Extensive Guide for Visiting Dachau Concentration Camp (2026)
Is Dachau Concentration Camp Worth Visiting?
While it may be a burdensome and emotional excursion, visiting Dachau Concentration Camp and other Holocaust sites is well worth your time.
All Concentration Camps are a difficult thing to stomach. It is a glaring reminder of the cruelty of humanity and the way that we once allowed the world to be.
I have spent a long time studying the Holocaust and World War II, and I firmly believe that visiting Holocaust sites and learning about them firsthand is the best way to prevent something like the Holocaust from happening again.
Don’t get me wrong, the visit will not be a light-hearted day on your vacation.
It will be heavy and emotional.
It will evoke conversation and a pit in your stomach.
But, it will also be moving and memorable.
I have taken numerous friends, family members, and students to visit concentration camp memorial sites.
Upon reflection, they have always shared that experiencing these places in person helped them better understand the true depth of World War II and the Holocaust as well as the crimes of the Nazis and their collaborators.
In fact, the Germans believe so strongly that places like Dachau are worth visiting that most German students are required to visit the site of a concentration camp before they graduate. It is so important that we educate ourselves on history.
That being said, I have visited many of these sites and find Dachau to be one of the most informative and well-preserved camps, second only to Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
Easiest Way to Visit Dachau? This Guided Tour Is My Top Pick!
This Guided Tour of Dachau From Munich is your best bet! (I’ve taken it 5 times!) It Includes:
✅ Transportation to and from Munich
✅ Fully Guided Tour of Camp with licensed guide
✅ Entrance to the Camp
Where is Dachau Concentration camp?
Dachau Concentration Camp is located just outside the city of Munich, Germany.
It is easily reachable from Munich and takes between 30-45 minutes to reach, as Dachau and Munich are only about 10 miles apart.
Map of Dachau Concentration Camp
What You Should Know Before Visiting Dachau Concentration Camp
Dachau was actually the first concentration camp to be created. It was founded in 1933 on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory and was, supposedly, never meant to be a death camp. It was the first of what would become 44,000 incarceration centers.
Initially, it was a work camp to detain political prisoners of the Third Reich.
When it first opened, communists, socialists, and other “politically misaligned people” were imprisoned in Dachau.
During the rise of the Third Reich, Dachau Concentration Camp quickly became known as “the Dachau model” for other camps. Likewise, the commandant of Dachau, Theodor Eicke, became the “Inspector of Concentration Camps.”
By 1935, when concentration camps began popping up around Nazi territory with great frequency, SS soldiers would have to first spend time at Dachau learning how to run a camp before they were given a job elsewhere.
In fact, there was once an entire SS training facility just outside the grounds of Dachau.
By 1940, Dachau was more like the concentration camp we might envision now. Roma, homosexuals, Jews, and other prisoners of the Reich had begun to be imprisoned in Dachau and the death rate was rapidly climbing.
Working and living conditions for prisoners were atrocious, and disease and sickness ran rampant throughout the camp.
By 1944, more than 30,000 prisoners lived at Dachau Concentration Camp. The camp was exceedingly overcrowded, and thousands were dying from typhus infections and malnutrition. After all, the camp was only built to hold about 6,000 prisoners.
It is estimated that about 41,500 people died at Dachau Concentration Camp.
The story at Dachau came to an end in 1945.
With the U.S. Army quickly approaching, the Nazi SS started evacuating the prisoners of Dachau Concentration Camp on long death marches and train rides away from the lines of battle.
If prisoners could not continue walking, they were executed.
Finally, on April 29th, 1945, Dachau Concentration Camp was liberated by the United States Army.
What to Expect While Visiting Dachau: The First Concentration Camp
☑ The Railroad Tracks and Front Gate
Shortly after passing by the visitor’s center, you will find yourself at the crossroads of train tracks.
You’ll likely find yourself wondering: Is this it? I just left the city. How could a concentration camp be RIGHT HERE? And this is one of the hardest pieces to understand.
