"Wieliczka Salt Mine" Wieliczka by balfor

Wieliczka Travel Guide: 118 reviews and 490 photos

Euromeet 2010 tour destination

The Wieliczka salt mine was originally placed into production in the 13th century and continued in commercial production until the 1990's. Salt is still mined there for tourists souvenirs but not for the commercial production of salt. Most of the mine open to the public starts about 180 feet (60 meters) underground

Descent into the underbelly of the world...

Long and winding stairs...

Most of the mine open to the public starts about 180 feet (60 meters) underground and continues to approximately 400 feet (135 meters) underground. The photo was approximately halfway down the stairs and looking toward the bottom.

The educational bits

VT'ers earning their keep

There are dioramas set up for how the ancients used to mine salt through relatively modern times with horses, ropes, pulleys and turnstiles. We even had a few VT'ers try their hand at raising and lowering a bucket from the level below.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Very interesting
Cons:Too many chambers left unexplored
In a nutshell:Very cool place, and not as chilly as expected for underground!

Last visit to Wieliczka: May 2010
Intro Written Aug 29, 2010
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Travelogues (1)

Written Aug 29, 2010

8 photos

The fresh air portion...

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matcrazy1 Dec 26, 2010 at 4:05 PM

Great travelogue and memories. I was at first shocked when I got to know about human methane detectors in the mine.