Auschwitz Tour Routes with Photos
Key Sites and Hidden Spots
Auschwitz Route Overview
The 50 locations are listed in the order they appear on a typical tour. Use the button in the bottom right to find them on the map (or tour virtually). The tour begins at Auschwitz, then proceeds to Birkenau, 2 km away. How to get to Birkenau.
The 3.5-hour tour includes a visit to either block 6 or 7 in Auschwitz and either brick or wooden barracks in Birkenau. Specific location requests can be made.
Private tours may start at Birkenau if there are long entry lines at Auschwitz.
Certain tours offer access to locations beyond the standard route.
Beware some exhibitions may be temporarily closed for visitors.
The tour involves several hours of walking on uneven, rocky, and muddy terrain, with no weather protection. Learn more about tour conditions.
Eating and smoking are not allowed. Please silence your phone and refrain from using flash indoors. Learn more about tour regulations.
At Auschwitz, restrooms are in block 18, next to block 7. Some buildings, like blocks 17 and 27, have benches and air conditioning to cool down on hot days.
At Birkenau, restrooms are located to the right behind the gate. Another restroom and benches can be found in the wooded area to the right behind the monument.
Places to Visit at Auschwitz
Regular 3.5-hour Tour Route
Auschwitz I Main Camp
Main Gate Block 4 Block 5 Block 6 or Block 7 Block 11 Roll Call Square Gas Chamber Auschwitz Exit
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Main Gate Selection Site Crematoriums II and III Brick Barracks or Wooden Barracks Birkenau Exit
Beyond Regular 3.5-hour Tour
Places outside the regular route have a grey background. Some are accessible only on self-guided, private, or study tours, though most can still be seen, if you know where to look.
See More at Auschwitz
Outdoors:
Brothel Maurerschule Bathhouse Heaters Swimming Pool Experiments Torture Hooks Functional Buildings Hospital Room Road Rollers Inner Fence SS Accommodation Mass Grave
In blocks:
2/3 Preserved 4 Canada 6 Starvation 6 Prisoner's Day 11 Resistance 13 Roma 14 Russia 15 Poland 16 Czech Republic 16 Slovakia 17 Austria 18 Hungary 20 Belgium 20 France 21 Netherlands 27 Israel
See More at Birkenau
Registration Kitchens Fire Tanks Royal Ditch Sewage Plant Canada Sauna Crematoriums IV and V Ponds with Ashes Mexico Judenrampe
Auschwitz I Main Camp
'Arbeit Macht Frei' Gate
Your tour begins near the main gate after a 10-minute walk from the reception and ends behind the wooden building to the left.
To the right of the main gate, you can see an anti-aircraft bunker. Like the present gas chamber entrance, it was built in 1944 against potential bombings.
Past the gate, the camp kitchen with a photo of the orchestra is on the right, and Block 24, once the camp brothel, is on the left.
Block 24
Camp Brothel
Opened in 1943 in Block 24, the camp brothel forced women from Ravensbrück into prostitution. Only privileged prisoners were allowed access.
Rehearsal Space
Prisoners’ orchestra rehearsals were held here; they performed at roll calls and SS events, gaining some protection from typical forced labor.
Artistic Activities
Prisoners with artistic skills worked here on drawings, signs, or propaganda for the SS. Some also created secret works as acts of resistance.
Maurerschule
Young prisoners, trained in masonry, made the plaster samples (below) on block 14 (on the left in the photo above).
Visitors walking from the main gate towards block 4.
The Bathhouse
The remains of the first camp kitchen and bathhouse are between blocks 1 and 2.
The bathhouse, built in March 1942, had three heat chimneys, water cisterns, showers, and a sewer system.
SS doctors conducted selections there, sending sick prisoners deemed unfit for work to the gas chambers.
Selection in the bathhouse
W. Siwek
Preserved Blocks 2 and 3
These buildings, preserved in their original condition, are only accessible on a 6-hour study tour.
The Camp Heaters
According to German regulations, heaters had to be build in every concentration camp. They were installed all over the area, even though prisoners were not allowed to use them.
A typical tiled heater at Auschwitz I. Block 5 →
A typical tiled heater at Auschwitz I. Block 5 →
Remains of a double heater from a wooden barrack. →
Remains of a double heater from a wooden barrack. →
Some heaters in brick barracks still bear the Volkswagen logo. →
Some heaters in brick barracks still bear the Volkswagen logo. →
Block 4 – Mass Extermination
The exhibition rooms:
1. Deportations, human ashes
2. Different people sent to the camp
3. Photographs of Birkenau ramp
4. (upstairs) A gas chamber model
5. (upstairs) Tons of human hair
6. Luggage sorting in 'Canada'
Room 3 – Birkenau ramp in 1944:
On the right, you can see a photograph of Jews undergoing selection (you’ll walk past the wooden barrack later on).
