Wieliczka Salt Mine

The Wieliczka Salt Mine, located in the town of Wieliczka, is within Poland's Kraków metropolitan area. It had been until 2007 in continuous operation, producing table salt, since the 13th century. Active mining was discontinued in 1996 due to low salt prices and mine flooding. The mine remains a major tourist attraction which attracts around 1.2 million people to the mine each year. You can see why, the place looks like a Quake level or a Bond villan's secret lair and almost every chamber is a fantastic photo opportunity.

Here are some VR images from the mine's official site Virtual tour.





The Wieliczka salt mine features a 3.5-km. tour for visitors (less than 1% of the length of the mine's passages) that includes statues of historic and mythic figures. The older works were sculpted by miners out of rock salt; more recent figures have been fashioned by contemporary artists. Even the crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt that has been dissolved and reconstituted to achieve a clear, glass-like appearance. The rock salt is naturally grey, in various shades like granite, so that the carvings resemble carved unpolished granite rather than having the white or crystalline appearance that many visitors expect.

From above is looks quite unassuming.

But as you can see from the map below there are many rooms and even a resturant to visit.
This is the first place we have featured that has World Heritage listing which it gained in 1978. You can browse a full world map of all WHC listed places here.

As a rough price guide it's around $30 USD per person for entry.

Also if you're suffering from respiratory tract conditions you can visit the Rehabilitation centre. We just hope your health insurance covers this place :)