunch of other bus passengers for 3 and half hours. I was utter astonished. I cannot understand why I have to STAND in -5 degrees to secure my place in a queue with 500 other odd passengers from multiple buses. That can be done by one sap from Headout/AT Cracow/Poland VIP on our behalf. Alas no. You are deposited and stand there for THREE AND A HALF HOURS, then the bus and the bus driver push off somewhere and wait in the warmth of their vehicle cabins while everyone waits for the gates to open. You are literally standing there waiting for the gates to open. From 3am, standing there waiting for the gates to open. 6.30am comes along, and we all file in and stand in a queue for ONE HOUR MORE till the ticket office opens. Ticket office opens, and in that hour many, many buses and private vehicles park up, and their passengers stroll straight past. Do they have ‘jump the queue ticket’ or have prebooked - I don’t know. But I believe when I booked on Headout several months in advance of this trip, that they would have done something similar for me. Instead, they made my get a 2am bus, to stand in freezing temperatures for FOUR AND HALF HOURS.
Then your bus driver heads to the ticket office with an enormous wad of cash and buys your ticket and everyone elses’ for the bus there and then. This stinks of bad management or short sightedness. I am not sure how this is going on. But the fact is I was in a queue with about 300 other people from various buses who were all equally sad, cold, and angry. And it is TOTALLY NOT NECESSARY.
When I finally got into the tour I had a conversation with other visitors who had ’jumped the queue’ that morning. At least three couples told me they had booked Auschwitz tour only a few days prior in advance and just got a 6.30am bus.
So my summation is Headout, AT Cracow, VIP Poland are a bunch of pirates. I just don’t lknow whether these operators with Headout just didn’t pre booked tickets, or get some kickback for buying on the day. But what my main takeaway is, I don’t believe it is necessary to get up at 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am to stand about for HOURS waiting for a bus driver to buy you a ticket at 7.30am, when other operators exist that can provide a ticket and seemingly seamless transition from car park to entrance.
If you are standing about outside for hours before 6.30AM you are being played like a cheap fiddle, and you need to leave a negative review so that other saps aren’t duped.
That, or you should violently revolt and murder the bus driver. For sure, you will have numbers on yours side.
And now the actual experience of Auschwitz. Nothing to do with the Headout, AT Cracow or VIP Poland. For sure it was certainly busy. From here the bus driver (Headout, AT Cracow, VIP Poland) head back to their vehicles and advise you to be back at the bus at a certain time. For the Auschwitz museum tours, you can expect to be divided into a group of about 20-30 I think with one dedicated tour guide who gives you are headset to receive their narration.
In my group I had two bored kids, two mahogany coloured women in day glo tracksuits, and 3 or four British guys who seemed to just spend the time talking to one another about their next holiday plans.
You wander around in your dedicated group, and you see all the other dedicated groups walking around. Eventually you will enter buildings that have dedicated exhibits, showing piles of shoes, piles of hair, piles of luggage, etc etc. You might want to spend some time considering the enormity of the atrocity, but you’ll need to walk on rather quickly so the other group of 30 barges in.
Basically, you are rushed through.
This museum needs to limit numbers.
And it needs to be a damn sight more strict on how many visitors it is letting in.
And for god’s sake, if you are wanting to go, go and bear in mind it is the site of mass murder. So keep your pink adidas at home that day. And if your kids don’t give a damn leave them at home.
29/12/25 Temperature -5°C, wind chill -12°C. We bought tickets for pick-up at the hotel at 7 am, were picked up at 2:10 am at another location, and left outside the Auschwitz gate freezing for a 3-hour wait. Inhumane, I do not recommend it.
The museum experience is unforgettable, everyone should visit, but I wasn't happy with this tour agency. Being left outside for 3 hours in -12°C weather without any support from the agency and without a bathroom, my feet and hands froze. But what angered me most was seeing elderly people going through the same thing. We were all caught off guard. There's nothing wrong with waiting, but it should be comfortable and warm, at least for the elderly. In short, I don't recommend it.