Wieliczka Salt Mine

Amazing and interesting! Wieliczka salt mines belong to the World Heritage List. It is one of the oldest salt mines in Europe. I would recommend taking a sweater or a thin jacket, as you can feel cold drafts of wind while descending the stairs. There are lots of beautiful sculptures that tell fascinating stories. The salt ponds are fun—you can even throw pennies into them, as the guide encourages. It is an enjoyable attraction for adults, but especially for children. I saw many wonderful crystals in bright colors formed from the salts. The subterranean giant rooms allow every word spoken to be easily transmitted throughout the space. In one of the underground chambers, there is an opportunity to purchase snacks and drinks. After exploring all the underground rooms, you will find a shop where you can buy accessories reminding of these Wieliczka salt mines for your loved ones. I suggest everyone to visit here with a guide at least once!

I recently took a guided tour and it was an impressive and adventurous experience. Our guide Alexander was knowledgeable and experienced, providing fascinating details about the history and significance of the mines. The tour took a bit over 2 hours, with a total of around 3 hours including the time to return to the surface. The site was busy, but the tour was well-paced, allowing us to fully appreciate the incredible underground world. The vast chambers and intricate salt carvings were truly remarkable. However, be prepared for a deep underground experience, which might not be suitable for everyone. Overall, it was a memorable visit, and I highly recommend this tour for anyone interested in exploring one of Krakow's most unique attractions.

A Polish friend recommended this tour, and it was fantastic! It was my first time visiting a place 130 meters deep. Be prepared for a lot of steps and a couple of hours of walking. The temperature inside was around 16°C. There are some shops and restrooms available midway through the tour and at the end. I highly recommend this experience if you’re in Krakow!

Amazing experience! Worth every bit of wait and money and the long walk inside the mine. Very beautiful parts like the lake or the sculptures or the cathedral inside the mine. Everything is made of rock salt. The guide was very informed and friendly learned a lot. Would recommend to book early as tickets can be sold out last minutes very busy during peak seasons. Being a jacket as underneath it can get quite cold. Possibility to buy food and drinks inside the mine. We did the tourist route and it took around 3 hrs.

So worth visiting if you ever end up in Krakow. Very interesting and WOW place! They have great English speaking guides and if you get a good one you will have fun along the way. Be prepared to walk a lot as the tour is 2 to 3 hours long. Poland has so much history and so many amazing places to see and learn about. Wieliczka is one of them for sure. It’s just funny how they make you walk through a shop and then restaurant at the end to get out of there 😆.

There are two types of tours here. I took the tourist route and therefore this review is of the tourist route. The other is the miners'. The tour is well organized and guide (Justina)was really exceptional. She was quite knowledgeable and very friendly. The walk through the mine is a unique experience and path through the mine is really well laid out and wide enough for the large tours that go through there. It is a lot of walking and you will descend a lot of stairs. Book your tickets online before as they sell out fast. Great experience!

Definitely book your tickets before. The staff is amazing, friendly and helpful. We have been late for our tour, so they re booked for the next available tour. The place is amazing and is definitely worth going to the extra museum bit. My son and I loved it. I have been there before and was worth it to go back again.

Wonderfully unique experience. There are a lot of steps to get down, and the entire experience is walking, with a short break where you can buy snacks and souvenirs. There's also souvenirs and food above ground on the premises. Better to order tickets in advance, there are half a dozen languages available.

Amazing and interesting! Wieliczka salt mines belong to the World Heritage List. It is one of the oldest salt mines in Europe. I would recommend taking a sweater or a thin jacket, as you can feel cold drafts of wind while descending the stairs. There are lots of beautiful sculptures that tell fascinating stories. The salt ponds are fun—you can even throw pennies into them, as the guide encourages. It is an enjoyable attraction for adults, but especially for children. I saw many wonderful crystals in bright colors formed from the salts. The subterranean giant rooms allow every word spoken to be easily transmitted throughout the space. In one of the underground chambers, there is an opportunity to purchase snacks and drinks. After exploring all the underground rooms, you will find a shop where you can buy accessories reminding of these Wieliczka salt mines for your loved ones. I suggest everyone to visit here with a guide at least once!

I recently took a guided tour and it was an impressive and adventurous experience. Our guide Alexander was knowledgeable and experienced, providing fascinating details about the history and significance of the mines. The tour took a bit over 2 hours, with a total of around 3 hours including the time to return to the surface. The site was busy, but the tour was well-paced, allowing us to fully appreciate the incredible underground world. The vast chambers and intricate salt carvings were truly remarkable. However, be prepared for a deep underground experience, which might not be suitable for everyone. Overall, it was a memorable visit, and I highly recommend this tour for anyone interested in exploring one of Krakow's most unique attractions.

