This walk tells the history of the Dachau concentration camp along the public Path of Remembrance, the road the prisoners were driven along, from Dachau station to the entrance of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. It does not narrate anything inside the memorial grounds: there, use the memorial’s own audio guide and guided tours (entry to the memorial is free). Part of the route is by local bus, from the memorial to the old town, where the walk continues to Resistance Square, the town hall and its terraces, and ends on the palace hill with the view across the plain to Munich. That is about 4 kilometers on foot plus a short bus ride, about 100 minutes, not counting your visit to the memorial, for which most visitors need half a day. On the way you meet the people behind the names: the four prisoners shot in April 1933, a boy on the death march freed by Japanese American soldiers, the townspeople and escaped prisoners who rose against the SS on 28 April 1945, a blind musician and his family driven out before sunrise in 1938, and the painters who made Dachau famous long before the camp. It also tells how the town has dealt with its past, honestly and with sources. Content advisory: this tour tells of imprisonment, forced labor, murder and death marches, plainly and without graphic detail; the memorial recommends a visit for ages 13 and over.

The stops

1. Dachau Station: Where the Road Began
2. The Death March: 26 April 1945
3. The Siding: A Train from Buchenwald
4. The Villas: Neighbors of the Camp
5. Spring 1933: The First Names
6. The Threshold: Here the Memorial Speaks
7. Resistance Square: The Morning of 28 April 1945
8. The Town Hall: Before Sunrise
9. The Terraces: A Painters’ Town
10. The Palace Hill: The View Toward Munich

Finding the start

Start on the forecourt of Dachau station (S2 from Munich, or the regional train from Munich main station), at panel 1 of the Path of Remembrance. The walk follows the public path to the entrance of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site and does not narrate inside the memorial grounds; there, use the memorial’s own audio guide and guided tours (entry is free). Part of the route is by local bus, from the memorial to the old town, and the walk ends on the palace hill. About 4 kilometers on foot plus a short bus ride, about 100 minutes, not counting your visit to the memorial (most visitors need half a day). Content advisory: imprisonment, forced labor, murder and death marches, told without graphic detail; ages 13 and over.

Terrain and access

About 3.6 kilometers on flat sidewalks and footpaths along the signed Path of Remembrance, from the station to the memorial’s entrance, step-free. Then a local bus ride of about a quarter of an hour plus waiting (bus 726, change to bus 722) up to the old town, and about 400 meters on foot on cobbles, gently uphill to the palace, step-free. No admissions on the route. The tour does not narrate inside the memorial grounds; entry to the memorial is free, and its own audio guide and tours are available at the visitor center. Headphones only: the memorial grounds ban loudspeakers.

Tickets

No admissions on the route.

Keep going

• The Capital of the Movement: Munich 1918 to 1945

What you get

• An email from tours@the3dtravel.com with a link and an access code.
• Use it on your phone or tablet in an up-to-date web browser, no app store needed. There is no account to set up before you start.
• Download it on Wi-Fi before you go. After that it works offline: audio, text, map and pictures.
• Your booking includes 2 phones, so two of you can follow along, each on your own. Extra phones are $2.95 each, or a group can share one phone on its speaker.
• Play, pause and replay every part, skip back and ahead, or change the playback speed. Keep the screen on or tap play at each stop.

How it was made

Every fact in the narration is checked against a cited source, and legends are told as legends. The narration is written from that research. How our tours are made.

Image credits

• Photo: Dguendel, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (license)
• Renardo la vulpo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
• Photo: Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (license)
• Photo: High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons (license)
• Photo: Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (license)

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