The walk described here covers roughly 3 km and links the town’s sights leg by leg. Budget 2 to 3 hours, longer if you go inside the churches. It is a route for pavements and parks, because the mine can be entered only with a guide. Before you start Choose a start by how you arrive. Bus 304 stops at Wieliczka Rynek, near the Regis Shaft, and at Wieliczka Kopalnia Soli, near the Daniłowicz Shaft.

One way to see Wieliczka is by date. Each landmark below is placed on a timeline, so you can follow the town’s story from a medieval charter to a modern street painting. Where a sight is closed or has rules, that is stated beside it. 13th and 14th centuries Saltworks Castle, ulica Zamkowa 2. Built in the late 13th century, it housed the administration of the Kraków salt enterprise until 1945.

Romance in Wieliczka is understated and best treated as an overnight stop. The town has no waterfront, no cruises and no mountain lookouts. It does have three memorable scenes: a chapel cut from salt, a spa hotel beside the mine and a brine tower in a park. Scene one: the chapel Down at about 101 m, the Chapel of St Kinga measures 54 m by 18 m with a ceiling 12 m high.

The honest summary is that Wieliczka supports one day, not three. Once the mine, the surface landmarks and the Graduation Tower are done, a second day only makes sense if you travel to Bochnia or Niepołomice. Below is a plan for two days, with a choice of where to sleep. Choose a base Sleep in Wieliczka Sleep in Kraków Hotel Hotel Grand Sal, 4 stars, Park Kingi 7 city hotels Setting beside the mine, with spa, sauna, restaurant a large city, 20 to 25 minutes by SKA train Good for an early mine slot without a commute evenings out The mine sells a package of a visit plus a night at the hotel, listed from about 499 to 529 PLN per person, so check the figure when you reserve.

What suits a child in Wieliczka depends mostly on age, so this page is organised by age band. The same rules apply to everyone: the mine is guided, the walking is long, and the steps count more than the distance. Ages 0 to 4 Entry is free for children up to 4, and the Tourist Route has no minimum age. A lift brings everyone back from the deepest level, but the descent is on foot.

Trips out of Wieliczka are easiest to plan by distance. This page lists the options from nearest to farthest, with how to get there and how long to allow. At a glance Place Distance Best way Time to allow Kraków 13 km SKA train half to full day Niepołomice 15 km car or local bus half day Bochnia 25 km train or car half day Ojców National Park 35 km car full day Auschwitz-Birkenau 75 to 80 km car, or train via Kraków full day, on its own Kraków The SKA1 service runs from Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia to Kraków Główny in roughly 20 to 25 minutes, about every half hour.

Guided tours at Wieliczka come as short fact cards. Read the card for the tour you are considering, then the booking notes at the end. Card 1: Tourist Route Meeting point: Daniłowicz Shaft, Park Kingi. Format: a certified guide leads a group of up to 40 for about 3.5 km. Duration: 2 to 3 hours, which includes the Kraków Saltworks Museum’s underground exhibition. Stairs: about 800 steps in all, with roughly 380 of them on the first descent to Level I.

Quick facts before the list. Wieliczka lies at the south-eastern edge of Kraków, with a population of about 27,000. Poland uses the złoty (PLN), and cards work at the mine and in town. A mine ticket buys a place in a guided group, never a solo pass, so plan around set time slots. Eight things worth doing 1. Walk the Tourist Route. This 3.5 km guided circuit begins at the Daniłowicz Shaft.