A Polish friend recommended this tour, and it was fantastic! It was my first time visiting a place 130 meters deep. Be prepared for a lot of steps and a couple of hours of walking. The temperature inside was around 16°C. There are some shops and restrooms available midway through the tour and at the end. I highly recommend this experience if you’re in Krakow!

Amazing experience! Worth every bit of wait and money and the long walk inside the mine. Very beautiful parts like the lake or the sculptures or the cathedral inside the mine. Everything is made of rock salt. The guide was very informed and friendly learned a lot. Would recommend to book early as tickets can be sold out last minutes very busy during peak seasons. Being a jacket as underneath it can get quite cold. Possibility to buy food and drinks inside the mine. We did the tourist route and it took around 3 hrs.

So worth visiting if you ever end up in Krakow. Very interesting and WOW place! They have great English speaking guides and if you get a good one you will have fun along the way. Be prepared to walk a lot as the tour is 2 to 3 hours long. Poland has so much history and so many amazing places to see and learn about. Wieliczka is one of them for sure. It’s just funny how they make you walk through a shop and then restaurant at the end to get out of there 😆.

There are two types of tours here. I took the tourist route and therefore this review is of the tourist route. The other is the miners'. The tour is well organized and guide (Justina)was really exceptional. She was quite knowledgeable and very friendly. The walk through the mine is a unique experience and path through the mine is really well laid out and wide enough for the large tours that go through there. It is a lot of walking and you will descend a lot of stairs. Book your tickets online before as they sell out fast. Great experience!

Definitely book your tickets before. The staff is amazing, friendly and helpful. We have been late for our tour, so they re booked for the next available tour. The place is amazing and is definitely worth going to the extra museum bit. My son and I loved it. I have been there before and was worth it to go back again.

Wonderfully unique experience. There are a lot of steps to get down, and the entire experience is walking, with a short break where you can buy snacks and souvenirs. There's also souvenirs and food above ground on the premises. Better to order tickets in advance, there are half a dozen languages available.

This was such an amazing experience! I am so proud that we did not miss this tour. Honestly, I would not have considered it if it were'nt already included with the tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau. It definitely makes for a long day when you combine both, so be sure you provide some time to rest up the day before and after. It was pretty unbelievable how old the mines are and how they had horses down there to help haul the salt. The sculptures....especially the chandeliers with salt crystal adornments and the cathedral were showstoppers. They have a pretty nice gift shop at ground level and we brought a grinder with some of the amazing salt home with us. It is so delicious. We also picked up a salt mix including basil and one including herbs de prevance. I look forward to having the basil mix with some fresh tomatoes! I hope that you will consider this once in a lifetime opportunity. It really was very special. The tour guides are top notch and elequent.

It was pretty cool to see, but the tour guide was difficult to hear and understand. The tour takes about two hours if you skip the museum at the end.

"Roaring Fires, Malt Beer, Ripe Meat Off The Bone!" -Gimli, Lord of the Rings I almost made the mistake of NOT visiting this salt mine, so glad I did, its incredible! This felt like I was going into the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings! The old salt miners created some beautiful sculptures and amazing architectural designs, its simply unreal. The main chapel is mind blowing! So much work and detail! Pictures can barely capture the awesomeness of this tour, you just have to go and see it to believe it! Our guide was friendly and personable, and had some fun little jokes. 126PLN/$30 per adult is one of the pricier things you'll do in Poland, but its worth every penny and you've probably spent $1000s already anyway.

The Salt Mines are definitely worth checking out when in the Kraków area. It's so easy to miss this attraction - DO NOT MAKE THAT MISTAKE. Most people often check out the Wawel Castle or nearby Auschwitz - both excellent attractions. But this is just as great! Just do note though that you should probably plan at least half a day here as a result of how massive the place is. Only guided tours are allowed down in the salt mines so do keep that in mind as well - they are offered in many different languages. Everything you see is jaw dropping as you feel like you have gone back in time. The main chapel is especially notable as other reviews have mentioned, and pictures can't even describe the feeling of being down in these incredible land mines as you not only look at the main chapel but also other sculptures, artwork, and even chandeliers way down below. While the price of admission is pretty high by Poland standards, the higher cost is absolutely worth it and NOT a tourist trap in any sort of way. Just a friendly heads-up though - prepare to walk a lot, especially when you have to climb down 50+ flights of stairs! Also, make sure to pick up some chocolate from the gift shop prior to leaving. It's some of the most delicious chocolate I have ever had, and I wish I was able to get it back home in Canada. This is definitely an epic attraction I highly recommend. You'll thank me later.