To the left, at the end of the ramp, with huge chimneys visible in the distance, are the largest gas chambers and crematoriums (a model of one is upstairs).
Room 6 – Canada
The photos of 'Canada' depict prisoners sorting deportees' belongings, with the yellow rectangle on the map marking 30 warehouses at Birkenau.
Block 5 – Material Evidence of Crime
Luggage confiscated from deportees, including eyeglasses, Jewish prayer shawls, items of people with disabilities, metal pots, as well as shoes and suitcases on the first floor.
Block 6 – Everyday Life of Prisoners
You see pictures of prisoners in the hallway and enter two rooms on the ground floor.
Room 1 – Registration: uniforms, tattoos, categories
Room 4 – Children: labor, experiments, liberation
Room 2 – Results of Starvation
In room 2, photographs of Auschwitz survivors show the effects of starvation. After four months of intensive care, the women weighed just over 20 kilograms (44 pounds).
In the glass case is a typical daily portion of mostly spoiled food: bitter tea, revolting soup, and a piece of hard, black bread.
Room 3 – Prisoner's Day
In room 3, M. Kościelniak's drawings depict the daily routine of an Auschwitz prisoner: Gong, Getting up, Washing, Morning meal, Kommando on the way to work, Work - carrying a beam, Work - wheelbarrows, Returning from work, Serving out supper, Night.
Kommando on the way to work
M. Kościelniak
Swimming Pool
The water reservoir behind block 6 at Auschwitz I resembles a swimming pool unlike reservoirs at Birkenau.
Block 7 – Living Conditions
Walking along the corridor you see photos taken during registration as well as the living and sanitary conditions.
Block 10 – Experiments
Dr. Clauberg conducted sterilization experiments here. It cannot be entered, but you can take a virtual tour of block 10.
Torture Hooks
Between blocks 10 and 11, you can see the poles used for tortures. Hands were tied behind and the knot was hanged on the hook, so that arm muscles were slowly stretching.
Block 11 – The Death Block
On the ground floor, you see the summary court where Poles were sentenced to death in brief trials before being executed at the Death Wall; in the basement, you visit the internal prison, where inmates were tortured, including being held in standing cells.
Block 11 – Resistance
Functional Buildings
Near block 11, the Zyklon B storage is on the left and the camp laundry on the right.
The camp post office is between blocks 25 and 26.
By the kitchen you can see the vegetable storage.
Block 27 – Israel
Opened in 2013, the Shoah exhibition by Yad Vashem showcases pre-war Jewish communities on the ground floor, where you can also find a vast book listing around 4 million Holocaust victims.
The first floor features mass murders sites in Europe, German Nazi propaganda, testimonies of Holocaust survivors and reproductions of children's drawings reflecting their experiences.
Block 21 – Netherlands
(upstairs)
Opened in 2005, the exhibition depicts the lives of Dutch citizens and Jewish communities before and during World War II.
Hospital Room
In the so called hospitals prisoners selected by the SS as unable to work were killed on regular basis. The room is in block 20.
Block 20 – France
The exhibition, opened in 2005, presents biographies, photos and testimonies. Topics: exclusion, deportation, extermination, returns.
Block 20 – Belgium
(upstairs)
Opened in 2006, the exhibition highlights the German occupation, persecution of Jews, and deportations from Belgium.
Road Rollers
Road rollers by block 18 were often pulled by the penal unit.
An unusual team for a road roller
J. Baraś-Komski
Block 18 – Hungary
Opened in 2004, the exhibition explains the situation of Jews in Hungary during World War II and the changes after March 1944.
Block 17 – Austria
The exhibition opened in 2021 depicts Austrians as prisoners and victims of Auschwitz, as well as perpetrators.
Block 16 – Slovakia
Opened in 2002, the exhibition traces the history of the Holocaust in Slovakia, detailing the persecution and deportations.
Block 16 – Czech Republic
(upstairs)
The exhibition opened in 2002 explains the mechanism of deportation from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Block 15 – Poland
While the old Polish exhibition is being replaced, a temporary one is available on the ground floor of block 21.
Digging foundations for block 15
W. Siwek
Block 14 – Russia
(currently unavailable)
Opened in 2013, this exhibition explores the repression of Soviet civilians and prisoners of war. See more photos at:
Block 13 – Roma
The exhibition, which opened in 2001, depicts the persecution and genocide of the Roma in the Third Reich and occupied Europe.
