Wieliczka Salt Mine - Tourist Route

What to Know Before You Go

For literally hundreds of years, tourists have enjoyed the underground wonders of Wieliczka Salt Mine, and the easiest and most popular way to visit is via the traditional 'Tourist Route.' The Wieliczka Salt Mine Tourist Route takes you through 3.5km of the underground mine over the first 3 of its 9 levels, reaching a maximum depth of 135 metres below ground. The guided tour takes 2-3 hours, and comprises several of the biggest highlights of the underground realm, including a saline lake and the famous St. Kinga's Chapel. The route is designed to be accessible for people of all ages in average physical condition, but do bear in mind that it involves lots of walking, and over 800 stairs (most descending, but still). Wear comfortable shoes and dress so that you'll be comfortable over several hours in the steady year-round underground temperature of 17 degrees Centigrade. 

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Food and snacks, including a proper restaurant, is available 125 metres underground, which you will reach after about 2 hours. Toilets can be used in 2 places along the route. There is no cell phone service underground, however there is a designated area where wi-fi is available if necessary.

If you want to endear yourself to the guides, memorise the wonderful words Szczęść Boże (shtench boes-zyuh); this essential, unpronounceable bit of miner’s lingo effectively means ‘God be with you’ and substitutes for Dzień dobry (‘hello’) when underground.

Starting Point

The Wieliczka Tourist Route begins at the Daniłowicza Shaft, located just a short walk up ul. Daniłowicza from the Wieliczka train station. This is also the location of the ticket offices; toilets, luggage lockers, a restaurant and shop can also be found here.

 

Tickets, Tours & Prices

Tickets can be easily bought online through the multilingual Wieliczka Salt Mine website , which is the best way to see the tour times, languages and variety of tickets available. It also ensures you a place on a tour at the specified time, without the risk of having to wait. Tour times and frequencies vary throughout the year, but tours in Polish are generally offered several times per hour, tours in English are offered at least once per hour, while tours in Ukrainian, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish and German are at least once a day (but more frequent in the summer months). If you've arrived in Wieliczka without first purchasing  tickets online or through an agency, buy one (if still available) from the ticket machine or ticket office near the entrance of the Daniłowicza Shaft.

Ticket prices for Polish language tours are 112zł ; 85zł for kids, seniors and students (with ID); free for kids under 4. Ticket prices for foreign language tours are 156zł ; 124zł for kids, seniors and students (with ID); free for kids under 4. Family tickets - valid for 2 adults and 2 kids 4-16 - are also available for 326zł (Polish) or 461zł (foreign). Your ticket is valid for two parts of the salt mine: the Tourist Route , which comprises the first 2 hours, and the Underground Museum which takes an additional hour to visit. In between there’s an opportunity to take a break, use the restrooms and even get something to eat.

The Underground Experience

Your tour begins in earnest by descending 380 wooden stairs to the first level 64m underground; don't worry, you won't have to climb them, but just descending will give your calves a work-out. Of nine levels, the tour only takes you to the first three (a max depth of 135m), with the 3.5km covered during the 3 hour tour (including both parts) comprising a mere 2% of this underground realm. While wandering the timber-reinforced tunnels you’ll gain insight from your guide into the history of the site, the techniques used to extract the salt and the lives of the men who worked there. There’s the opportunity to not only operate a medieval winch used for moving massive blocks of salt, but also to lick the walls (bring some tequila). The tour visits numerous ancient chambers and chapels in which almost everything around you is made from rock salt, including the tiled floors, chandeliers, sculptures and stringy stalactites that hang down.