Auschwitz Opening Hours, Free Entry Hours and Booking Rules Explained
Auschwitz opening hours change every month, and they’re only half the story. Entrance to the grounds is free, but for most of the day you can only get in with a guide-educator, on a paid, timed-entry basis. There’s a separate, narrower window — also free, but without a guide — that most first-time visitors don’t know exists. This guide lays out both schedules month by month, plus the booking rules that decide whether you get in at all.
Auschwitz Opening Hours by Month
The Museum is open all year, seven days a week, except January 1, December 25 and Easter Sunday. Entrance hours (the last time you can start a visit) shift with daylight and demand:
| Months | Entrance Hours | Last Entry |
|---|---|---|
| December | 7:30 AM – 1:00 PM | 1:00 PM |
| January, November | 7:30 AM – 2:00 PM | 2:00 PM |
| February | 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM | 3:00 PM |
| March, October | 7:30 AM – 4:00 PM | 4:00 PM |
| April, May, September | 7:30 AM – 5:00 PM | 5:00 PM |
| June, July, August | 7:30 AM – 6:00 PM | 6:00 PM |
A visitor may remain on-site for up to 90 minutes after the last entry hour, so a 6:00 PM entry in July still allows time on the grounds until roughly 7:30 PM.
What ‘Free Entry’ Actually Means
Every ticket to Auschwitz-Birkenau is free of charge — there is no admission fee, ever, for either Auschwitz I or Birkenau. What costs money is the guide-educator, which is mandatory during the busiest part of the day. “Free entry hours” specifically refers to a separate, later window each day when visitors are allowed to walk the grounds without a guide and without paying for one, using a free entry pass reserved in advance online.
Free Entry (No-Guide) Hours by Month
These are the hours when entry without a guide-educator is permitted, using a free Entry Pass from the official booking system:
| Months | No-Guide Entry From |
|---|---|
| December | 1:00 PM |
| January, November | 2:00 PM |
| February | 3:00 PM |
| March, October | 4:00 PM |
| April – September | 5:00 PM |
Outside of these hours — meaning from opening until the times listed above — entrance is only possible as part of a guided tour with a licensed guide-educator, and those passes are not free.
Why Most of the Day Requires a Guide
This surprises a lot of first-time visitors: for the majority of daily opening hours, walking in on your own simply isn’t an option, regardless of budget. It’s a capacity and preservation decision by the Museum, not a marketing tactic. A standard guide-educator tour runs about 3.5 hours, starts at Auschwitz I, and includes the shuttle transfer to Birkenau as part of the price. For a closer look at how guided and self-guided visits actually compare once you’re on-site, our breakdown of guided versus self-guided Auschwitz covers pacing, cost and what each format includes.
How Booking Actually Works
All entry passes — guided and free no-guide alike — are issued only through the official reservation system at visit.auschwitz.org. There is no ticket booth at the entrance and no way to buy a pass on arrival; showing up without a reservation means being turned away, even during the free-entry window. Passes for popular language slots and peak summer dates can sell out days or weeks ahead, which is why most visitors from Krakow book either directly through the museum’s own site well in advance, or through a guided tour operator that handles the reservation as part of the package.
What Happens If You Don’t Book Ahead
If your preferred date or guide-language is full, the free no-guide window in the late afternoon is sometimes the last option still showing availability, since it draws a smaller crowd than the morning guided slots. It’s also the least predictable — capacity is limited and can fill on short notice during July and August. Travellers arriving in Krakow without a booking should check same-day and next-day availability first thing in the morning rather than waiting until afternoon.
A Practical Note on Closed Days
Beyond the three annual closures — January 1, December 25 and Easter Sunday — the Museum occasionally closes temporarily for official state visits or ceremonies. These interruptions are posted on the Museum’s own website ahead of time, so it’s worth a quick check a day or two before travelling, particularly around dates with historical significance, such as January 27.
