Escape2Poland
Escape2Poland
4.5
City ToursHistorical & Heritage ToursSightseeing ToursPrivate ToursBus Tours
About
Krakow is the second largest city in Poland and one of the country's main tourist destinations. The city is recognized as a Poland’s principal center of science and education because of its numerous universities and other institutions of higher learning. While sightseeing this historical city you can explore: The Royal Wawel Castle & Cathedral, Magnificent baroque Churches, St. Mary’s Church, St. Florian’s Gate and Barbican (The Best Preserved in Europe), Main Market Square, Cloth Hall and many more! While in Krakow we encourage everyone to visit nearby places such as: Auschwitz and Birkenau - it’s a place that should be known by everyone and visited at least once in a lifetime. Heartbreaking and breathtaking part of world history that should be remembered. Wieliczka Salt Mine - one of the most valuable monuments of material and spiritual culture in Poland and among twelve objects on the UNESCO’s World and Natural Heritage List. Schindler Factory - a place to explore the jewish history in Krakow. Zakopane Day Trip - go and see the beautiful sights of polish mountains. Dunajec River Tour - see the historical monuments and just relax rafting on a mountain river.
Krakow, Poland

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles1,662 reviews
Excellent
1,359
Very good
182
Average
58
Poor
28
Terrible
35

wolrab88
Isle of Wight, UK102 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020
Escape2Poland was a company to book with, good value and very professional. Pick up and drop off was smooth. The lady driver we had was brilliant, really smiley and friendly; even got given a little cake snack for the journey. The tour guide we had assigned to us when we got there was also very informative. Would recommend.
Written March 7, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Sammie_K
Melbourne, Australia3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2012 • Couples
It's our best experience so far with any tour company. Karol is a very experienced tour guide and he made us laugh and departed heaps of historical knowledge upon us. We were recommended this tour company and now we are recommending it to all our friends who plan to visit Krakow and visit Auschwitz and the Salt Mine. Thanks Karol and Adam for a truely memorable experience. - Samantha & Dior
Written January 18, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

DianeCHull
Kingston-upon-Hull, UK249 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2012 • Couples
This is a journey I think everyone should take, though not for the faint hearted, having read plenty of books knew vaguely what to expect its was very hard to appreciate what reality must of been, however having visited when it was snowing and at minus 17 degrees, kind of puts it all into reality, even dressed for the journey I was cold, to imagine how those poor souls stood in all but a nightdress, barefoot and starving for so long then having to work with only 2 X 4 minute toilet stops a day, is almost hard to imagine! I was amazed by the size of the camp, never in my life did I ever imagine it so huge! The tour guides are brilliant, once you meet your guide on entry you are given a head set where they talk you through the experiences as you go from one are to another of the barbaric torture and suffering blocks, the journey by car is about 90 mins one way, the tour is about 3 hours most of which you will be walking out doors. You need to be aware that there is a small charge to use the toilet of 1PLN
Written December 12, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

RSO78
Berlin, Germany19 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2013 • Couples
We were picked p at our hostel, the guide was punctual, polite and well turned out, and the van was clean, so it was a good start. However, we were very disappointed with the tour. Our guide Aggie, seemed at times to be going through the motions, and a little uninterested. We weren't given a great deal of time in any of the buildings we visited in auschwitz 1. We also didnt visit a lot of the exhibitions there, maybe 10% of the available ones, and we didnt venture near the camp commandants house. It felt as though the tour was being squeezed into too small a time frame.
Our guides historical knowledge was at times very shaky, though we weren't given the opportunity to ask questions along the way, instead she would ask us questions about things she had already told us, which became very repetitive. She mentioned the companies which benefitted from slave labour, yet failed to make any link between facism and big business, or the large companies which helped the nazis into power in the firstplace. She also constantly referred to the nazis as 'germans', ignoring the fact that many of the people who took part in nazi atrocities were local collaborators (goeth, the commandant of nearby plasow was austrian, as was hitler himself). Whilst itbis common for nazis to be referred to as german, her constant mention of it began to feel as thiugh she had an axe to grind. Tour guides should be objective, especially when dealing with such important history- for example she lauded polish and catholic resistance, yet didnt mention the concordat. Again, i do not feel as though her knowledge was thorough, or she didnt want to deal with topics which she didnt aggree with. At the end of the tour we werent given any opportunity to spend time near the gas chambers, we walked there and then straight back. I would have liked some time to reflect on what happened there, and perhaps to lay a stone to honour the victims. All in all a trip which i have wanted to make for a great many years was diminished by this tour.
Written February 2, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for taking your time to share your experience. I am very sorry you are not satisfied with the service. Just let me explain that the guide is assigned for our tours by the Auschwitz Museum and we have limited influence on which guide is the tour given by. All guides are licensed by the Museum. We did our best to offer you a professional customer service, advise and answer your enquires before you made the booking, pick you up from your hotel on time and transfer you safely and comfortably to the destinations. That is mainly what we deal with. From the moment you got to the Museum you were in hands of the Auschwitz Museum's guide and what happens then is beyond our scope of service. Hence, what you can blame for the quality of the guided tour at the camps, is actually the Auschwitz Museum and their guide. We always want our customers to be satisfied and provided with what they really want and so we did offer you in an email tour options which would have allowed you to visit the camps more thoroughly. We could have arranged study tours that involve 6 to 8-hour visit to Auschwitz & Birkenau, which would have given you the opportunity to see far more and also have your own guide at disposal. However, you decided to go on a standard tour. We are going to investigate this issue and report the problem to the Auschwitz Museum. If the tour was delivered in such a way we definitely want to avoid such inadequate guide performance in the future. I hope I managed to explain the issue to you and that this will make you reconsider your opinion about our company. Once again, thank you for informing us about this matter.
Written February 18, 2013
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Girl Eat World
Singapore, Singapore85 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2017 • Friends
Avoid this tour operator.

