Exploring the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines

Are the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines worth visiting? Are you looking for the best things to do in Krakow? Can the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines be visited without a guided tour? Read on and join us as we visit the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines, one of our best things to do in Krakow…

One of the best things to do while in Krakow is to visit the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines. The Krakow Salt Mines are one of the oldest in the world and the labyrinth of passageways extend over 250km! 

Luckily today we’re not covering that whole distance, our tour only covers 3km, less than 1% of the total

We’ve opted for the Tourist Route, going underground to explore the passageways, chambers, salt lake, chapels, and salt carved statues on show. And we’ll learn about the how the mining was done, see some of the original tools used, and learn about the history and legends of the mine.

There is also a Miner’s Route for the more adventurous, where you put on your hard hat, overalls and headlamp, and head off into the darkness of the mines to become a miner for a few hours.

For more things to do in Krakow, read our blog... Best Things to do in Krakow in 1 Weekend

Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines Tourist Route

Our tour starts with a never ending staircase to get 64 metres deep, and Paul gets a bit dizzy walking down the spirals as we go!

We walk the narrow corridors and see the salt on the walls, on the floors, and in some parts completely covering whole rooms! And we can taste some of the salt, running our hands over the walls and picking bits off... very, well, salty!

St. Kinga’s Chapel at the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines

The highlight of the tour is when we arrive at St. Kinga’s Chapel.

We walk through a narrow passageway and it suddenly opens up revealing a huge chapel. There are chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling, carvings in the walls including a depiction of the Last Supper, and a statue of Pope John Paul II at one end.

It’s a surprising sight to see over 100m underground! Every Sunday the chapel is used for mass, and you can even get married in it!

Chambers & Lakes at the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines

But St. Kinga’s Chapel isn’t the only chamber or even chapel down here.

There’s another Holy Cross Chapel also with hanging chandeliers, and we see more cavernous chambers which we can’t believe the size of.

And maybe even more surprisingly, we see some underground lakes too!

Statues at the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines

On our tour we also see loads of statues carved from salt. Some made by the miners working here over the years, others by more recent artists.

We see statues of old Kings, of important miners, and there’s a statue of Nicolaus Copernicus, the famous astronomer who first said that the sun is at the centre of the universe and not the Earth. Plus some miner dwarfs!

Cracow Saltworks Museum

The tour ends with an optional visit to the Cracow Saltworks Museum, where we see some of the old tools used to mine the salt and learn more about the history of the salt mine.

Although optional and it does add another 30-45 minutes to our visit, we recommend doing this, as this was Sneha’s favourite part of the visit!

TrovenTrippers Tip…

Don’t miss the Cracow Saltworks Museum at the end. Your ticket includes the museum, but it is an optional extra at the end of the main tourist route tour. And this was probably our favourite bit of our visit!

Are the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines worth visiting?

The mines are a very different experience to have while in Krakow and a good way to spend half a day. We weren’t wow’ed by our visit, but the tour was interesting, our guide kept the info short and to the point to keep the pace up, and overall we enjoyed the visit. 

Can you visit the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines without a guide?

No, to go down into the mines you need to join either the tourist route or the miners route.

Are there restaurants at the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines?

At the end of the tour there is a restaurant where we get lunch. We get a schnitzel which is quite good, not amazing, but is tasty and fresh.

Shops at Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines

There are multiple shops in the Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines where you can buy all sorts of souvenirs, from beauty products, chocolates, ornament and trinkets, and of course salt.

How much are tickets to Wieliczka Krakow Salt Mines?

There are multiple ticket types available:

• Tourist Route, which we did, are 134PLN / £26
• Miners Route are 134PLN / £26
• Graduation Tower, where you can get some health benefits from breathing in the salty air are 7PLN / £1
• If you also need a transfer, then you can book this too at 858PLN / £168 for 2 people

For full information and booking… Wieliczka Salt Mine Website

Visiting Krakow was just the start of our road-trip from Krakow to Gdansk. Check out our other blogs from our trip...

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