Wieliczka Salt Mine

The walk along the tourist route, consisting of 20 monumental chambers joined by 2 km of pathways and the visit to an underground salt mining exhibition of the Kraków Saltworks Museum (located on Level 3 of the mine), takes about 3 hours. Tourist route presents the magnificent St. Kinga’s chapel as well as other chambers excavated in salt, captivating underground lakes and original tools and equipment used by the miners throughout the ages. Guided tours only!

Individual tourists must wait up to one hour for the group with Polish speaking guide to form or can join tours:

In English:
October – May: 9am-5pm on the hour
June – September: 8:30am-6pm every 30 minutes

In German:
October – May: 10:45am, 4:10pm
June – September: 10:45am, 2:15pm, 4:10pm

In French:
June, September: 12:05pm
July, August: 10:15am, 12:05pm, 3:15pm

In Italian:
June, September: 1:10pm
July, August: 9:45am, 1:10pm, 3:45pm

In Russian:
26 December – 31 January: 11:10am, 2:10pm
June, September: 11:10am
July, August: 11:15am, 4:15pm

In Spanish:
June – September: 11:20am, 4:20pm

Ticket prices: Polish tour PLN 49/35, family (2+2) PLN 133; tours in foreign languages PLN 68/54, family (2+2) PLN 190.

Groups have to make a prior arrangement for a guided tour. It could be arranged with the Tourist Service Department of the Salt Mine by telephone, by e-mail or by fax. Prices: tickets PLN 43/29 + hiring a guide: Polish speaking PLN 156, other languages PLN 235.

The salt mine - one of the twelve magnificent places and buildings - was chosen in 1978 to be enlisted on the first UNESCO World Heritage List. The decision was based and justified this way:

The salt mine in Wieliczka is a unique development in the history of mining, because the rock salt deposits were mined without interruption from the 13th to the end of the 20th centuries. The scale of excavation in this mine is very large, with corridors, galleries, and chambers, as well as underground lakes, totalling more than 200km in length on seven levels between 57m and 198m below ground. The largest collection of original tools and mining equipment illustrating the development of mining technology from the Middle Ages to modern times has been preserved here.

Not only was the Wieliczka salt mine a valuable economic raw material was mined, it also inspired the creation of exceptional works of art, such as chapels with altars and figures made of this atypical material.