Our pick up call was 7:25. I had read on some blogs that Auschwitz is very controlled in terms of time so we woke up at 6am to be on time. we made sure we were there in the lobby 5 minutes before (as instructed), at 7:20. when the driver did not show up we called them at 7:28, which is within the 5 minutes window after pick up call that they told us we can call if we did not get picked up. I know all of these timestamps bc I was always checking my phone.

the lady receiving our call told us that the driver had left and there are no other tours that day. she cannot help us. she gave us a choice of an afternoon tour at noon, which we cannot take as we have a train to catch.

At first, my friend talked to her on the phone very calmly and logically. She was however rude to him, talked as if it was our fault we missed the tour (when we were there on time and even early!!!), got pissy that we cannot accept her solution, and refused to refund us that day as her supervisor was out. According to the driver, there were apparently six other people who were at our hotel waiting for the pick up so he picked them up and left early.

When she told us she cannot refund the tour that day, I took over the conversation. I was heated and raised my voice a little bit, but did not curse or used rude language. I only asked her if she was kidding (I was in utter disbelief that they had left us when we followed their rules!!) and told her we will dispute the payment if no refund was made. she accused me of being rude, and that the story between me and my friend did not match up (because I said we were there at 7:20, he said 7:23) and refused to refund unless I apologize to her. She then told me she much rather talk to my friend as he was more calm. she felt "threatened" because I said i was going to dispute the charge if she gave no refund.

Note that at no point of the conversation, whether to me or to my friend, did she say sorry or tried to appease us, and she kept telling us to stop disrupting her when we tried to explain ourselves. which made the matter much worse as I got angrier. She was adamant that *we* were the problem (for what? for not being there earlier than the stated pick up time?) and that she can MAYBE give us 50% refund two days later. Of course we refused and demanded 100% refund. She told us this can only be done on weekdays.

Total lack of professionalism. Maybe I should not have raised my voice at her but I was very upset at the possibility of missing Auschwitz, being accused wrong when we played by their rules, and the way she treated my friend who at no point raised his voice at her. I don't usually complain but this was just bizarre.

We then paid closer attention to the reviews on TripAdvisor and found similar reviews as our experience. In the end we went with another tour (Royal Krakow) at 9:15 without any incidents.

We did get the refund a few days later. When we called about it on Tuesday, we got the same lady who was again rude to my friend, saying "I already told you i would refund, why are you calling again?" then hung up on him.

So my view still stands on this tour - not professional and does not deserve your money. Go elsewhere.
Written July 10, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Philippa38
Cardiff, UK27 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2012 • Friends
I have just returned from Krakow and used Escape to Poland for a tour of Auschwitz. It was faultless. The driver was extermely pleasant - much better than the other drivers we came across from other companies. The tour was interesting, and if anyone is in the area a must see. Very emotional but well worth it. The actual guide at Auschwitz was amazing! I would highly recommend Escape to Poland to anyone. For this particular tour Escape to Poland recommended taking a packed lunch. Although there are facilities at Auschwitz to buy food, with only a 10-15 break it was difficult with the amount of visitors there to buy anything, so the advice to take a pack lunch was essential.
Written December 11, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Year2020
Hertfordshire, UK69 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2015
We used this company due to all the positive reviews on tripadvisor so I feel that we must have been very unlucky !
firstly we did not have any change ( our fault I know ) but a Thankyou from the driver for giving him extra would have been nice .
Once we arrived we were told to leave our handbags on the bus , this baffled me as every other lady we saw had indeed a handbag and of my size . Before the driver had a chance to join the group queue my daughter asked him if he could get my bag as I needed some medication from it , he ignored her and proceeded to join the queue , another driver from the same company then rudely shouted at me to " get back in the queue " when I asked once again if I could kindly get my medication he said " no it's not possible " in a very threatening tone and with his hand shooed me away !!! I am not a teenager and feel he had no right to speak to me like that .
The tour guide himself was fine and spoke good English . I was asked by the tour company at the last minute if I could swap my days as I had two trips booked with them , she promised that the group size would be smaller ... It was infact 30 people and hard to keep up and hear sometimes , I have cancelled the tour tomorrow with them I am sure there must be far friendlier and more approaching companies out there .
Written August 19, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It is stated clearly on your voucher, which you have received a few days before the tour, that bags of certain size are not allowed at Auschwitz. If you had to take a medicine during the tour, you could have prepared yourself for that and get a smaller bag, you knew about this restriction well before the tour, even the allowed size was confirmed. Moreover, the restriction is not our idea but a safety policy of the museum. The driver's job is to pass on the information and make sure the visitors follow it. If you are stopped and declined the entrance by the security guide because of your bag, the whole group is hold back and this causes further delay and mess for everyone. In addition, you were on the minibus with other visitors and noone else complained about leaving their bags on the minibus, nor about that other people were carrying their bags with them. This proves that noone else except you questioned the driver's information regarding the bags. Furthermore, I have spoken to the drivers and one of the visitors on the tour and they claimed you were actually very unkind in requesting your bag. I just wanted to add that we actually did you a favour and returned to your hotel to pick you up well after your pick up time, even though you were late - it is a shame you have not appreciated it. Due to that, it is with a deep disappointment that I read such a negative review you wrote.
Written August 25, 2015
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

