RoutesHiking trails & RoutesPolandLesser Poland VoivodeshipOświęcimgmina Oświęcim
Selection Site After Arrival – Birkenau Entrance Gate loop from Auschwitz II-Birkenau
RoutesHiking trails & RoutesPolandLesser Poland VoivodeshipOświęcimgmina Oświęcim
Selection Site After Arrival – Birkenau Entrance Gate loop from Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Easy
2.0
(2)
83
hikers
Selection Site After Arrival – Birkenau Entrance Gate loop from Auschwitz II-Birkenau
00:43
2.89km
0m
Hiking
Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is right next to a parking lot.
Last updated: May 16, 2026
Waypoints
A
Start point
Parking
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1
98 m
Selection Site After Arrival
Highlight • Historical Site
It's hard to imagine that here, with a hand to the left or to the right, it was determined whether you were immediately taken to the gas chamber or entered the camp.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
2
330 m
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
Translated by Google •
Tip by
3
479 m
Birkenau Entrance Gate
Highlight • Historical Site
Birkenau was the largest of the more than 40 camps and sub-camps that made up the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. It was built by Nazi Germany during World War II in occupied Poland and served as the primary site for the mass extermination of Jews.
Tip by
4
531 m
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
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
Translated by Google •
Tip by
5
1.38 km
Ruins of Crematorium III, Auschwitz-Birkenau
Highlight • Historical Site
After Himmler's second visit to the camps in mid-July 1942, when he assessed the efficiency of the provisional gas chambers as insufficient, a plan was developed to create extermination facilities on a scale never seen before.
In the summer of 1942, the German company Hoch und Tiefbau AG, with its Katowice branch, began building four massive crematoria complexes (II, III, IV and V). Crematoria II and III had underground undressing rooms and gas chambers. Crematoria IV and V were entirely above-ground buildings. The crematorium furnaces were built by the company Topf i Synowie from Erfurt. These facilities were put into use between March and June 1943.
The people dying there died painful deaths, in humiliation, intensified by the sight of their dying loved ones.
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_II_%E2%80%93_Birkenau
In the summer of 1942, the German company Hoch und Tiefbau AG, with its Katowice branch, began building four massive crematoria complexes (II, III, IV and V). Crematoria II and III had underground undressing rooms and gas chambers. Crematoria IV and V were entirely above-ground buildings. The crematorium furnaces were built by the company Topf i Synowie from Erfurt. These facilities were put into use between March and June 1943.
The people dying there died painful deaths, in humiliation, intensified by the sight of their dying loved ones.
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_II_%E2%80%93_Birkenau
Translated by Google •
Tip by
6
1.60 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
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
Translated by Google •
Tip by
7
2.49 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.
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.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
8
2.62 km
Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp
Highlight • Historical Site
Every conscious person should know what Auschwitz-Birkenau means.
Only when they see with their own eyes how huge this death factory was, can they fully grasp what happened in this place in the 1940s.
One can only hope that after visiting this museum, most people will remember for the rest of their lives what hatred of one human being towards another can lead to, although unfortunately, this is probably just a pious wish, seeing what the modern world looks like.
Only when they see with their own eyes how huge this death factory was, can they fully grasp what happened in this place in the 1940s.
One can only hope that after visiting this museum, most people will remember for the rest of their lives what hatred of one human being towards another can lead to, although unfortunately, this is probably just a pious wish, seeing what the modern world looks like.
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Tip by
B
2.89 km
End point
Parking
Way Types & Surfaces
Way Types
1.77 km
982 m
133 m
Surfaces
1.74 km
611 m
319 m
213 m
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Saturday 30 May
24°C
13°C
70 %
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Max wind speed: 19.0 km/h
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