Auschwitz Bookshop – Gate of Auschwitz II-Birkenau loop from German Nazi Concentration Camp Auschwitz (Auschwitz I)

Hiking trails & Routes

Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Oświęcim

Auschwitz Bookshop – Gate of Auschwitz II-Birkenau loop from German Nazi Concentration Camp Auschwitz (Auschwitz I)

Moderate

4.8

(40)

518

hikers

Auschwitz Bookshop – Gate of Auschwitz II-Birkenau loop from German Nazi Concentration Camp Auschwitz (Auschwitz I)

02:53

11.4km

20m

Hiking

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: September 10, 2026

Tips

Temporary access restrictions

Includes segments with temporary access restrictions.

After 1.55 km for 780 m

Customers only

After 2.40 km for 251 m

Customers only

Waypoints

Start point

Bus stop

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1.95 km

Gallows at Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Highlight • Historical Site

If you were punished in the camp, you ran the risk of being hanged here and in public.

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5.98 km

Auschwitz-Birkenau Main Gate at Sunset

Highlight • Historical Site

If this gateway is not already an impressive sight, the sunset sky brings even more power

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6.71 km

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial

Highlight • Historical Site

Tickets are free and are collected at the ticket office, in front of the entrance to the Auschwitz I Museum.
From 2020, you also need a ticket to enter Camp Birkenau.
Sometimes the number of visitors is so large that it may turn out that they do not issue tickets on a given day, so if you want to be sure of entry, it is best to order such a ticket online in advance.
There is a bus between the camps Auchwitz and Birkenau.

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6.72 km

Auschwitz Bookshop

Highlight • Rest Area

If you are looking for books about Auschwitz, you can look here. What struck me was that because the books are offered in VERY many languages, there was little choice. Everything was sold out, especially in English. Also the camp guide.

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6.74 km

Gate of Death, Auschwitz II–Birkenau

Highlight • Historical Site

Anyone who ever came to the former Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp surrounded by a barbed wire fence had to first pass through the main entrance gate known as the "Gate of Death".
The name is not accidental. It was in the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Birkenau that the overwhelming number of KL Auschwitz victims died - over a million people, Jews, Poles, Gypsies, as well as Soviet prisoners of war and prisoners of other nationalities. The vast majority, as much as 90% of the victims, were Jews.
The contemporary shape of the Birkenau Death Gate comes from 1943. The direct railway line under the crossing was not built until the spring of 1944. Above the gate, through which the railway track runs today, there is a two-story watchtower. From its windows you can see the panorama of the former camp. Inside, however, there are still single-storey buildings made of raw brick and the main guardhouse of the camp.
The Birkenau Death Gate is located on the site of the former Auschwitz II concentration camp and is part of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
krakowbooking.com/pl/attractions/brama-birkenau-brama-smierci

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7.60 km

International Monument to the Victims of Auschwitz–Birkenau

Highlight • Monument

On April 16, 1967, the International Monument to the Camp Victims was unveiled at the site of the former German KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau. It commemorates at least 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, but also Poles, Roma and people of other nationalities who were killed in the camp by the Germans.
The monument unveiling ceremony gathered 200,000 people on April 16, 1967. people. Among them was the then prime minister of the Polish People's Republic and former Auschwitz prisoner Józef Cyrankiewicz and the Soviet general Vasily Pietrenko, one of the commanders of the Red Army units, which liberated the camp in January 1945.
“Let us pay tribute to all those murdered here, building, according to our strength and skills, a new life of free, coexisting nations, in order to remove this shame from humanity, which was what happened in Oświęcim. To never again! Only then will it be a monument not only to memory, warning and vigilance, but also to the reconciliation of people and nations who follow the same path to the same goals, ”said Cyrankiewicz, whose words were recorded by the camera of the Polish Film Chronicle.
The unveiling of the Monument was accompanied by the premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's "Dies Irae" oratorio. The creator dedicated them to the memory of the camp's victims. The Latin title of the composition, translated into Polish, is: Dzień Gniewu. When creating his work, Penderecki relied on excerpts from the Bible, contemporary Polish and French poetry, and excerpts from Aeschylus's "Oresteja".
The monument was unveiled by the chairman of the Council for the Protection of Monuments to Struggle and Martyrdom, Janusz Wieczorek. At the foot of the monument, Józef Cyrankiewicz placed the first class insignia of the Grunwald Cross, which were posthumously awarded to the victims of Auschwitz.
The unveiling of the Monument was accompanied by the premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's "Dies Irae" oratorio. The creator dedicated them to the memory of the camp's victims. The Latin title of the composition, translated into Polish, is: Dzień Gniewu. When creating his work, Penderecki relied on excerpts from the Bible, contemporary Polish and French poetry, and excerpts from Aeschylus's "Oresteja". The oratory premiered on April 16, 1967 at the Krakow Philharmonic.
Currently, the Monument is a place where world leaders visiting the Memorial pay tribute to the victims. Among them were, among others three subsequent popes: John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.
auschwitz.org/galeria/miejsce-pamieci/miedzynarodowy-pomnik-ofiar-obozu

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9.17 km

Gate of Auschwitz II-Birkenau

Highlight • Historical Site

Always good to stop here, and remember where political calculation, hatred, racism, lack of imagination and and simple blindness of people can lead. Lets make sure it will not happen again!!

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10.7 km

Double Fence, Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Highlight • Historical Site

There are no words, nor films, documentaries and books that can better convey the tragedy of the camp than visiting it...

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11.4 km

End point

Bus stop

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

4.62 km

3.99 km

2.83 km

Surfaces

5.39 km

3.30 km

2.29 km

452 m

< 100 m

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

Weather

Saturday 17 October

15°C

1°C

0 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 10.0 km/h

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Comments

January 24, 2025,🇵🇱 Oświęcim

oppressive - very oppressive

Oświęcim - Auschwitz
Oświęcim-Brenzinka - Auschwitz-Birkenau

Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II ... 2 of 50 camps around Auschwitz and the villages in Silesia that were demolished for them.

In a few days it will be the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp.

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September 18, 2023,PL - (Guided) Tour in Auschwitz I & II

In the morning the booked guided tour (duration approx. 3.5 hours) is recorded including a free bus shuttle between the start at the museum in Auschwitz I and the large camp in Auschwitz II (Birkenau).
In the afternoon we visited the barracks left out on the guided tour on our own.
In the morning, access is only possible with a …

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