laura h
Middlesbrough, UK4 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2013 • Friends
Upon my first visit to Krakow, I thought about booking with a tour company to get to know the city - something I would not normally do. With Escape2Poland, I booked to see the Wielczka Salt Mines, Auschwitz/Birkenau, plus a tour of the Jewish District, Ghetto and Schindler's Factory. Escape2Poland provided airport transfers, assisted with choosing the right hotel for us and were there on the dot for pick up times for tours. Tour guides spoke good English and were friendly, approachable and highly knowledgeable. I would highly recommend this company to anybody visiting Poland, and will use them again in future.
Written December 21, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

traveller272727
Croydon, UK8 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2013 • Friends
We booked through Escape2Poland our entire trip - airport transfers, Schindler Tour, Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour and hotel. We couldn't have chosen better. We had a worry-free trip because it was all booked in advance. From the moment we landed in Krakow (where the driver was waiting for us to take us to our hotel, the Kazimierz), the walking tour guide for the Schindlers Tour arrived on time and was very knowledgeable. We were relieved when a minibus (they call it a minivan so we weren't sure what to expect) arrived nice and early for our Auschwitz tour. E2P recommended the hotel and it was convenient because it was the pickup point for all the tours. The hotel maid must have seen the birthday cards in our room because when we came back from one of the tours there was a box of chocolates and a birthday card in our room - a nice touch.
I cannot fault E2P, everything ran smoothly, the drivers were all punctual and polite, the hotel was clean with a good choice of breakfast. Going to a country and not speaking the language, it was important to get everything organized beforehand. E2P certainly lived up to our expectations.
Written November 12, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David T
Melbourne, Australia161 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2013 • Solo
I booked with Escape2Poland for a tour of Auschwitz, a few weeks before my trip, and was impressed with everything during the booking process. I emailed them a few times about the different options for the tour, and I was really impressed that they would reply back very quickly. I paid a deposit for the tour when I booked, and was informed how much I would have to pay the driver in local currency.

A few days before my tour of Auschwitz, I received an email telling me what time I would be picked up from my hotel, and an estimated time for when I would get to the camp. On the day, the driver was right on time, and picked me up in a minivan. During the drive, I was shown a film about the liberation of Auschwitz, which prepares you a bit for what you’re about to see. Once at Auschwitz, the driver introduced to my guide for the tours of Auschwitz and Birkenau. My guide spoke fluent English, and was full of information about the camps. The tour around Auschwitz I shows you all the facts, as this has been set up as a museum, showing possessions of prisoners, as well as other things from the camps. The tour of Birkenau is more about getting a feel of things, as you walk along the train tracks, and see the barracks where prisoners were kept. You tour around Auschwitz I for around an hour, then you meet back up with your driver, who then drives you to Birkenau, which around a five minute drive away. The option I had booked gave me extra time to look around by myself, and my driver recommended I look around for an hour by myself. I met up with my guide at the gates of Birkenau, and while most of the buildings at this camp were destroyed during the end of the war, there were still plenty of barracks around, so you could see the terrible conditions people had to live in.

After my guide left, I looked around for a bit more, then caught up with my driver in the car park. At no time when I was outside the main gates, taking photos, did I feel he was wanting me to hurry up, which is something that you want. I was then driven back to the hotel and paid the rest of the money to the driver, and left in shock at the sights of one of the biggest killing machines the world has ever seen.

There are plenty of companies that offer you tours of these camps, but I would Escape2Poland would be the best way to go, I know if I want to do some sight seeing again in Poland, I will definitely use them again.
Written September 22, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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