Zigeuner-Mischling aus Deutschland
D. Gottliebova
Inner Fence
Additional barbed wire was installed in 1944 around Blocks 22 and 23 (opposite Block 13) to divide women’s work groups from male prisoners. The same guard tower appears in the photo below.
Roll Call Square
On your way to the gas chamber, you will stop near the camp kitchen to learn more about roll calls and public executions. A reporting officer often stayed in the wooden booth.
Roll call 1941/1942
W. Gawron
Gas Chamber I
Next to the gallows where R. Höss was hanged you enter Gas Chamber and Crematorium I. Pay attention to the roof gaps for Zyklon B.
Exiting the crematorium, you’ll see this guard tower. Tours start behind the wooden barrack on the left and end on the right.
Auschwitz Exit
After the gas chamber, head down the tunnel on the left and up the stairs to exit. If on a guided tour, return your headset on the way.
Get to the main parking thorugh the metal bars.
Proceed to Birkenau.
SS Accommodation
Near the gas chamber at Auschwitz you can see buildings used by the SS: garages, storages, offices, soldiers’ blocks of flats, Rudolf Höss villa, hospital and restaurant (notice the man on a barrel).
Blocks of flats for the SS are visible from the main carpark. The mass grave shown below is nearby.
The Mass Grave
To the right of the main parking lot is the Grave of the Last Victims of Auschwitz.
Judenrampe
The so-called Judenrampe, roughly 500 m from Birkenau’s main gate, was the site of transport arrivals and selections between 1942 and 1944. The ruins of Auschwitz food warehouses are nearby.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Main Gate
After a break, you meet your guide and walk through the gate (view from tower). You learn when and how this part of Auschwitz was built.
Birkenau Selection Site
In the middle of the ramp, you learn about the conditions of deportation and selections of Jews. Then, walk on towards the distant trees.
Registration Offices
Near the selection site you can see registration offices. The biggest one is Sauna.
Camp Kitchens
The cart by the kitchen in sector BIb was used to transport food.
Kitchen chimneys and water tank in sector BIId.
Fire Reservoirs
Along the Birkenau rail tracks, you pass two fire tanks (Auschwitz pool) on the way to gas chamber ruins. In the background from left: registration office, a building being restored in the white tent, camp kitchen with many chimneys.
Crematoriums and Gas Chambers Ruins
At the ramp end, between ruins of the biggest gas chambers and crematoriums, is a post-communist memorial to Auschwitz victims.
Crematorium II
Crematorium III
Royal Ditch
The largest drainage ditch was built by the penal unit which worked the hardest.
Penal unit at work
J. Tollik
Sewage Plant
The Birkenau sewage plant was never completed, but its remains can still be seen around the crematorium ruins.
Sauna
In the main office for registration newcomers were shaved, disinfected and got camp numbers. The photos in the last room were found in nearby Canada.
Canada
The 30 wooden warehouses, where property looted from the newcomers was sorted, almost completely burned down. However, some remnants can be seen at the site.
Work – sorting out shoes
M. Kościelniak
Crematoriums and Gas Chambers IV and V
Jews were told the gas chamber was a bathroom, so they undressed before entering. Later on, their corpses were burned, sometimes outdoors. Both events were photographed by Sonderkommando.
Ponds with Ashes
The biggest pond where human ashes were dumped is near the Sauna building, where you can see a metal cart used to transport the ashes. Close by there are Crematoriums IV and V ruins.
Mexico and BII Sectors
After visiting the sites above, you may return the same way or follow the road between the BII sectors and BIII, known as 'Mexico'. The path leads either through BIIa to the main gate or between BIIc and BIId to the selection site.
Wooden Barracks
Near Birkenau gate, you can see the living and sanitary conditions in wooden stables.
Inside of a male barrack in Birkenau
M. Kościelniak
Brick Barracks
On the way back from the ruins you can see the living and sanitary conditions in brick barracks. Take a virtual tour of:
Brick sanitation barracks.
You can see the washroom and toilets in the last row of smaller brick barracks.
BI sector housed female prisoners.
Women held in the brick barracks left for work through a nearby gate—today, visitors exit Birkenau the same way.
On the way to work
J. Tollik
Birkenau Exit
Exit through the gate on the right near brick barracks. Then go left to the bus stop or the parking lot.
The arrows indicate, from left to right:
WC (grey doors)
Bookstore
Parking Lot
Shuttle Bus Stop
Exit by Brick Barracks