Connections Help!

Last night I decided to try something different.  I wrote to the Sheraton Hotel in Krakow and asked them for help with regard to the Auschwitz, Birkenau and Salt Mine tours.

The Hotel Concierge wrote me back and gave me 3 options.

Here is her email:

Dear Mr Betel,

 

Thank you very much for your email. I will be more than happy to assist you with setting the toursJ Please be kindly informed that regarding the tours to Auschwitz – Birkenau and Salt Mine, there are 3 options:

1. for both tours you can go with company called Cracow Tours and to Auschwitz they come to the hotel and pick our guests up every day at 9:15am. The tour lasts about 6hours and the cost for a ticket is 120PLN per person and the guide and transport is already included in this price. Tour to Salt Mine they do twice a day, 9:15am and 2:55pm and it is exactly the same situation as with Auschwitz . Ticket costs 125PLN per person and tour lasts about 4hours. If you decide to go on the tour with Cracow Tours, you do not need to book it in advance, you just need to be in our hotel lobby about 5min before departure and you will have to have polish money to buy the tickets and you buy them at the bus driver.
2. we can book our hotel car to take you to Auschwitz, it costs 380PLN both ways including waiting and up there you can join one for the regular tours in English and will have to pay admission, which costs 38PLN per person. Or I can book a private English speaking guide for you, the cost is 250PLN including admission.

The cost for a hotel car to Salt Mine and back including waiting, is 250PLN. And again the same situation as with Auschwitz, you can either join on of the regular tours and pay the admission, 68PLN per person or I can book a private English speaking guide for you, the cost is 268PLN + admission 68PLN per person.

3. We also cooperate with private English speaking guide here in Krakow, who can take you and look after you all the way from the hotel till the very last end when you are back to the hotelJ If you decide to take the tour with that guide, the cost is as follows:

Auschwitz – 850PLN in total for both persons and the guide has got his own car so you don’t need to pay extra for transport

Salt Mine + Schindler’s Factory – about 752PLN including transport and admissions

I would also recommend you to go on Krakow sightseeing tour including Jewish Quarter and it costs about 350PLN + possible admissions

So here's the funny part. I'm back to Crakow Tours again, the people who said they were all booked and couldn't accommodate me!  

For me, I'm thinking option 1 is the best choice. Part of the experience is mingling with other people and who wants to pay that much more just for a driver?  The costs above are divided by 3 to convert to Canadian/US, so you can see for example, a day at Auschwitz can range from the group tour price of $80 to the private tour with guide price of almost $300.

I also found out who the General Manager is at The Sheraton where I'm staying and sent her a note through Facebook letting her know how much I was looking forward to my visit and staying at her hotel.  I'm hoping she looks me up in the registry and offers me a nice upgrade....stay tuned.....

Hey - who said traveling is easy?