As humans, we tend to imagine that concentration camps were tucked away in abandoned areas.
Far out in the middle of nowhere where the imprisoned couldn’t be heard, seen, or smelled.
But that isn’t the reality.
As you stumble across the entrance to the Dachau Memorial Site, you’ll realize that there is no way the inhabitants of the city didn’t know what was happening here. In every sense of the word, this former concentration camp was out in the open- just another turn off a city street.
As far as history can tell us, these railway tracks and the crumbling platform were likely never used to transport prisoners, though they were utilized for deliveries to the nearby SS training area.
Adjacent to the platform, you can see where the former SS training grounds were, including the bakery and commandant’s headquarters, though they are not accessible to the public.
☑ The Entrance Gates: Arbeit Macht Frei
A harrowing piece of Dachau waits for you right at the beginning of your visit.
The wrought-iron gates welded into the front guard tower read “Arbeit Macht Frei,” or “Work Will Make You Free.”
Although Dachau was initially a detention camp for political prisoners, it is evident- just by the sinister cold that creeps into your bones here- that work would never make prisoners of the Nazis free.
☑ The Courtyard & Roll Call Square
Many first-hand prisoner accounts detail memories from the wide-open space just inside the gates of Dachau.
In the roll-call square, prisoners stood for an hour or more each morning.
They waited to be counted. They waited to be called for transport. In some cases, they waited to be murdered.
Roll call took place every morning and every evening, regardless of the weather, until the number of prisoners counted matched the number of prisoners that should have been there.
It is strange to stand here in the sunshine and contemplate mass amounts of people having to stand and wait and die just where you’re standing.
☑ Prisoner Barracks
The main section of the camp is made up of 34 barracks- one row on the right and one on the left. Of these, only the first two have been preserved as part of the museum.
The prisoner barracks walk visitors through the progression of changes in living conditions for those imprisoned in Dachau.
As you first enter the preserved barrack building, you can almost catch yourself thinking….well, this isn’t that bad.
A stiff bench, stools to sit on, bunk beds. It may have been uncomfortable, but it wasn’t BAD.
As you move through the remaining connected rooms, it is evident how quickly life in Dachau deteriorated.
Photos and first-hand accounts on the walls detail experiences of prisoners such as sickness and crowded beds. Buildings meant to hold 200 were eventually at a capacity of 2,000 people each.
The remaining 32 barracks have been demolished, leaving only ruins and a stone marker dictating what number barrack stood there.
The scene here is almost contradictory- as you meander by the demolished buildings, you’ll walk along the lane where such destruction took place.
However, the walk is lined with beautiful trees, making the scenery feel wrong, somehow.
☑ Barbed Wire Fence and Guard Towers
The grassy expanse of the Eastern side of Dachau almost feels like a meadow.
It is peaceful and airy-except for the barbed wire fence and ditch running alongside it.
This barbed wire fence juts around the perimeter of the camp, constructed and electrified in order to prevent prisoners from escaping.
At various spaces around the camp border, guard towers were built and manned by SS officers with machine guns.
If prisoners were ever too close to these areas, it was assumed they were trying to escape, and they were shot on sight.
☑ The Crematorium
By far the most difficult part of Dachau to stomach is the visitation to the crematorium area.
The Dachau Concentration Camp crematorium is incredibly well-preserved, and it is likely this entire section of the camp will create a nauseous feeling in your stomach.
As you cross over the bridge to this area, you come into view of a long brick building with a courtyard in the front.
Trees surround the site, and there is a strange, cold peacefulness to it.
In the clearing stands a memorial- a statue of a prisoner is overlooking the expanse of the crematorium.
The statue reads “To Honor the Dead, To Warn the Living.”
Whenever I visit, I often stay here for a moment pondering the quote above.
After all, it is our responsibility to uphold it.
Take a sobering breath (you’ll need it) and continue into the crematorium building.
You’ll proceed through an undressing area. In this room, prisoners would have been told to undress because they were there to take a shower. In actuality, they were entering a gas chamber.