The salt mine is an incredible place to visit not too far from Krakow for a nice day trip out of town. When you get there, there is a small above ground area for which to wait for your tour to begin with food, drinks, and a gift shop. While above ground, several lines form based on tour language and whether you are booked through a group tour or not. I highly, highly recommend booking with a group to save time waiting in lines and all the hassle. I visited the Wieliczka salt mine via a tour group which I booked through the Viator app. It was definitely the move to book with a group since you have your own group line to enter with that moves much faster than the individual ticket holder line. Once down the 50+ flights of stairs, you are walked through just a small percentage of the UNESCO heritage site mine. It is not your ordinary mine, instead it is filled with artwork, sculptures, and even a few chapels which are still actively practiced in. This is a great for everyone including families, and it was beautiful and highly informative!

The salt mine in Wieliczka is a really great attraction and a must do when you visit Kraków. We came by train, it's a 30 minute train ride from Kraków. From the train station you walk 5 minutes. For the visit in the salt mine you need to book a guided tour, various languages are offered. The tour takes 2 hours excluding the museum and 3 hours including the museum. The path and stairs down into the mine are very smooth. You go 135m under the ground and take stairs down and a lift up. The entrance fee was 232 Zloty for two adults. The guide was really good and it was fun to take the tour. I can only recommend this tour.

Must do tour. It is 2.5 hr long. When you buy a ticket there r different boots for polish line and other language line. Usually polish language line is way longer than other. Prepare to walk more than 15000 steps with lots of stairs. But the tour is amazing and very beautiful. Worth to visit first UNESCO world heritage site

Fun guided tour through this large and famous salt mine, first and only to date. This mine has been here for millenials, has been used for excavations since maybe the 13th century. Think it went out of commission back in 2007 or so. It was one of the oldest operating salt mines in the world. It's museum like exhibition mostly today. Definitely a great place to go on a hot balmy day outside. All you need with all of the salt so thick you can taste it as you breath in the mines, would be a some water for some hydra therapy.

Oh my gosh! Talk about AMAZING! Sebastián was our tour guide and he was so great!!! I absolutely loved every moment of our tour! He was super informative and not the least bit boring! Definitely one of my favorites places from my trip! If you are visiting Poland you must come here!

Anyone visiting the Krakow, Poland area must take some time to visit this world-famous site. The salt mine Wieliczka is remarkable and quite memorable. Tours are divided by language, and the tour guide dispensed an amazing amount of information. It is basically a mine converted to a museum, and there is ample lighting and ventilation to ward off claustrophobia. The air has a salty tang to it, of course. Be prepared for a lot of steps and a lot of walking. The air is cool, (100 meters underground) but a windbreaker or scarf will keep most people toasty. Along the tour, you will visit grottos and sculptures. all made from salt. There are very large rooms and even a reception hall underground, all very well lit. Near the end of the tour, you will be guided through a cafeteria, one of the last stops. I found the food to be very good ! The gift shops are very well stocked and have an amazing variety of souvenirs and gifts. As a final event, you will be sardined into a miner's elevator, and blasted upward to the surface. It's an exciting way to end a very excellent adventure.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine in the town of Wieliczka, lies within the Krakow metro area. Sodium chloride (salt) was formerly produced there from the upwelling brine - and had been since Neolithic times. The Wieliczka salt mine, was excavated from the 13th century, produced table salt continuously until 2007, as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines. Commercial salt mining was discontinued in 1996 owing to falling salt prices and mine flooding. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is now an official Polish historic monument. Its attractions include the shafts and labyrinthine passageways, displays of historic salt-mining technology, an underground lake, four chapels and numerous statues carved by miners out of the rock salt, and more recent sculptures by contemporary artists. I recommend anyone, who visits Krakow to tour the salt mine. It was well worth my visit and tour of the salt mine. Tours are available from Krakow Old Town. We were staying in Old Town so we hired a driver to drive us to the salt mine. Wear comfortable footwear, because there is a lot of walking down the long stair case, passageways and back up the mine exit. You can visit here anytime, because the tour is all underground. You need not worry about the weather outside. I was here in October. I felt this was a popular tour among the number of tourists and locals, who visited and toured the salt mine.

Best Salt Mine ever! It is a 30 minute Uber ride from Krakow. Important tips!!! Pre-buy your tickets. It will save you at least 45 minutes. Bring alight jacket. It is chilly. There is a small gift shop. My pics are from outside since there are many interiors better then mine. Allow st least 30-45 minutes to walk around. I didn't see much available for food/drink. The tours are guided by language and you must remain with your group!