Marta’s Practical Notes
Locals in Krakow who send friends and family to Auschwitz almost always recommend booking the guided morning slot rather than chasing the free afternoon window — not because of the cost, which is modest, but because the guide-educator’s context genuinely changes what the visit means. The free hours are a real option worth knowing about, especially for a second visit or a tighter budget, but they shouldn’t be the plan if this is a first trip to the memorial.
Fitting the Hours Into Your Full Day from Krakow
Opening hours and free-entry hours only tell part of the story — they say when the gates are open, not how long the round trip from Krakow actually takes once travel is added. Our full guide to visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau from Krakow covers the transport options, timing and what a realistic day looks like start to finish, which is worth reading alongside this schedule before locking in a booking time.
Booking Through the Museum vs a Tour Operator
Booking directly through visit.auschwitz.org gets you the entry pass alone — transport, pickup and any language flexibility are entirely up to you to arrange separately. A tour operator bundles the entry pass with hotel pickup, the return transfer and a guide, which removes the need to time your own arrival against the schedules above. Neither option is inherently better; it comes down to whether coordinating transport yourself is worth the lower price, or whether a bundled tour’s convenience is worth paying for.
Seasonal Differences Worth Planning Around
Summer’s longer hours don’t just mean more daylight — they also mean far more visitors competing for the same guided slots, with entry passes for July and August often gone weeks in advance for popular languages. Winter’s shorter window can feel restrictive on paper, but demand is lower, passes are easier to secure closer to the date, and the free no-guide hours in the afternoon are more realistically available since fewer people are chasing them. Locals who visit off-season tend to book more spontaneously than summer visitors ever can.
What Changes on Historically Significant Dates
January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marks the anniversary of the camp’s liberation and typically draws official ceremonies, additional security measures and, in some years, a shortened or restructured visiting schedule for the general public. Visitors planning a trip around this date should check the Museum’s website in the weeks beforehand rather than assuming standard hours apply. Similar, smaller adjustments sometimes occur around other commemorative dates through the year, though these are announced with far less advance notice than the annual closures.
Arriving Early, Even With a Booking
A confirmed entry pass sets the earliest time you can be let in, not a guaranteed instant admission. Security screening functions similarly to an airport checkpoint, and queues build quickly in the fifteen minutes before each guided tour’s starting slot. The Museum recommends arriving at least 30 minutes ahead of the booked time, and that buffer matters more in July and August, when several tour groups often cluster around the same departure window.
What to Read Next
- Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau from Krakow: Tours, Tickets and What to Know
- Guided vs Self-Guided Auschwitz: Why a Guide Is Worth It Here
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Auschwitz opening hours in 2026?
Entrance hours run from 7:30 AM daily, with the last entry time shifting by month: as early as 1:00 PM in December and as late as 6:00 PM in June, July and August. The Museum is closed only on January 1, December 25 and Easter Sunday.
Is entry to Auschwitz-Birkenau really free?
Yes. There is no admission fee to either Auschwitz I or Birkenau. The cost associated with most visits comes from the mandatory guide-educator required during the busiest hours of the day, not from an entrance ticket.
What are the free entry hours at Auschwitz without a guide?
A separate, later daily window allows entry without a guide using a free Entry Pass, starting from 1:00 PM in December up to 5:00 PM from April through September. Outside those hours, a paid guide-educator is required.
Can walk-ins get into Auschwitz without a reservation?
No. All entry passes, including the free no-guide passes, must be reserved in advance through the official booking system. There is no ticket booth for same-day walk-up entry.
How far in advance should Auschwitz entry passes be booked?
Several weeks ahead for summer dates and popular guided-tour languages is safest. Passes for the free no-guide window can sometimes still be found closer to the date, but availability is not guaranteed.
A quick note on the links above: the tour operator recommended in this guide is chosen on real review volume and rating, the same standard used across this site; if you book through one of these affiliate links, this site earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
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