You enter the next room through a door that reads “Brausebad,” or showers. Here is where prisoners would have been exterminated with Zyklon B pellets.
Finally, the last room in the building contains four brick ovens which stand as ominously as they did when Dachau was in operation.
While the furnaces and crematorium in Dachau were used while the camp was functioning, Dachau Concentration Camp never saw a large-scale gassing and cremating of prisoners.
☑ The Path of Death
The “Path of Death” lies just beyond the crematorium area.
This dirt path winds its way through a small forest where gravemarkers and plaques memorialize execution sites and graves.
This is a great place to take time to reflect, wander, and pay your respects to the dead. Visiting Dachau is an emotional experience, and the quiet time with your thoughts is important for processing.
☑ Religious Memorials
Next, you’ll find yourself near some of the most unique pieces of Dachau- the religious memorials erected throughout the site.
The most striking, the Jewish memorial, is symbolic of the dark descent into extermination.
At the very bottom, sunlight from above shines through a menorah, reminding visitors that God can be found even in the darkest of places.
Other memorials include The Catholic Memorial, the Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel, the Protestant Memorial, the Protestant Church of Reconciliation, and the Russian Orthodox Chapel, Resurrection of our Lord.
☑ The Camp Prison
The Camp Prison lies behind the old maintenance building which is now the memorial museum.
The prison building- or bunker as the prisoners called it- has many different rooms preserved for visitors including SS offices, interrogation rooms, isolation cells, and detention cells.
☑ The Maintenance Building (Main Permanent Exhibition)
I suggest leaving this building until last because it is easy to get caught up reading or viewing and lose track of time.
There is endless information here.
The main exhibition of Dachau walks visitors through the gruesome history of the camp, focusing on prisoner stories and first-hand accounts.
You can also view the Dachau Concentration Camp documentary in the theater.
Near the end of the museum portion, you’ll walk through the shunt room and prisoner baths, which are also part of the main exhibition space.
☑ The Bookstore
Finally, as you wrap up your tour of Dachau, pass through the bookstore on your way back through the visitor’s center.
Although it carries many copies of popular books, you’ll also find books specific to Dachau that are only for sale at the bookstore on site.
Can You Visit Dachau Concentration Camp?
Yes! Visiting Dachau today is a possibility.
The site remains open and preserved as a memorial to those who perished there and about 800,000 people visit each year.
Should I Take A Guided Tour Of Dachau?
Yes, you should absolutely take a tour of Dachau.
I would never recommend that you go alone.
Tour guides at Dachau add so much value to the visit. I’ve been to the camp multiple times, and each time I learn something new.
Dachau is a very large camp enclosure.
While there are many benefits to traveling with a guide, one of the main ones is that they can guide you through the camp in a specific way. They’ll make sure you understand what you are seeing and why, and tour guides often give additional stories and insight that you’ll not find anywhere else.
In short, they make the trip to Dachau more easily understandable, more relatable, and more impactful.
✔ Dachau Guided Tour From Munich
I highly recommend you book an outside guided tour of the Dachau Memorial Site if possible.
The absolute best guided tour you can book for a Dachau visit is with Evans Guide.
I’ve taken tours with Alun Evans many times and have even used him as a tour guide for a group of students I took to Germany as well. In all situations, Alun was incredibly impressive.
Alun knows the history of Dachau like the back of his hand.
He has a specific route that he follows inside the camp to help make your visit easily understandable.
He breaks things down for you, adds anecdotes of history, and tells you exactly what you are seeing and how it fits into the bigger picture.
What I appreciate most about Alun is his tact. It is rare that you find a tour guide who knows exactly what he’s talking about and yet still manages not to be pretentious.
In a place like Dachau, this is especially important.
Alun gives information and then steps back, allowing the visitor to guide pieces of their own experience. He truly understands the need for silent, independent processing time and provides it each step of the way.
You will not find a better tour guide anywhere else.