My husband really wanted to do this tour and I agreed, since it's practically obligatory if you're in Krakow for more than a few days. I ended up liking it a whole lot more than I had expected. First, it's easy/cheap to get to - there are buses that leave from near the main train station/Galeria Krakowska area or you can catch a minibus too. (FYI if you do take the bus be sure you buy and validate a ticket as we were inspected more than once) Tours are run in multiple languages throughout the day and groups are pretty big - maybe 50 people or so. They really pump people through but it's very popular so expect to wait during high season. If you cannot do a ton of stairs (800 total, mostly downhill) or walk a few miles on sometimes uneven terrain this is not the tour for you. You'll start by walking down 57 flights of stairs, see miles of tunnels (just 2% of the mine!) and learn more about salt than any person has a right to know. Of course, the highlights are the salt carvings, especially the cathedral room which was absolutely breathtaking. Worth it just for that room alone for sure. I am a little claustrophobic and really didn't have issues as the tunnels are quite large and well ventilated. Our guide was interesting and pretty funny too. At the end, you'll see a slightly cheesy but well done multi-media show and be dumped into a complex of gift shops and a café. We got sucked in by the café and found that it wasn't bad at all. To get back up, there's a double decker elevator...except ours was full so they had us ride on the "3rd level" underneath which was tiny and terrifying - seriously thought I was going to die. Wieliczka advertises itself as the "most famous salt mine" - who am I to argue?

After reading reviews on Yelp and elsewhere, I had decided to not visit the mine because there was little doubt in my mind that I would be in the camp of grumpy visitors who don't enjoy this attraction enough to justify spending 2 hours descending long stairways and tramping through tunnels. But my partner wanted to go, so of course we went. :-( Glad we went - it was well worth it. :-) It costs an extra 5 zlotys to take photos - which we didn't pay and didn't regret not paying. There are already plenty of photos available online. It is worth the cost if you want a picture of yourself in the mines. The operations are efficient. We had bought a ticket and were with our assigned guide doing the tour within 40 minutes of arriving. The sights are pretty awesome, as are the descriptions of the history of the mine and how the salt was mined - including learning of the working horses who lived out their lives in the mines, never seeing the sun. We found the 2 hour length perfect, and when the tour ended were ready to leave. If you want to leave in the middle of the tour, try and grit it out. Not only may it be almost impossible, but due to all the walking needed to get to the elevator you really wouldn't save any time. It was not cold, just slightly cool. I almost felt hot in my fleece jacket, and saw some men in shorts and sandals. There is a shorter version of the tour available for people with limited mobility, such as in wheelchairs.

I see why everybody recommends this place as a must-see. It's about 300 KM underground and with the basic tour, you go down a little more than half that. Having said that, here's my quick pro-con list: Pros: + Cool art sculptures all made out of salt + Friendly, knowledgeable tour guides with pretty good understanding of English explaining the historical significance of the place + Once you're underground, the temperature is cool and is a nice change from a hot summer's day Cons: - It's a bit scary/claustrophobic making your way down the winding stairs to the underground tour. Too many people, too many breaks.... congested air - Lots of sales gimmicks along the way with salt being sold there that isn't even from the mine (mine is no longer active) - Need for a photographer sticker + charge is unnecessary and can be skipped while still taking your photos without issue

Wieliczka salt mine has developed into a well visited big complex of the mines that developed here over the years. The tour takes approx two hours and takes visitors some 125 meters under ground to what they call the third level of the mine. Very interesting tour by English speaking guide explaining all the details about mining of salt.

Interesting history and good tour but nothing too extraordinary. If you have half a day I'd recommend but I wouldn't keep extra time just for this.

A beautiful guided tour well worth the price. The sculptures were amazing! Comfortable shoes are a must as there are many stairs and the walk is approximately 2.5 hours.

No visit is complete without visiting this salt mine. REMARKABLE! Well organized! Unbelievable! Inspiring! The carved wall-salt statues, the hard work these men did, WOW! I could fill up this page with everything positive adjective to describe this place, and I seldom visit anything tour under ground. But, I could spend a whole day inside, BUT not by myself, of course! Can you believe, even the chandeliers were made of ROCK SALT? You just have to go & see for yourself.

