​Wieliczka Salt Mine

THINGS TO DO, POLAND Updated : Nov 29, 2016, 11.27 AM IST

Ajita Chowhan

Over the past decade Ajita has extensively explored more than 30 countries in Latin America, South East Asia, North America, Western Europe, Scandinavia and Africa. She is an ardent believer of the slow, long-term travel enabling most authentic understanding of culture, landscape, people and society. She continues to do so by currently living and working in the Northern Congo Basin in Sub-Saharan Africa. She curates her elsewhereness as A Small Town Girl at http://www.asmalltowngirl.in.

Credit: ThinkStock Photos
The Wieliczka Salt mines are going to impress you whether you are traveling alone, with friends, or with family and kids. The strictly guided tour is spread out over nine levels, roughly 327 m below the ground. The ground beneath and the walls are all salt! You can lick any place to verify this (but for hygienic purposes I would strongly advice against it). A UNESCO heritage site, the salt mines measure to 2,400 chambers running to approximately 245 km. Tours are conducted in seven languages. The fascinating tour begins with taking you 800 steps down (don’t worry, you don’t have to climb them back, there are elevators to ferry tourists back). There are even sculptures and staircases made entirely out of salt. There are two routes that you could take – the Miner’s route that is much in-depth and detail, and the Tourists' route that is 3 hours long. You could give the souvenirs a miss – no points for guessing, salts! There is a restaurant attached once you finish the tour. You could also choose to stay at the hotel that is in the premises, although the salt mines are well connected by buses with the main cities.
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