Wieliczka Salt Mines

I thought this was absolutely fantastic! We had Sebastian, the greatest guide i've had on any trip (and i've been on quite a few)... he was knowledgeable, friendly, funny and genuinely enthusiastic. I absolutely loved this trip. The carvings a beautiful, especially Da Vinci's 'Last Supper' which is practically perfect. It's just amazing to think that ordinary miners (not experienced artists) carved those. I would recommend this to anybody, of any age. Our group ranged from 15 to 55 and we were all equal in our awe.

Reading these comments sometimes makes me fear for humanity. To hear people complaining that the ceilings were too low....it's a mine! Or that there were too many steps down....it's a mine! Or that the sculptures were boring!!!! They were carved by the hands of the miners hundreds fo feet below ground with almost no light to work by. A new perspective on life is needed by some. This experience is stunning, the people of Krakow should be justly proud.

This place was great! We caught the last English-speaking tour of the day, and had a lot of fun waiting for the tiny lift to take us down. Once we got down there, the sights were fascinating. Learning about things like how the horses that worked in the mine just lived down there because there was no good way to transport them up and down was eye-opening. The legend of Kinga's wedding ring was also enchanting.

The Church of St. Kinga was amazing, but I particularly enjoyed the Weimar Chamber, with the salt lake and mini-light show and Chopin soundtrack.

Tasting the walls was quite an experience as well. :)

All in all, we enjoyed ourselves immensely, and would recommend it to anyone coming to visit Kraków.

My son has just been to see the mine and said that it was wonderful. He lives in Sweden but has been working in Poland. My only other comment is that it had to be an American who has given this wonderful place a bad review.

I enjoyed it overall but there were a few problems. One was height, generally tall people shouldnt go into mines. Second it was way too commercialized. They started talking about bloody dwarves half the time.

I thought this experience was amazing, I had lived in Poland until the age of 5 and in 2007 just recently moved bakc for a visit,normally wouldnt enjoy family holidays but was definitly an highlighting experience!

Best salt mine, I've ever seen:)))

I visited the salt mine in 1980. I was awestruck by the beauty and complexity of the mine. I will be visiting Poland next year and will be visiting the mine again! The Church of St. Kinga just blew me away!

Absolutely magical! Breathtaking experience. I will certainly visit again.

Great place to visit ,Saw it over a year ago.Got a lift down and back up ,nice tour,Also has a Cafe and amenities underground

Amazing,well worth the trip and the price of a tour is very reasonable.A very good exercise too since after the initial 380 step descent,lots ot walking and more stairs.The guide is very knowledgeable.The St.Kinga chapel is beatiful.

Went to mines in June 2011.Great to see,but one down side.The queue for the lift back can be quite long.You might have to wait an hour or more.However the worst part was the lift.Its the size of 2 phone boxes stuck together,and it takes 9 people.

its a joyful place dont miss a chance to go there

I visited the salt mines on 09/03/11. I thought it was great, good value for money, interesting, some of the sculptures are brilliant. Well worth the walk down the steps, lots of them.. Our guide was a polish woman, very knowledgeable and a great sense of humour. Both of us would go again.

I think its pretty amazing. Wish i could one day go there

cool

Barney from the US, your such a loser. Don't you understand History? This is one of the great treasures of our time. Wonderful as usual. My second time at the Mine.

Absolute marvellous and a nexpereience for life! We had a wonderful guide, Anna, who made the tour funny and very educational as well. Worth a visit, in fact don't miss it!
Mark S Bradshaw; I think (not sure) that it is Etude op.10 n.3 Tristesse for orchestra.

I was at the mine in February of this year. I was in Krakow for the wedding of my niece - none of us are Polish by the way - and two days after the wedding we went to Auschwitz. The following day we went to the Salt Mine. I was a bit dubious at first,thinking it would be boring,but how wrong I was. Having a delightful young lady as our guide,she made the tour very informative and amusing. I am really glad I went.
However,can someone tell me the name of the Chopin music that was played in the vast chamber that was full of water and the "Treasurer (?)" made a brief appearance.

i was in the mine 3 christmases ago and it was amazing my chick is polish although we live in england we will definatley be going back to the mine when our littleone is old enough too apreciate it so ill be back

Nico, a follow up. The mine tour dispatchers are able to arrange for an elevator to the bottom after you arrive and check in, though you may have to wait a bit until they sort it out. Once at the bottom, though, he will have to walk the remaining distance, including up and down some stairs that wind through the caverns. You'll have to judge for yourself if he's capable of making a 90-minute to 2-hour walk with your assistance. In some places there are benches and places to rest, and I doubt anyone will force him to walk faster than he's capable. Hope this helps.