The Wieliczka Salt Mines were placed on the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage site. It is located outside of Krakow and best done with a tour or private guide. You enter the museum and then begin your descent downward via a series of steps [not for the claustrophobic-about 100 meters down] and then our guide [Doreta} began to explain the sculptures and various grottoes all carved out of salt. it is really something to see. At the end of the tour, there is an elevator that takes you to the surface-it is well worth seeing-many tours combine this and Auschwitz-Birkenau as a one day tour-if we had to do it again and had the time, we would have done two separate days.

One of the highlights of my trip to Cracow. I had never been in a mine before, and I really liked the experience. Rather than just going through endless corridors (which there is a lot of) you get to see and explore many different areas and things you may not expect. Mine (at least tour areas - was brightly lit and inviting - as long as you don't wander where you are not supposed to) You will see sculptures made by miners in their free time. These are sculptures of gnomes, religious figures, and salt-copies of famous paintings. You will even see chandeliers made of rock salt! The King's Hall had the most beauty of the mine. Be aware, taking pictures cost 10 zloty in this area. There are several machines - most of which are for display only - that you will see, and even one or two that you will get to use! You will also see some artificial lakes underground, which are all saturated with salt (of course), and are just cool to see underground. There are also some fascinating structures, including a very large wooden structure that was designed to keep a certain very large room from collapsing. Finally, there are several demonstrations in the mine, including one that showed how miners tested for methane (and how it could explode), as well as a projection on a very large wall towards the end. I don't know how to describe it, but because the wall was not flat, it looked almost holographic. Many people say that the tour is a little repetitive. I disagree. Yes, you do have to go through many hallways, but that's because the mine is large. Rather than walk in silence, the guides use the time to (keep) posting our the different natural salt seepage (cauliflowers and such) on the walls. Tour guide was really cool and funny. Bring comfy shoes! There are a lot of stairs to climb down!

*YAWN* Yes, it was beautiful, but after 20 minutes, it was quite boring. The tour is entirely too long, and seems repetitive. Everything is made of salt here...WE GET IT! After a while, it feels like you're just walking for the sake of walking. I felt rushed through the tour since the tour group and guide behind us were constantly at our heels. Theme of the last 40 minutes of the tour was "Hurry Up and Wait"...you are basically waiting in line to exit, and eventually access the elevators. If you're claustrophobic, don't even bother going on this tour as you'll likely have a panic attack from being enclosed in tight spaces. I honestly don't understand the rave reviews except that perhaps they're posted by people who have never seen anything exciting before. Even people on the shuttle bus concurred they didn't understand the hype of the salt mine tour and felt the duration of the tour could've been cut in half. Auschwitz is a "must see", meanwhile, I'd only recommend seeing the salt mine if you literally have nothing else to do with your time.

The Wieliczka Salt Mines made a really bad first impression with our group due to the unhelpful staff we encountered on the surface level. Our group had a private tour set up which was nice, but the ticket staff and a few others were not very friendly. We had 3-4 (including an 83 year old man) who had some mobility issues that would have preferred to skip the 360 steps down into the mine (yes, you read right, 360 long hard steps down) but we were told the elevator ride down would cost 80 EUROS! Really, 80 Euro's to ride a mine elevator. That is a ridiculous price, we would have paid a reasonable fee, but that was a rip off. Also, if you want to take pictures with your camera or phone, you are required to purchase a photo license which also seems like a bit of nickel and dime rip off. The mine itself was interesting and there were several neat things to see. The chapel was neat to see and learning about the history of the mine was interesting. Luckily our tour guide was much nicer than the staff we encountered on the surface. The tour was extensive, and in some cases really long. There is a lot of walking, some confined spaces, and a number of uneven surfaces. For those with knee or foot issues this can be a difficult tour and there is not much warning about this until after you have purchased a ticket. If this is something that really interests you and you have no mobility issues you may enjoy this tour. It is physical and it can be long. I am glad I saw it once but would probably not go back.

Wonderful experience! It was an amazing guided tour going through the salt mines and seeing the intricate salt sculptures. Highly recommend visiting if you're in Krakow, which is only about 20-30 minutes by car.

Wieliczka Salt Mine was one of the more enjoyable things I did while in Poland. It's a different type of experience, because there is an intriguing history to salt - and the mine itself. This is a fairly popular tourist attraction with lots of groups, so expect the place to be somewhat crowded. Aside from the crowds, I'd highly recommend you go on this tour. It's not expensive - and you'll be doing something that you can't do just anywhere. Warning: There are lots of stairs (going down). Hundreds and hundreds of stairs going down -- so if you have bad/weak knees, beware. You take an elevator shaft to go all the way up to the surface, so you need not worry about that.