✔ Self-Paced Audio Guide
If you’re not interested in taking a guided tour, you can explore Dachau on your own with the support of an audio guide. It is well done and very informative, and can be listened to in 16 languages.
Audio guides and maps are available at the visitor’s center for €4.50 per person.
✔ Tours By The Dachau Camp Memorial Site
Guided tours are also available from the museum on a first-come, first-served basis. Groups are closed with a maximum of 30 people, so arrive early.
These run at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM daily in English with a German tour at 12:00 PM.
The cost for these tours is €4 per person and lasts 2.5 hours. You can however stay afterwards to look around as long as you’d like.
Dachau Entrance Fees and Tickets
Entry to the grounds of Dachau is free.
You do not need a separate ticket unless you want to purchase an audio guide or other tour.
Do I Need Reservations For Dachau Concentration Camp?
Technically, you do NOT need reservations to visit Dachau.
The site is open daily from 9:00 AM- 5:00 PM (except on Christmas Eve) and is free for visitors.
However, keep in mind that the free entrance only gets you free entrance.
This means you’ll need to walk the camp enclosure on your own and rely on signage and the museum space to tell you the story of what happened at Dachau.
How Long Do You Need to Visit Dachau Concentration Camp?
Expect to spend around 4 hours at Dachau Concentration Camp.
There is a lot of information to digest and a large camp area to walk, and you don’t want to be rushed!
How To Get from Munich to Dachau Concentration Camp
Most people who are visiting Dachau stay in Munich, as the grounds of the camp are just about a half hour outside the city center.
✔ Go By Car
Getting to Dachau by car takes about 30 minutes from Munich. It’s a quick drive and there is a parking lot next to the site which costs €3.
✔ Book a Guided Tour
Booking a tour from Munich to Dachau Concentration Camp with a guide means traveling with someone who knows the area much better than you do.
For instance, when you book with Alun (Evans Guide- mentioned above), he meets you in Marienplatz, right in the heart of the city.
From there, you hop aboard a train, and he takes you directly to the camp complex to begin your tour. No wasted time, no confusing directions, and no wrong turns.
✔ Getting to the Dachau Memorial Site By Train and Bus
If you are heading to Dachau from Munich via train, you will need to take the S2 train towards Dachau/Petershausen.
You’ll travel from the Munich Hauptbanhof to the Dachau station. Then, hop on bus 726 towards Saubachsiedlung and get off at the KZ-Gedenkstätte stop. This takes about half an hour.
To purchase tickets or plan your train route with timetables, visit the MVV website.
✔ Walk to Dachau Memorial Site
You could also walk from the train station. This is the path which was originally taken by the war prisoners after arriving at Dachau.
It is now an official walking route called the Path of Remembrance and has 12 plaques at stops along the way with information about the prisioners and surroundings. I highly recommend this if you decide to take the train since its not very long. It’s a 3 km walk that takes about 45 minutes and is worth the extra time
Tip: Keep in mind that in Germany, Dachau Concentration Camp is called KZ-Gedenkstätte.
You WILL NOT see Dachau on signs except to designate the city of Dachau.
Tips to Tour Dachau Concentration Camp
✔ Be Prepared to Walk
The camp area covers about 20 acres– it is large, and the buildings are spaced out. Be prepared to walk- a lot!
Wear comfortable shoes that you don’t mind getting dusty.
✔ Dress for the Elements
Most of your time visiting Dachau will be spent outside.
While there are some buildings, you must walk outside to get to them. As well, some of the noted areas to see are entirely exposed to the elements.
The only time you will be indoors for a prolonged period of time is while you are moving through the museum near the end of your time at Dachau.
Wondering how to pack for your trip? Make sure you have all of the must-have travel items for a European getaway!
✔ You Will Hit An Informational Wall
The grounds of Dachau span more than 20 acres, including a very detailed museum.
It is very unlikely that you will be able to take it all in. And that’s okay!
There is SO much information to learn, read, consider, and evaluate at Dachau. There is no way you’ll have the brain space for all of it.