The 304 bus to the salt mine leaves from Kurniki street which runs off Plac J Matejjki towards Galleria krakowska. It took us ages to find it and even the Bus Station could't tell us where it was!

Maybe Rafal should spend more time learning how to spell instead of being rude to others.

Hi, Nico. It depends on how well your father can walk. I am checking for you about tours for people who require assistance and also whether they can descend to the first lower level by elevator, however the tour after the first lower level does require the use of stairs as it rises and descends through the caverns. Will post again when I hear back from them.

I intend to visit the mine with my husband and his father who is 70 years old. How difficult is the descending? Can we stop and rest or we must step down all the 700 steps at once? I'll appreciate your information. Thank you.

People that are to lazy to walk down stairs should stay home and watch the bloody thing on the discovery chennel. get of your ass and walk.

the mine was breathtaking. my polish wife and i enjoyed the english tour

I was privileged to sing solo and unaccompanied in the Church of Blessed Kinga and my own voice made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck - the acoustics are stunning.
I found the caves to be well worth the visit - if you are going to complain about walking down the stairs underground, then you shouldn't go there.

i hate it

i hate it

I love everything that is givin. The picture is great and the information is useful.

Hi, I read somewhere that you can lick the walls in this salt mine, and it all's salt! Is that true...? Cheers

That room in the picture looks amazing...!

I was in this Salt Mine on 11/24/09. Yes, you walk about 700+ steps down a windy staircase to get to the 200+ feet underground mystery of the "salt adventure". I was a little disappointed because even though I can appreciate the hard work everyone did to make this a great success ... and sacrifice ... I expected more of everything. I wished it was over once we hit the 3rd level of 100+ stairs. Good air ventilation - so no worries. sculptures, thou interesting, were boring to me. Sure, the chapel is impressive. My knees and back hurt so bad the next day because of that adventurous walk. They really should find a better way to accommodate people with bad knees and backs. The elevator ride up was 40 seconds in a sardine crowded environment (9 per car-squashed). Very fast and just shut your eyes. If you are on tour with Crakow tours, you will have limited time to pick up souvenirs - work quickly at the end. Overall, interesting to some degree but not enough to bring me back.

Just read my comments and must say I,m not known for my spelling sorry folks

There on 28 Nov. 2009,absolutely amaxing. The ride up to the top in lift is not for the claustrophobic,did not like this at all,I now know what a sarddine must feel like. However amazing and the guide Sebastian was quite hilarious,Polish people are not usually known for a sense of homour. Jim.

I was there back in 2000 and was totally amazed. I did not have to use the stairs, but a rickety elevator that took you down in complete darkness. It rivaled some amusement park rides. It was a very good experience and I highly recommend it.

We ordered the tour with krakow-tours.com and it was adequate. It was nice that our driver Paul took care of everything for us.

An absolutely awesome experience!! I'm glad I didn't know what to expect because with every step down, I was more and more awe-struck...and then the Chapel!! Wow! The tour was a highlight of my European trip.

An absolutely awesome experience!! I'm glad I didn't know what to expect because with every step down, I was more and more awe-struck...and then the Chapel!! Wow! The tour was a highlight of my European trip.

That big room there is just completely awesome. Has to be seen to be believed!

Why not use the train? There is an hourly service from Glowny (main) station, costing only Zloty 5.00 each round-trip, takes just 30-minutes and the mine is a 5-minute walk from the terminus. There's plenty of room on-board and it's an environmentally-friendly way to get there.

This is definitly an amazing place thar you have to see. You won't see anything like this anywhere.

Great......absolutly amazed.. going back again.

