Guidelines for a Wieliczka Salt Mine Tour

By: rosa901

The Wieliczka Salt Mine is situated in Poland and is named after the town of Wieliczka in the southern part of this country, where this rock salt mine was in operation till 2007.

Now this abandoned salt mine is enlisted as a national Historic Monument and also known as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978, due to the creations of many beautiful architecture and sculptures carved out of the rock salt columns.

So this place is now considered as a popular tourist spot, which is entirely built under the earth’s surface.

Special features of Wieliczka Salt Mine

• This entire salt mine is created in nine levels, with the first level is located at a depth of only 64 meters below the earth surface; while the ninth one is at a depth of 327 meters. 

• It is a huge underground labyrinth that consists of 2400 chambers, all of which are connected to one another with network of sideways of a total length of 245 Km.

• There are plenty of galleries made in these underground chambers of Wieliczka Salt Mine, where the tourists can see marvelous statues carved out of the rock salts. All these sculptures were created by the talented miners and also some professional artists.

• The tourists can also see the four chapels created amidst this rock salt mine and feel amazed at the beautiful architecture of these gray stone structures, which mightily look like the natural granites. Large chandeliers were made out of rock salt and processed further to give a transparent appearance like the glass chandeliers. Hence, this place is also fondly called ‘Underground Salt Cathedral of Poland’.

•  The tourists are provided pick-up and drop-off facility from their hotels to the site of this Wieliczka Salt Mine as a part of their tour package, so that they do not need to worry about the transport for this sightseeing.

• It is believed that the air passing through the rock salt is healthy for the people visiting this underground mine and spending some time there. The microclimate of this mine with a constant temperature of only 14 degrees is found to have positive impacts on the health conditions of the patients suffering from asthma and different allergy symptoms. There is also a private rehabilitation and wellness centre that helps in the improvement of the health of the tourists.

• This is known as one of the oldest salt mines that have been included in the list of UNESCO Heritage Sites. It was treated as a fascinating tourist spot since the early 19th century, as an amazing Polish monument. The tourists can see the history of this salt mine and the legends related to it, which are depicted in the form of sculptures created on the walls of the underground chambers.

• The tourists need to enter Wieliczka Salt Mine through a flight of 800 steps on the stairs that lead down to the galleries and chambers at a height of 64 meters below the earth. There are some underground lakes, several shrines and monuments till they reach 135 meters below the ground. Then they are brought back by a lift to the earth’s surface, after finishing the entire tour.

Hence, it is best to book the Wieliczka Salt Mine tour with any reputed travel agency and they can get a full refund of their booking amount, if they cancel their trip at least one hour before starting the tour program.

The cost of a local guide and entrance fee to this salt mine are also included within the tour charges.

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