A must see if you're in the Krakow area. You can ride a local bus here for I believe 14zl each way, although it's a 1km walk from the bus stop, or you can get there on a tour. The works of art carved from salt are tremendous, especially the main chapel which soars to probably 40 feet. The restaurant at 135 meters underground is much better and cheaper than it needs to be. They literally have you trapped down there! They also have free wifi there.

Wieliczka Salt Mine is absolutely worth a visit if you're staying in Kraków - it's easy and cheap to get to - though as other reviews mentioned, the tour verges on boring in parts. It's an easy walk from the station and then you buy a ticket for your language and join the appropriate queue. You also need to buy a 'pass' if you'd like to take photos, which you can buy at the same time as your ticket or during your tour. The start of the tour is to walk down some stairs. Very many stairs. Lots and lots and lots of stairs. Then you basically just walk around the mines for an hour or two, while your guide tells a variety of factual and apocryphal stories. Overall it's really impressive but the setup of the tour is a bit laboured. It's all made out of salt. Everything is salt. The walls are salt. So much salt. You can lick the walls to verify this which I did not do. To leave you have to cram yourself into a tiny rickety lift which is probably the most exciting part of the tour. There's a restaurant underground but as it's so quick to get back into Kraków we just headed back for food. Overall if you have a spare half day in Kraków this is a really good option.

I know everyone says this place is amazing. And in many ways it is. But it's really boring. So here's a summary of my visit. 1. Take a taxi there. There is also a train service you can use, but a taxi wasn't too expensive. 2. Sit in a long queue for ages only to find out that's the queue for Polish speaking tours and other languages should buy tickets elsewhere and join a different queue depending on the language. 3. Wait for a while longer and enter the tour. 4. Walk down lots and lots and lots of stairs. And onto the tour. You basically just walk for a while, inside the mine. There isn't much to see. It looks like the inside of a mine. Occasionally there's a carving made of rock salt. Then you get to a big chapel that is fairly impressive, and the tour continues. And it continues some more - basically more walking through fairly boring stuff. And then there's a gift shop where you can buy stuff. It does have some redeeming features though. The salty air cleared up my hay fever really nicely. Also in the event of some kind of nuclear attack the ticket price to go down into this mine suddenly seems like a bargain. Aside from that, especially compared to how much people earn in Krakow, the ticket price is really high. Would I go again? No.

You would not imagine that a salt mine could be this huge or this well designed. If you can get out of Kraków for a half day then this trip is really worth it. For 5 extra złoty you can see a tribute to St John Paul II.

Fun experience! I went to the Miners Route and it was very interactive and lots of fun. We went through a very interactive session, and I really enjoyed it. We went through a lot of rooms, including the place where the horses were kept, carpentry room, rope-tying room, smashing salt into table salt room, the meal room, a chapel, and so on. The salt there is very salty! It was a lot of fun, definitely recommend it!

If you only have a weekend in Krakow then I would just enjoy the city and not worry about an excursion like this place. If you have a bit longer then the mine is worth a look. You should be in fairly good condition though. I thought I was but was corrected in this misassumption by my calves which ached for a couple of days after all the steps that I had to go down and (to a lesser extent as they hoist you above ground in a lift at the end) up. In the mine there are many vast chambers and many many salt sculptures to see. There are also the furthest underground conveniences in Poland, perhaps in Europe (can any underground toilet experts help me out here?) to make use of. They have their own guided tours run from the site if you have the sense of adventure to get there yourself. I preferred the convenience of the complete experience of being taken there and back with a tour group which supplied their own guide. I think this is worth the slightly additional cost. One gripe was the bizarre bit where we were told we would meet some friendly ghost of the mine. We all stood in a room with water in itthere was an explosion, a splash and a light occasionally shone on certain parts of the wall including a small statue (I guessthe friendly ghost). And that was it. In short.WTF. There was also a bottleneck of tours caused by waiting for this brief 'show' that seemed quite pointless to me. A warning that we were given, in case you are not. Souvenirs are much cheaper at the stands outside the mine (along the street and in a nearby car park) than they are in the mine themselves, so buying them after you come out would be the best bet.

Unbelievable works of art from salt in this mine. It is well worth the tour and the artistry was carved by miners not artists. Absolutely amazing and YES, you can lick the walls! Incredible depth to this entire underground wonder.

I hate to say it, but how many times can you hear that the walls are made of salt, the floors are made of salt, the statues are made of salt, the chandeliers are made of salt...you get the message. If it was a one hour tour and showed some actual mines it would be more interesting. The long walk back to the elevator at the end of the tour was actually more interesting than the over 2 hours before. I know there are so many rave reviews about this place, and a friend of mine also highly recommended it as well. Just wasn't that interesting to me. Sorry...

