Wieliczka Salt Mine

What makes it special

The centrepiece is St Kinga's Chapel, a hall 54 metres long carved out of the salt. Look for the Last Supper among the bas-reliefs on its walls, and for the salt altar with its figure of St Kinga.

On the way down, the route passes brine lakes, carved chambers and the old tools and machines that show how salt was cut and hauled. One carved scene shows the penitents, miners who carried torches along the walls to burn off the methane that gathered in the tunnels. Ask your guide about it when the group reaches the scene.

What you see is a small slice of Wieliczka: about two per cent of a salt labyrinth of nine levels and 245 km of corridors. The site was on the first UNESCO World Heritage List, drawn up in 1978.

Visiting

Go to the Daniłowicz Shaft, at ul. Daniłowicza 10 in Wieliczka, where the Tourist Route starts. Leave large bags in the storage room on the surface beside the shaft before you go down.

The visit opens with about 380 stairs down the shaft. From there the route runs about 3.5 km through the chambers and lakes to St Kinga's Chapel, with photos and filming allowed throughout.

The visit ends with a ride back up in the shaft lift, which takes eight or nine people at a time. Expect a queue for the lift at the bottom.

Guided or on your own

There is no unguided option: every group walks the route with a guide, in Polish or English. Tours in other languages run too, but those tickets must be bought online in advance.

Groups are large and the chambers crowd, which can make the guide hard to hear. Stay near the front if you want to hear the stories and photograph the carvings without heads in the frame.

Tips

Bring a light jumper or jacket even in summer, because the chambers stay cool all year. Wear comfortable shoes for the stairs and the long walk.

The route is a poor fit for anyone with serious mobility problems or severe claustrophobia, since it runs through narrow corridors deep underground and back up by a small lift.