Krakow is Poland’s most visited city, and for good reason. There is a ton of Polish history and culture within the city limits to keep you busy. If you’re only visiting for a couple of days, you might not be looking for day trips. But if you’re visiting for longer, I highly recommend taking a half- or full-day trip to Wieliczka.
The small town of Wieliczka is only about 40 minutes from Krakow by bus if you’re staying near the center (e.g., Old Town, Kazimierz, Podgorze). It contains two sites that are worth visiting.
Most people visit Wieliczka just for the salt mines. If you choose to do this then go home, you’ll only spend a half-day in Wieliczka, which is still worthwhile.
However, I wanted to do a bit more in the city, and I’d been reading about Poland’s natural wines. I found an organic winery with good reviews just three kilometers from the salt mines, Winnica Wieliczka. So, I decided to turn my visit into a longer full-day trip to Wieliczka and see both.
Here is my experience visiting both the salt mines and winery, plus tips for taking a day trip Wieliczka yourself.
Day Trip to Wieliczka Part I: Wieliczka Salt Mines
The first part of my Wieliczka day trip was for the typical reason: Salt mines. The Wieliczka Salt Mines were functional mines from the 13th century until 1996. They stopped functioning as mines when salt became too cheap to make it worth the costs of continuing.
These salt mines have played a significant role in Poland’s history. They’ve also been a famous tourist attraction for about as long as they’ve existed. Luckily, the government wanted to keep them open for tourists even after they ended operations as functioning mines.
Before my day trip to Wieliczka, I was a bit skeptical that the mines would be worth seeing. The entrance fee is a bit steep relative to other things in Krakow. I also thought they might be a bit kitsch-y. Sure, plenty of blogs and vlogs vouched for them, but how much can you really trust things like that? 😉
However, I’m glad to say the mines exceeded my expectations.
Experience of Visiting the Mines
You can only visit the Wieliczka Salt Mines on a guided tour that lasts about two hours. You begin by descending hundreds of steps down into the first level of the mine. Once everyone is inside, the guide explains the history of the mine. You’ll see that the walls surrounding you are salt, with salt crystals forming in the ceiling. The floor below you is also salt.
Our guide said we were welcome to lick the walls, but I didn’t see anyone take her up on that.
As you start walking through the mine, you’ll pass the first of many sculptures made entirely out of salt: Poland’s pride, Copernicus. The guide said he first visited the mine as a tourist himself when he was in still in school.
The guide explained that the many sculptures found throughout the mine were completely created by miners. None were commissioned by artists like one might expect. As you walk through the mine, there are plenty of sculptures of both real and fictional figures. One of my favorites was a scene of the seven dwarves from Snow White.
Some of these salt sculptures serve to tell stories of the mine. For example, one fable of the mine’s discovery and excavation was related to the Hungarian princess dropping her ring. Lights illuminate the different figures while a voice tells the story on an overhead speaker.
Other things I saw during the tour include salt lakes, the tools the horses would use, and a wooden chapel where the miners would pray.
My favorite was the salt chapel.
Yes, a chapel made entirely of salt – from the altars to the wall art, to the salt crystal chandeliers. This chapel is still functioning, holding mass every Sunday and even hosting weddings! The most impressive part of this chapel are the famous scenes from Jesus’ life depicted in salt carvings on the walls, including the Last Supper. They look 3D.
Tips for Visiting the Salt Mines on a Day Trip to Wieliczka
Here are some tips for visiting the salt mines:
- Book Ahead: It’s not required to book tickets for the mine ahead of time. But if you want to be sure your tour will be available in a certain time slot, book online.
- Be Prepared to Walk: During your tour, you walk down a few hundred steps, descending through three levels of the mine. There is also plenty of walking in between the steps – about two miles’ worth. Wear comfortable shoes and bring water.
Note: If you have a disability, you can get reduced price tickets and the avoid stairs.
- Set Aside at Least 2.5 Hours: While the tour itself only takes about two hours, you’ll spend another half hour exiting the mine. After the tour is over, you walk through a cafeteria and gift shop to an elevator waiting line. Here, prepare to spend about 10 minutes waiting and another 15-20 minutes walking to get into the actual elevator that takes you back up to the surface.
- Consider Add-Ons: After the tour ends, you have an option to visit the museum with another tour guide. The museum takes about 45-60 minutes depending on the group size, and there’s no extra fee. I opted to skip the museum because the guide said it was similar to the tour.
There is also an option to visit the Graduation Tower for an additional 7 PLN (~$2 USD). It’s said a visit to the Graduation Tower will help your health and lungs by breathing in the therapeutic salt brine. I can’t speak to whether this add-on is worthwhile.
