Wieliczka Salt Mine

Located only 13 km from Cracow, “Wieliczka” Salt Mine is not only one of the oldest mines in Europe, it is a whole underground realm of salt. Apart from numerous salt chambers, eerie underground lakes, majestic structures and stunning salt sculptures, Wieliczka also offers a health resort, a restaurant and even a hotel. It is over 300 km of pavements, ramps, lakes, and chutes reaching 327 m deep into the ground. The tourist trail leads through 20 chambers of the mine. The visitors get to learn about its history, its secrets, the ethos of the hard life of a miner, but most of all they can marvel at this extraordinary creation of perennial powers of nature and toilsome human labour.

The most famous place at the mine is the Chapel of St Kinga, the patron of salt miners, which is located 101 underground and which is the biggest underground temple in the world. It has been a place of prayer for miners, and a destination for tourists and pilgrims for over 100 years. It is filled with unique salt works of art, its floor was made out of one solid block of salt, and the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling are made of salt crystals.

Visitors to “Wieliczka” can not only admire its impressive interiors, but also benefit from its unique micro-climate. The air in the mine is saturated with micro-elements and untouched by by pollutants or allergens. The constant temperature (app.14-16 °C), humidity, pressure, ionisation, high potassium, magnesium and calcium content in the air are conducive to the treatment of diseases of the upper respiratory tract. Thanks to these conditions, Wieliczka is also a health resort offering rehabilitation in the healing underground environment.

Named one of the 7 wonders of Poland in 2007, Wieliczka should take pride of place on the list of must-see destinations, right next to the Main Square and Wawel Castle in Cracow. A trip to the mine will be your indispensable pinch of salt to the magnificent feast that is a voyage around Małopolska.