If there is an options to buy tickets ahead of time online, heed my advice and take advantage. I've been here several time and the place is certainly gaining in popularity. That being said, I complete see why. Each of my experiences was equally positive. The tour guides have are extremely informative and have a great sense of humor. The tours go at a comfortable pace and the groups are managed well, which allows everyone to comfortably see and partake in the experience. I recommend this attraction to all friend traveling to Poland.

The salt mines were our favourite attraction of our holiday. I loved it as well as my children. We started the tour by going down in the old lift, four platforms for the left which each small box holding 9 people at a squeeze. The mines them self are amazing, 300km of tunnels over 9 levels. Our tour took us just around 3km over 3 levels. We saw massive chambers, chapels. All I can say is get a tour booked if you visit Kraków. Truly amazing

Amazing experience! We were staying in Krakow, and this salt mine was one of our stops for the day. It seems to be a popular attraction with a decent line of people waiting for tickets. Our descent into the mine involved walking down a seemingly endless spiral of stairs. By the time I got to the bottom I was quite nauseous, and the passages can definitely trigger those with claustrophobia. The initial jitters quickly faded though and I was completely enthralled by how amazing it was down there. It is set up like a museum that you tour through, with different rooms and exhibits telling the history of the salt mining. Some of the rooms were enormous and amazing, especially the massive and beautiful chapel. When the tour is over there is, luckily, an industrial-style lift that takes you back up to the top. It was such an awesome experience being down there in the depths, and seeing the little civilization that the miners built.

I visited this mine with a group of friends in an organized group trip. Even though beautiful, it is just another mine, and if you have seen other ones before, this visit will probably not be very interesting to you... The easiest way to get to this mine is to drive there. I know some people that tried public transportation to get there, but it didn't work so well for them, and they ended up being quite frustrated. The mine itself is a nice experience, and the inside of it is pretty. Everything inside is made of salt, including the floor, the walls, the chandeliers, etc... I think it is worth your money if you haven't seen something like that before. Overall, my experience with Kopalnia Soli Wieliczka was positive and I would recommend it if you haven't seen too similar places already. Feel free to message me for any additional details that you may need!

Lots of salt and beautiful corridors underneath the Earth. Something like Moria mines but more elegant and with plenty of dry salt floating in the air you can inhale for better breathing. It is really place where you must be to understand how Poland was rich :) You using lift to go very deep down or you can walk stairs below... You can also have your event in beautiful salty Ballroom- it is really famous... Have a try and visit ...

It's quirky, it's engaging, it's shiny, and there are a LOT of steps. Really, the Wieliczka Salt Mine is just one of the things you HAVE to do while in Kraków, and we found it super interesting. The guide was cute, engaging, and had great English skills. The railings and steps (and there are a TON) were much better than I expected, and some parts of it were absolutely stunning. Seriously, stunning architecture and artwork out of *salt*. But still, it was a lot less than I had hoped--especially given the high ticket price.

When in Krakow, you must visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine! It's size, age, and beauty is unbelievable! How the various chambers were carved out and lit up is unlike anything you'll experience, especially if you ever been in a mine or cave. It's even more amazing that the tour only covers a small portion of the total mine...for safety reasons. There's plenty to see and do in Krakow, so don't miss out on this attraction. You can easily get there from Krakow via several means. I don't recommend a tour bus. Simply go to the Krakow rail station and ask around for a local driver (not a taxi) to take you. You'll get there faster and won't have to spend the whole day on the back roads of Poland.

This place is pretty awesome if you are not claustrophobic and don't mind climbing like 500 stairs to the underground area. Once inside, you will be guided along the various rooms and see sculptures, chapels, tunnels, etc. Once finished, you will end up at the gift store and a "cafeteria" where you can get a traditional hot Polish meal for a really good price. This is a go!

Must visit this place if you are in Krakow. You have to walk down quite a bit of stairs but luckily there are elevators to take you back up. It's about 135 meters below the ground, but it's broken up by 3-4 levels so it's not like you are walking down stairs the entire time. It's very cool both temperature wise and existence down in the mine and I've never seen anything like it before. Considering there aren't many salt mines in the world, don't pass this up! We took a private guide which I would suggest over the group tours as we passed several of them and there were just so many people in a group. Also, be prepared to walk a lot!

