Wieliczka Salt Mine Tour

The mine at Wieliczka sells two products, and most visitors only hear about one. The Tourist Route is the classic visit: a guided walk through the showpiece chambers, the salt lakes and the Chapel of St Kinga. The Miners' Route is a working-mine experience in overalls, a hard hat and a headlamp, run through a different set of passages. They share a town and a ticket office, not much else. Our day trips guide covers the mine's history and how it fits among the other trips from Kraków; this page is about choosing the route and the way you get there.

The Tourist Route

This is the one in the photographs. You go down a wooden staircase in the Daniłowicz shaft, then walk roughly 3 km of corridors and chambers to a depth of about 135 metres, past carved salt figures, timber cribbing that holds up the ceilings, brine lakes lit from below, and finally St Kinga's Chapel, where even the chandeliers are salt. A lift brings you back up at the end, so the 800 or so steps are nearly all on the way down.

Who it suits: first visits, mixed-age families, anyone who came for the chapel. Who it doesn't: people who dislike crowds. Groups are big, English tours leave constantly in summer, and in the narrow passages you will hear the group ahead and the group behind. The guide keeps a steady pace and there is little time to linger.

The Miners' Route

Here the mine stops being a museum. You get grey coveralls, a helmet, a lamp and an emergency breathing set, and the guide plays the part of a shift foreman. Everyone gets a job: one person measures methane, another reads the map, others haul or crush salt, and the group works its way through darker, rougher passages down to around 100 metres. It lasts two to three hours underground, and it is cooler than the Tourist Route, around 14 to 16°C.

Who it suits: teenagers, repeat visitors, and anyone who finds guided commentary in a crowd tiring. Who it doesn't: younger children (the mine sets a minimum age of 10, with under-18s accompanied by an adult) and anyone who wants the famous chapel, which this route does not include. English departures are far fewer than on the Tourist Route, so this one needs more planning.

Our pick

For a first visit, the Tourist Route. It is busy and a little rushed, but St Kinga's Chapel carries the whole trip, and nothing on the Miners' Route replaces it. Choose the Miners' Route if you have seen the chapel before, or if you are travelling with a bored 14-year-old who would rather be handed a map than a history lesson. Doing both in one day is too much time underground for most people.

Both routes are sold on the mine's official website with a timed slot and a tour language. Book there first. In July and August, and on spring weekends, English slots at convenient times go days ahead.

Then decide how to get there. The regional train from Kraków Główny to Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia takes about 20 minutes and leaves you a short walk from the Daniłowicz shaft, the start of the Tourist Route. The Miners' Route starts at a different shaft (Regis), so check your ticket for the meeting point. Doing it yourself this way is simple and gives you control over the time slot.

Organised tours from Kraków add hotel pickup and a minibus, and the entry and guide are the mine's own. They suit people who want no logistics at all. Before booking one, check:

• which route is included (nearly always the Tourist Route)
• whether the ticket is already reserved, or you queue with everyone else
• how long the whole trip lasts door to door
• whether it is bundled with Auschwitz on the same day, which we would avoid

Tours sold as "skip the line" still join a regular guided group underground.

• Bring a layer. It stays around 17 to 18°C down there all year, cool after a July afternoon. Our what to wear guide has the rest.
• Wear shoes that will not slide. The stairs and some floors are damp and smooth.
• Be at the shaft before your slot. Groups are formed at the meeting point and leave on time.
• Resist licking the walls. They are salt, and people do it, but a few hundred years of hands have been there first.
• Allow for the exit. The lift at the end moves groups in turns, and on busy days there can be a wait underground.
• Keep it to half a day. The mine fits neatly into a morning or afternoon, with the Old Town before or after, as in our 3-day itinerary.
• Tell the mine about mobility needs when booking. A shorter part of the Tourist Route can be done using lifts, but it has to be reserved ahead. The Miners' Route is not accessible.