The beautiful saltmines of Wieliczka

The salt mines made little town Wieliczka famous, and are a very popular destination for a day trip from Krakow. It is though, just as easy to visit the mines by yourself. I've seen some tours that were only little more expensive than what you pay when you travel to Wieliczka yourself, but others were just way over prised. So you can just make out for yourself how much you are willing to pay more for an organized tour. In my opinion, they are quite unnecessary though.

We left to Wieliczka in the early morning, by minibus. The prize was 3 PLN for a one way ticket. There are public transport buses riding too, but the minibuses go faster and are more comfortable too. The main departure for those minivans to Wieliczka is at the post office, at the intersection of the Sienna street (old town) and the Westerplatte. We caught a bus at the Al. Mickiewicza street though, just north of the Biblioteka, because it was way shorter to our hostel. If you see a minibus en route for your destination approaching, you have to stop it like a cab, get on board and by your ticket from the driver. This goes very easy.

Ones in Wieliczka the bus stop is right in front of the museum entrance. There is a whole complex of shops, small restaurants, tourist info, etc. around the salt mines entrance, where you can buy basically everything you might need.

The people behind the ticket office speak English very well. You have to tell them what language tour you want to take and then they give you the tickets and the approximate hour on which this tour leaves. There are waiting benches in the entrance building where you can sit down until your group leaves.

Prices aren't cheap, for Polish standards they are even expensive. We payed 64 PLN per person for the English guided tour, plus an additional 10 PLN for photo and film permission. There is a student discount though, but make sure you got a student card with you or else you won't get it.

Ones inside the mines a guide takes you on a (rather fast paces) tour through the halls and chambers that are open to the public. This is only about 1% of the total mine. Most of it can't be visited by tourists. The walk lasts about 2 hours, depending on how much questions there are asked, I suppose. I must say it went really fast. I was the one taking pictures and by the time I had captured everything I wanted and was ready to take a look around for myself, the group often moved on already. So be prepared to take things in quickly.

About the pictures: as I said there is an additional fee to pay when you want to capture things. I feel like this is really worth the money as I like to bring home pictures of everything I saw. These mines are so impressive that I'd feel frustrated walking around without a camera. If you don't care much about pictures though, don't wast the money on it. If you don't have a really good camera and/or a tripod, you must take quite a lot of pictures to make sure some of them will be good. There isn't much light around and flashing often gives really ugly results, as the white salt reflects the flash a lot and all the details and nice lightning will be lost. So either be prepared to spend a lot of time taking pictures and choosing settings on the camera, or either don't buy the photo permission. If you are planning to take only 10 pictures, considering 5 of them won't be sharp, you're wasting money.

The rooms itself are though beautiful. The sculptures all were made by amateurs, people that worked in the mines and wanted to decorate the chambers and chapels. Yet they are masterpieces really. Those people were very talented. The tour is also very informative. You'll learn a lot about the instruments used by the miners, the way they worked, why they used certain materials, etc.

Especially when you visit the museum as well (another 1 hour guided walk, included in the entrance fee) you'll get quite some information about this. I would really advise to see the museum as well, as I liked it just as much as the first tour and it gives an extra dimention to the visit. But prepare for an even more fast paced walk around with this one. The guide here really rushes through the chambers.

Yet the mines are really amazing. First there is a very special atmosphere so deep under the ground. The lightning gives the whole area a special flair and the air itself is said to be very healthy too. All the halls and statues are given an amazing look by the game of light and shade, and the various colors of the salt. Because all you see around you, is salt and some timber to hold the ceilings up.

Temperature in the mine is the same all year round, some 15 to 18 degrees. It isn't really cold down there, and you walk a lot so most of the time I felt pretty warm even. If you aren't really claustrophobic there is no need to feel scared about going down. Everything here looks really well maintained and kept up, guides really know what they're doing and the chambers and halls never get that small or low. You can just walk around everywhere without crawling or stumbling, and there is plenty of space and air in all the chambers.

As a conclusion, there is much to be said about this salt mines. I've read a lot of reviews before I went there. Some of them are boasting with compliments, saying that these mines are the highlight of a Poland trip, amazing, unmissable,... Other complain that the prize is far too high for a two hour stroll through some dark rooms with amateur sculptures. In my opinion, non of these extremes are true.

The salt mines are to me, a very nice day trip from Krakow. They certainly are something you haven't seen before, unique and authentic. Even if you have been in some mines already, like coal mines for examples, this will be something completely different. But the visit isn't life changing either. It is not like Wieliczka is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, it is not like I was deeply impressed after the tour either.

What more can I say? If you are in the area and you like to see these kinds of things (some historical, cultural, geological explanation, covered with a great deal of artwork) you should really go. This place is even more beautiful as it looks at the pictures. It will certainly amaze you. Yes, it is expensive, but what you get in return is a complete tour -museum visit included- with a tour guide that speaks very well English, a site that is perfectly save and maintained, and an organization that runs smoothly. More than a million tourists visit this place every year, so I must say they handle this buzzyness very well.

And yes, there is definitely a good reason why so many people come here. These mines are probably the most beautiful ones in the world, and have well deserved there place on the UNESCO inheritance list. A visit is highly recommended.

There is an official site about the Wieliczka Mines and the visit, available in English:
http://www.kopalnia.pl/home.php?action=&id_language=2&

You can visit this website too for more representative pictures of what the chambers look like. My pictures are pretty much crap. I've posted some more though in my Wieliczka blog...