Wieliczka

Getting to the salt mine from Kraków and how long the tour takes

Book the Tourist Route online for a morning slot, then take the Koleje Małopolskie train from Kraków Główny to Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia, about 24 minutes, and follow the signs to the Daniłowicz Shaft. The tour lasts two to three hours over roughly 3.5 km underground, and afterwards the Saltworks Castle by the market square adds a museum.

You descend several hundred steps, pass carved chambers and underground lakes, then reach St Kinga's Chapel, the part everyone remembers. Bring a light jacket for the 17 to 18°C air and keep your bag small. A lift returns you to the surface.

Afterwards, walk to the Saltworks Castle near the market square if you still have energy. The Kraków Saltworks Museum inside explains how the salt was cut, hauled and sold, and why the trade paid for so much of medieval Kraków; an hour is plenty. Then catch the train back to Kraków for a late lunch, or stay on in town for a coffee on the Rynek before the afternoon crowds arrive.

Tourist Route or Miners' Route at Wieliczka

Choose the Tourist Route for a first visit: an easy walk of about 3.5 km past the grand chambers, salt-carved statues and St Kinga's Chapel, carved entirely from salt. The Miners' Route starts at the Regis Shaft, shares no passages with it and puts you to work with miners' tasks, which suits active visitors.

There are toilets and a restaurant underground, a version for visitors with reduced mobility, and a lift back up at the end. The only hard part is the start: several hundred wooden steps going down.

Instead you get a hard hat, narrower galleries and small hands-on tasks drawn from a miner's working day. It lasts two to three hours and suits older children and adults who want something less polished. Wear waterproof footwear.

Choose by temperament. If you want the famous images, do the Tourist Route. If you have already seen it, or travel with teenagers who would roll their eyes at another chapel, the Miners' Route is the more memorable morning. Both are guided only, and both sell out on summer weekends.

Lunch underground or back in Kraków after Wieliczka

A Wieliczka visit runs through lunchtime, so plan food. The Tourist Route passes a restaurant deep in the mine, where a bowl of soup in a salt chamber is part of the experience, but most visitors save their appetite for Kraków, 24 minutes away by train. Only small bags are allowed underground.

Above ground, there are cafés and restaurants around the mine entrance and on the streets near the market square, fine for a coffee and a plate of pierogi before the train.

On the walk from Kraków Główny you will pass carts selling obwarzanki, the city's ring-shaped bread twisted and baked with poppy seeds, sesame or salt, which make a good snack to carry into the mine queue. Back in town, the old Jewish quarter of Kazimierz is the place for lunch, and the round market hall on Plac Nowy is where Kraków goes for zapiekanka, a halved baguette baked with mushrooms and cheese.

One practical point: only small bags are allowed underground and lockers are limited, so bring snacks in a pocket.