By the time I get through about half of the museum portion, I am spent.
Take in what you can and leave the rest. You can always come back.
✔ Visiting Dachau is Emotionally Draining
Visiting the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site is meant to be an experience that you’ll not soon forget.
It will evoke questions. It will sit in your stomach uncomfortably. It will make you think hours, days, and months later about what happened there.
It won’t be an easy visit.
In fact, it is difficult. Being uncomfortable here is normal.
Schedule something light-hearted in the evening after your tour– you’ll need a pick-me-up.
✔ There Are Guidelines For Visiting
Visiting the grounds of a concentration camp calls for a certain level of reverence and respect.
To that end, the Dachau Memorial Museum has put together a list of guidelines for visiting.
You can view them here.
Visiting Dachau Concentration Camp FAQ
You’re bound to have a few questions before your first visit to Dachau. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions:
Is It Worth Visiting Dachau?
A visit to Dachau is moving, informational, and incredibly worthwhile. Anyone who is interested in history and learning from the horrors of the Holocaust should absolutely visit Dachau Concentration Camp.
Should I Take Kids to Dachau?
Children under 12 years of age are not recommended to visit Dachau Concentration Camp.
This does not mean they will be turned away.
You know your child best. If you feel like they can handle the severity of the information and visuals on the memorial site, then you can make that decision.
Please just make sure you prepare your child adequately for what they will see and hear. Above all, give them some historical background ahead of time so that they know what they are seeing and why.
Can I eat lunch there?
There is an on site cafeteria. Because you will spend about 4 hours touring the site, you’ll probably want to plan to have lunch there since you can’t eat or drink on the site. The food is reasonable and isn’t expensive, but if you still decide to bring a picnic you’ll have to leave the site to eat it. Check out the menu here.
Can you take pictures in Dachau?
Yes, you can take pictures at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site for personal use. However, photography should be done respectfully, and some areas, such as the crematorium and memorial chapels, may have restrictions. Tripods and commercial photography require special permission.
What was the Closest Concentration Camp to Munich?
Dachau was the closest concentration camp to Munich, located just about 20 kilometers outside of the center of Munich.
What is Appropriate to Wear to Dachau?
There is not a published dress code for visiting Dachau or any other concentration camp. You shouldn’t wear any flags, or symbols of political allegiance. You also can not smoke, eat or to consume alcoholic beverages on the site.
However, you should dress respectfully and dress for the weather as you’ll be walking outside.
Day Trips to Dachau Memorial Site
Have a full day?
Combine a visit to Dachau with a Third Reich Day Tour in order to really enhance your knowledge and understanding of Munich during World War II.
This Nazi Party Walking Tour allows you to see historic sites in Munich such as the Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall and Hitler’s apartment.
Dachau Important Information
Opening Hours
The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site is open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, except on December 24th when it is closed.
Costs
Admission: free
Parking fees: €3 for cars and motorcycles, and €5 for buses and campers
Daily guided tours: €4 per person
Audio guides: €4.50 each
Conclusion: Visiting Dachau Concentration Camp
It goes without saying that a day spent on the grounds of a former concentration camp is not a pleasant one.
It might be informative, moving, sobering, unbelievable….a thousand other things. But not pleasant or easy.
In studying the Holocaust for more than a decade, I have found this to be true of visits to Holocaust and World War II sites over and over again.
However, I must side with the old adage that we must remember history if we do not want to repeat it.
↳ Read Other Helpful Holocaust Travel Content Below!
✔ These are the Top Holocaust Sites to Visit Around the World!
✔ Traveling Around Europe? Don’t Miss these Holocaust Tours
✔ Full Guide to Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp
or Dachau Concentration Camp
✔ Here are the Best Auschwitz Tours to Take From Krakow!
✔ Everything You Need to Know About Visiting the Anne Frank House
✔ Make sure you have the best travel items for a trip abroad!
Want to book additional WWII tours in Munich? Try the popular Third Reich Walking Tour or a German Resistance Tour!