Had a great time here. I chose the tourist route. The cathedral and the various rooms were very impressive. I will attach pictures, but they won't even begin to do it justice. Everything is made from salt, the stairs, pictures, chandeliers--it was insane. The underground water and ponds were very pretty, and I especially liked the I agree with other reviewers, that it is a lot of walking. TBH it's not the walking that I minded, it was just that for a while there is nothing to see, and the light is very dim, so you feel as if you are just wondering around in a cave. Leaving from the mines is really cool, as they send you up in an old car through the shaft. This is not for the claustrophobic, however. You are literally on top of the others. The thing that took away the 2 stars for me: they advertise their restaurant and suggest you eat here while you are visiting. Naturally, I planned to after the mine tour. My ticket also came with admission to the museum, which I intended to see after my meal. (The food was fine--nothing overly exciting. Just polish cafeteria food.) Unfortunately, what they don't tell you is if you stop to eat, you will lose your tour and will have to added to another to go through the museum. You can not go through on your own. This will cause you to wait an hour or more if you want an English tour. This was very disappointing to me, as I did not have time to wait. Otherwise, it was well worth the trip.

Had to go to the salt mine. Its all about the salt. We took a taxi to the salt mine So call me dumb, but I didn't know the original form of salt was black. However, I do know I'm not the only person that was failed to be informed. The salt mine is a great experience. Sometimes you have to step out of the box and become informed. We had an English speaking guide. Thank goodness. But even if we didn't it was nice to look at the different salt sculptures. We received headphones and descended into the salt mine to begin our tour. For the most part everything we saw was made of salt. The floor, walls, everything. Except for a few pieces of wood here and there. The church was by far my favorite place to view in the salt mine. The chandeliers, the carvings were absolutely beautiful. Apparently, some people have been married here. Not sure how expensive but I must say it was amazing. Definitely a place to go to be enlightened.

One of the most amazing places I've ever visited, the salt mine in Wieliczka, just outside Krakow, was in operation from the Middle Ages until the late 1990's (when salt mining became uneconomical). Since then, it's become a sort of museum and art gallery. It goes more than 320m straight down, but its excavated passages run more than 300km. Its age means you can see how mining technology varied over the centuries. Just descending in the creaky lift is an experience. Only a tiny fraction of the old mine is now used for tourists. Some areas show the history of the mine in displays. The most fascinating, though, are the carvings. Hundreds of metres below the surface, artists have carved shapes in the salt crust left on the mine walls. There are countless statues and religious carvings. There's an immense chapel, with a huge mural carving - all in salt - of the Last Supper. There's an underground lake, too. It's fascinating stuff, a massive subterranean monument to Polish industry and Catholicism over many years. It's been on UNESCO's First World List of Cultural and Natural Heritage since 1978. It gets over a million tourists a year.

Worth seeing, once. It is pretty remarkable to see how salt was mined right up until the 1990s. The sculptures in the rock salt walls were my favorite part, especially in the chapel. They move a lot of people through in a day and you have to take a guided tour. I purchased my tour through my hotel and Discover Cracow. They picked me up at the hotel, bought tickets, and organized us into language groups for the tour. Your tour guide talks to you through head sets. My head set kept going in and out, which wasn't a huge deal for me since I generally don't like guided tours. It is also a lot of walking and they keep you moving to keep the numerous visitors flowing through. For me, the tour could have been much shorter, but logistically I'm not sure what's possible. The elevator at the end was the worst - they really pack you in. On the plus side the tour really did seem to help my breathing (I have asthma). If I'm back in the area again I'd skip the tour and try out their spa.

This is an absolute must for anyone visiting this area of Poland. The mines are chilly but there is plenty of walking through them to keep the blood flowing. We had a fantastic Polish (but English speaking) guide - who was very funny and had a real knowledge and interest in the subject of salt mines that all made it more interesting. The huge chapel takes your breath away as you turn the corner to see the chandeliers, alters, and paintings carved into the salt. You can take photos for a small charge - but the images will remain in your memory for a long time! There aren't many places to eat here - so you may wish to eat elsewhere/bring your own

Amazing artifact created by artistic miners (oxymoron?).

The literature states the mines were used as a health cure for respiratory complaints. Not sure about that as all our party left here feeling pretty sickly. The smell in every area of the mine is horrible and yes I do sympathize with the miners and with the present townspeople who have to use this old mine as a source of income as there is nothing else around. The carvings are pretty rough and basic. Anyone who is impressed by this needs a trip to Florence or the British Museum. If you feel guilty about the poverty in the area by all means give them money but I'd pass on the mine tour. Waste of time and not the healthiest experience. No it's not expensive. Nothing in Poland is expensive. There's a lot of caves out there worth visiting just not this one.