I think that the greatness of the Wieliczka Salt Mine is rather exaggerated in the turist guides. I was not so impressed. But maybe that is because we have a lot of mines in Sweden, and I was more impressed by the Sala Silver mine. I recommend you to rather visit that mine if you like that kind of experiences!
And I also think that they have spoiled the exciting roughness of The Salt Mine by making it so adapted to tourists. But the salt carvings were nice...

brill spent 5.hours in the mine
wil be back soon god willing

This visit is worth the 780 steps (all down)and 2km of footwork underground. The carvings are impressive, I would have liked more time to view the chapel. I'd hate to go on a busy day. The cage coming up is a tight squeeze - especially when people don't think about taking their rucksacks off their backs before getting in. Mine cages are friendly places as any miner knows.

me and my mates went and it was pretty cool in my opinion

Dios me dió la oportunidad de conocer esta maravilla en 1993 y no la he podido olvidar, cada paso lo recuerdo y lo añoro. Hoy visité la Mina de Sal de Nemocón (www.minadesalnemocon.com) cerca a Bogotá y es lo más parecido que he encontrado a Wieliczka!! Gracias!

it was a long time ago when I visited the salt mines but it was amazing and I can vividly remember tasting the walls made of pure salt, tasted horrible but woth visiting

it was incredible 2 be 135metres underground and it wasnt at all claustrophobic, the carvings were awesome, and the big church just amazing, well worth the visit.

This place is amazing it took my breath away, its one of the most amazing things ive ever seen in my life. But wear comfy shoes!

I would reccomend going its fantastic, pure beauty

not very good sorry :(

You need to see this place when you visit Cracow. Amazing

i went there in 2008 ..was absolutly amazed.. going back again in january ..for the english version of the tour..

Amazing experience. We had a rather amusing guide who didn't report us for taking photos without paying first!!!!!!!!!

We travelled by local train. Dirt cheap if a bit uncomfortable. 5 minute walk from station to trhe Mine.

me my wife and a friend went to tell you the truth it blue me away fantastic what an experiance i would recomend it to anyone

Was there in May of 2008 and it was well worth the tour! After the descent down to the bottom which felt like forever, there were so many amazing sights. If in Krakow, you must do this tour!

hi i went to the salt mine this year in 2008 i went around the world i am from QAustralia trust me guys who reads this poland is beautiful but so is Australia but it has completly mazing

Simply amazing! I was there in November 2007 (and it was snowing quite heavily) with a friend. The moment you start to descend the (what seems like a million!) steps, the weather outside could be absolutely anything, such is the feeling of segregation from the outside World. Krakow is amazing itself, but if you are here you MUST go and see this wonder of the World. I can't put into words any write up that can convey how awe inspiring this place is. A must see, once (or twice!) event in your life!

an awe inspiring experience, not to be missed

I went a few years ago, near the end of 2003. My coworkers and I were on another trip to Poland to help upgrade their Search and Rescue systems. The Polish Air Force group we were with took us to see the salt mines and it was incredible. I want to go back some day and take my children to see this beautiful and historically rich treasure.

Absolutely stunning. Only thing that spoiled it for us was the guides were very abrupt and not very visitor friendly.

i went on a trip to slovakia and we went to see the salt mines in poland but we were staying in slovakia so it took four hours to get there and four hours to get back so we got back at about 12:30am but it was worth it though!

Today 9-19-08 was the first anniversary of my first trip to Poland.
the salt mines are so amazing, very beautiful, something I will never forget.

an absolute experience one of the wonders of our travels

I went to the salt mines of Wieliczka in 2002 with my wife who was born in Poland and it is one of the most amazing feats of artistry, especially considering the time period that these amazing artistic creations were executed, I have traveled fairly extensively and I will never forget the awe inspiring beauty of the salt mines of Wieliczka.

You have to see it to believe it. It's the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

i have never seen anything like this in my life, i have travelled all over and i have found this place absolutely amazing. brilliant

To see the Salt Mine was one of the host humbling experiences. To think that human hands could creat such a marvellous feat of workmanship. What was profoundly evident was the scrupulous work ethic that these young men of the time had displayed, a work ethic which one might fear will never exist again. A must see for everyone.

If you are fit and well, walk to Krakow Glowny main train station and catch a train to the mine, its the last stop and then a 300 yard walk, easy.

My wife and I visited the Salt mines in Krakow in June of 2007 and we were blown away. I highly recommend this site. it is a miracle carved in salt. Lovely.

i went in the 2007/2008 holidays and found a magnificent site as soon as my eyes lay upon the chapel of St kinga. a marvellous place i wouold recommend visiting.

Best ever trip. If you get the chance to see then do not miss. stunning

we visited salt mine from ireland, we never saw anything as beautiful, in our life, including our guide, who explained everything in great detail, we will recommend it to everyone.