I'm planning a long weekend in Krakow, and want to include a conducted tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Can you recommend a local travel agency specialising in such packages? Frank Chadwick, Tyne & Wear

Sunday Times travel expert, Richard Green, responds: The Auschwitz site is nearly 40 miles west of Krakow, and while many people visit the city without venturing out to it, a tour around the camp is a uniquely poignant experience. The Poles have preserved it as a memorial to those who perished there, and the low-key visitor centre is complimented by perfectly pitched guided tours around the two main sites.

You can make your own way there by train from Krakow, but as there are several locally based and reliable outfits offering good value tours to the camp, this is a better option. Each will pick you up at your hotel with a minibus, guide and driver, and charges about £21pp for the visit, which takes about six hours door-to-door.

Contact Auschwitz Tour, Cracow Tours, or Krakow Tours. For more information on the camp¹s history and what you might expect to see there, visit www.auschwitz.org.pl

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