Languages Available for Guided Tours at Auschwitz-Birkenau

One of the most important — and most frequently overlooked — aspects of booking a guided tour at Auschwitz-Birkenau is language. The quality and comprehensibility of your visit depends heavily on hearing the history explained in a language you can fully engage with. This guide covers every language available and how to secure a tour in yours.

The Full List of Available Languages

Licensed museum educator-guides conduct tours at Auschwitz-Birkenau in the following languages:

• Croatian
• Czech
• Dutch
• English
• French
• German
• Hebrew
• Hungarian
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Norwegian
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Serbian
• Slovak
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Ukrainian

Additional languages may be available on special request depending on guide availability at the time of booking.

Availability by Language

Not all languages are equally available — the frequency and availability of tours varies significantly depending on demand and the number of guides trained in each language.

English

English is by far the most widely available language at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Tours in English run at frequent intervals throughout the day, from the earliest morning slots to the afternoon. Individual visitors joining English-language tours will typically find availability even with relatively short advance notice outside of the peak summer period.

For organised day tours from Kraków, Warsaw, and other cities, English is the default language and is virtually always available. See our day tours from Kraków guide for options.

Polish

Polish tours run regularly and are extensively available, particularly in the morning slots. Poland provides a substantial proportion of the museum’s visitors and Polish language tours are well resourced.

French, German, Spanish, Italian

These four languages are the next most commonly available after English and Polish. Tours in French, German, Spanish, and Italian run regularly, particularly during the spring, summer, and autumn visitor season. Availability may be reduced in winter. Book two to four weeks in advance to secure your preferred date and time.

Hebrew, Russian, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian

These languages are available but with more limited tour frequency. Tours typically run on specific days or at specific times rather than throughout the day. If your visit depends on a tour in one of these languages, book as far in advance as possible — ideally four to six weeks ahead in summer, two to three weeks in shoulder season.

Japanese, Korean, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Swedish, Portuguese, Ukrainian

Tours in these languages are available but at lower frequency and often on specific request. Some of these languages may only be available during the peak visitor season when demand justifies dedicating a guide to the language. Book early and confirm directly with the museum if your language falls in this group.

How to Book a Tour in Your Language

When booking through the museum’s system at visit.auschwitz.org:

1. Select your preferred date
2. Select “Visit for Individuals” (or “Visit for Groups” for groups of 10 or more)
3. The system will display available tour times for each language
4. Select your language from the dropdown — only dates and times with a guide available in that language will be shown
5. If no slots appear for your language on your preferred date, try adjacent dates or contact the museum directly

For group bookings, language availability is confirmed during the manual booking process — submit your language preference in the group booking request and the museum will confirm whether a guide is available.

What to Do if Your Language Has No Availability

Try adjacent dates. A guide in your preferred language may be available one or two days before or after your target date. Flexibility of even a single day often opens up options.

Consider an English-language tour. If your preferred language is unavailable and you have sufficient English comprehension for an educational guided tour, the English-language tour is an excellent option — English guides at Auschwitz-Birkenau are consistently highly rated for their knowledge and sensitivity.

Check printed guide availability. The museum offers rental of informational booklets in multiple languages. These are not a substitute for a live guide, but they provide written context for visitors whose language is unavailable for a guided tour on their preferred date. Available languages for booklets include most of the guided tour languages listed above.

Contact the museum directly. For tours in less common languages, contacting the museum’s booking office at [email protected] allows you to enquire about specific language availability and make arrangements that may not be visible in the online booking system.

Language Availability on Organised Day Tours

Organised day tours from Kraków and other cities typically offer tours in a selection of languages. Most operators offer English as their primary language, with Spanish, German, Italian, French, and Polish commonly available as alternatives.

When booking an organised day tour, confirm the available guide languages before completing your booking — if a specific language is not listed, ask the operator whether it can be arranged for your group.

If your group requires a less common language and you are booking through an operator, the operator will need to coordinate guide availability with the museum in advance. Allow additional lead time for this.

Audio Guides and Self-Guided Alternatives

For visitors whose language is not available in a live guided format, the museum offers audio guide content (available on personal devices in some formats) and the written booklets mentioned above. The online guided tour is available in English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, and Spanish.

Full details of the online tour are in our online virtual tours guide.