Just wondered if anyone has been to auschwitz and if so can give some info on hostels around the area to stay?

I'm going in september. we decided to stay in krakow since it's only 60km from there approx.

As d_fresh said, the best place to stay is in Krakow. You can find several hostels in town but depending on the time of year you are there, it might be better to book in advance, as they are often full with polish students. By the way, it's very, very noisy. Be prepared !

There are buses leaving for Auschwitz every morning from the central bus station. It's cheap and reliable.

Auschwitz has two main camps to visit, which are a few kilometers apart. A shuttle service is available, but it's not free. The first camp is now turned into a museum, interesting, but be sure to have plenty of time to walk and "feel" the second one, as it has been preserved. You can get a deeper sense of what happened in this one, I believe. Especially that this camp, Birkenau, was the Camp of Death.

I will never forget my visit.

Oh, and by the way, Krakow is a very enjoyable city. It's worth staying a few days !

We're planning on staying at Nathan's in Krakow, looks good - can anyone confirm?

Not to steal beergal's thunder but what is the cost to visit? How much time should I allow?

The camp is about 1 1/2 hours from Krakow by bus, opens at 8 and closes at 7 in the summer (earlier off-season). Entry is free, but the English tour costs 25 zlotys which is about $6. The tour of Auschwitz takes about 3 1/2 hours and Birkenau is larger, so allot yourself the whole day. It looks as though you can just buy the guide book (3 zl) and wander on your own, but I'm not sure. Give yourself time to recover afterward, too!

As mentioned already, Krakow is your best bet and is about 80 minutes from Auschwitz on train. Train fare round trip is under $10 (when I was there last year). Once at the station that is by Auschwitz, a taxi ride is about $2 to the site.

I stayed at Nathan's Hostel this past year and had mixed opinions. The beds are very comfortable, the place is clean, and the location is not too far from the center (about 10 minutes walking). The negatives were the rooms are small. For laundry if you need it done there, everyone just dumps all their clothes into one bin, instead of individual loads. I don't really like that, but that might not be too big of a deal. Also the staff was not that helpful (I had asked about where I could watch the Super Bowl and they did not know what event that was) and there seemed to be a lot of people staying long term there which tended to make you feel like your a guest at their place. Still, for about $10 a night it is fine, but I don't believe there are too many other hostel options in the town.

heh excellent probably going to go there 1st weekend of oct now (hope its not too cold! This brit girl aint used to getting her ass frozen! ha ha) ;)