An excellent, efficient way to see these two important sites - I had a great tour of the salt mine and Auschwitz-Birkenau with Choose Cracow, led by our driver, Petar. First, communication was great. I was contacted via WhatsApp the day before with instructions on where and when to meet (just a block from my hotel). I recommend ordering the lunch option from Choose Cracow. It ended up being about a 12-hour day, from pickup at ~8:30 a.m. to dropoff around 8:30 p.m. There is not much time to stop and buy a lunch. The lunch option is not expensive, and I was grateful to have that lunch waiting for me after the salt mine tour to eat during the 80-minute drive from the salt mine to Auschwitz. You will have a short amount of time at the salt mine to purchase a snack, but the lines for the snack bar can be long. If you don't purchase the lunch option, I recommend bringing your own sack lunch. Keep in mind that what you are purchasing, in my opinion, is one-stop logistical support. You could go to the salt mine and Auschwitz by public transportation on your own, but I found this tour a good value because they handled everything. I was picked up in a clean, newer, comfortable bus, led straight to my tour guide at the (stunning, absolutely worth it) salt time, given lunch (because I'd purchased that option), driven to the Auschwitz museum site, led straight to my tour guide there, driven to the Birkenau site and met by the same tour guide, and delivered back to within a block of my hotel. (They generally pick up at your hotel, but my hotel was in an area where it's more difficult for buses--this was totally fine.) Also note that you're getting a driver, not necessarily a guide. Our driver Petar was friendly and gave us all of the information we needed, though he is not the guide at the sites. The salt mine provides its own guides and Auschwitz-Birkenau provides its own guides; Petar made sure we were led straight to our guides and promptly ushered in. Finally, we had plenty of time at Auschwitz-Birkenau. I've read reviews of other tours where people express concern that they won't (or didn't) have sufficient time to explore the camps, but the tour is led by guides provided by the museum, not Choose Cracow, so the tours take as long the museum and provided tour guide want them to. We were never rushed, and our guide was sincere, thorough, and thoughtful as we spent approximately three hours with the same guide learning and exploring both camps. I think perhaps some worry that they won't have time, for example, to visit the shop or use a restroom, but there was sufficient time for both. We had plenty of bathroom breaks (we took Petar's advice to use the bathroom inside the gate at Birkenau, because there's a 5 ZLT charge (~$1.25) for the one in the parking lot). As for shopping, the shop at Auschwitz is focused on education and sells almost exclusively books. I was grateful for the prompt and clear communication and coordination and found this tour a great value. I would book again.

An incredible day - This was an amazing excursion. In retrospect it was too much for us in one day but it was a day to remember. The Salt Mines are spectacular (a great deal of walking both up and down!). Auschwitz and Birkenau are places which I feel we should all visit in the hopes that this atrocity will never happen again and to pay our respects to all the millions of people who suffered there. The guides are extremely empathetic and informative and we came away so very humbled.