- Take Public Transit: As I mentioned, it is very easy to take a day trip to Wieliczka from the center of Krakow using public transit. If you’re staying near Old Town or Kazimierz, take bus 304 for about 40 minutes. See my previous post for more information on the pros and cons of staying in each of these popular neighborhoods.
Those are my experiences and tips for visiting the Wieliczka Salt Mines. If you want to take only a half-day trip to Wieliczka, the salt mines are definitely worth seeing just on their own.
However, if you want to take a full day trip to Wieliczka, read on for the second part.
Day Trip to Wieliczka Part II: Winnica Wieliczka
When researching my day trip to Wieliczka, I wanted to see if there was more to do in the town. I’d also been reading about Poland’s natural wine scene and wanted to visit a winery in the country.
Therefore, Winnica Wieliczka was the obvious choice to add on to the salt mines during my day trip to Wieliczka. And honestly, I’m surprised there isn’t more information on pairing these two experiences together.
Winnica Wieliczka is a small, all-organic winery just outside of Krakow. They make dry and semi-dry wines and ciders of all varieties. Their signature and most popular wine is a cuvee. They make typical red, white and rose wines, as well as a unique orange wine.
Experience Visiting Winnica Wieliczka
When I found out about Winnica Wieliczka, I started looking for more information on visiting and found very little online. There were third-party tours starting at 30 euros per person. But I suspected I could visit independently for cheaper. However, I couldn’t find much information on their website related to visiting and whether a reservation was required. Likely due to the language barrier.
I did find contact information for the winery and inquired about whether a reservation was required. A few hours later, I received a response from their COO saying I was welcome to come in any time during their opening hours for a tasting.
I took this response to mean I didn’t need a reservation. Honestly, I was glad not to book a reservation as I was not entirely certain how long the salt mines would take.
After the mines, I had the option to wait either 40 minutes for a bus to the winery, or walk about 50 minutes, so I chose to walk. The walk was mostly uphill, and it was a hot day, but otherwise not too bad.
My partner and I arrived at the winery where the two employees immediately sat us down and brought out a carafe of water with lemon and a platter of meats, cheeses and breads. I started to wonder if they’d mistaken us for someone else when another couple showed up and confirmed it.
Apparently, this is the treatment you get if you do book a reservation.
Once the misunderstanding was figured out, and they confirmed we were still able to do a tasting without a reservation, we went inside the small winery store. We stood at the counter as one of the women poured us the wines in their tasting lineup before taking them outside to the couple with the reservation.
The couple with the reservation definitely got the more typical winery treatment of getting long explanations about the wines and (I assume) what foods are best for pairing. Honestly, coming from right next to Napa Valley, we should have known better than to show up at a winery without a reservation.
Inside, we chatted a bit with the other woman working at the winery. She explained that she was new and was not as informed about the wines there yet as the other woman as she was still learning. She was from Krakow and now lived in a small town near Wieliczka and gave us recommendations of her favorite things to do in the area. All-in-all, it was a very pleasant experience, and I enjoyed the wines we tasted.
The woman we spoke during our tastings said her favorite thing the winery made was actually their elderflower cider. I bought a bottle of the cider for later, thanked them for the tasting and apologized again for the lack of a reservation.
Would I visit again? Definitely, with a reservation.
Tips for Visiting Winnica Wieliczka:
If you’re interested in tasting some of Poland’s natural wines and want to pair a winery visit with a salt mine visit, I do recommend visiting Winnica Wieliczka. Here are some tips:
- Make a reservation with a picnic: If you look on Winnica Wieliczka’s website, you can see options for both regular tastings and tasting with a picnic. If you do a tasting with a picnic, you’ll be seated on their porch with a big spread of meats, cheeses and breads. It looked worthwhile to add that to a tasting to me. I’m not sure how much the picnic + tasting costs, but the tasting itself was only about $10 USD/person for seven wines.
If you don’t speak Polish, the best way to make a reservation seems to be to send an email. If you do speak Polish or have a Polish friend, you can call.
- Only go if you enjoy dry wines: They said they make both dry and semi-dry wines at Winnica Wieliczka, but they all tasted dry to me. That said, I generally tend to prefer wine on the drier side, but if you’re exclusively a sweet wine drinker, you won’t enjoy their wines.
- Public transit to/from the winery is infrequent: There is only about an hourly bus that will take you from the center of Wieliczka to the winery and vice versa. If you’re planning to visit after the salt mines and want to take transit, you’ll have to plan it very well to catch the small local bus. Otherwise, you can walk, bike or take a taxi. There are plenty of taxis waiting outside the salt mines when you exit.
Are you planning a day trip to Wieliczka?
If you’re planning a day trip to Wieliczka and want to find other things to do, the town is small but has plenty of restaurants and shops, plus a cute little town square. You really can’t go wrong!
Any questions about my day trip experiences and tips? Ask in the comments, or send an email.
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