Krakow Wieliczka Salt Mine tour ?

You can go on your own. We booked the tour through their website and took a cab there from our hotel.

Okay, thanks Barbara. I’m curious if that is what most people do.

When we stayed in Krakow we asked our hotel to arrange a tour. I had seen many advertisements while walking around and was confused and asked our hotel. We had an excellent experience with the Auschwitz tour group our hotel suggested and we did the the salt mine a day or two later. In both cases the tour included door to door transportation. We stayed at the Hotel Wielopole and everything was very good. I don’t know the name of the tour company but relied on the staff for their recommendation. We take very few tours but these were excellent. Safe travels.

I also booked the salt mine tour through my hotel. When I read the description, it was nearly identical to a tour offered through GetYourGuide. And in any case, on arrival at the mine, we were turned over to an onsite guide. So our "tour operator" was really just providing the logistics (hotel pickup and dropoff, transportation to the mine and entry tickets) which ran smoothly.

My experience was similar to that of CWsocial. I booked the salt mine tour through my B & B, and walked a few blocks to be picked up by a van in front of a hotel, with other guests from that hotel. Then we went to a parking lot, near the Krakow Castle I believe, where passengers from various vans were re-sorted into buses for different tours, Salt Mine, Auschwitz, and other day tours. It all ran very smoothly. Then we traveled to the Salt Mine, and met a local guide who led us down and around with extensive commentary, then back to the surface, and to our bus. I must say this was one of the most unique and memorable day tours I have ever taken, anywhere. Beautiful churches and mosques, wonderful museums and scenic viewpoints can often blend together over the years, but this salt mine was unique and incredible, my memory of it will never blend in with anything else. (Note: I remember we walked down flight after flight after flight of tight spiral staircases, then toured around the features of one level, then walked down more and more spiral staircases, to reach and tour the bottom level. At the bottom, the guide commented: “you’re probably wondering how many steps you’ve walked down, altogether!” After some guesses from the group, as I remember the correct answer was something like 808 steps, but you can verify when you visit.) Thank heavens there was a small elevator for the return to the surface, although it took some time with 3 or 4 people per trip!

Thanks everyone!

Larry - Thank you for your enthusiastic review. I’d heard good things about the salt mine and was disappointed that no one had mentioned how much they had enjoyed it. We will be on a RS Eastern Europe tour next month and are looking forward to this side trip.

I did it but it was ten years ago. I just took the public bus up to the mines. I'm savvy with public transportation, so it wasn't difficult for me.

As I remember, the salt mine tour involved an enormous amount of walking between points of interest. It was nice, but it seemed like a lot of time investment for what it was, and a ton of walking - after exploring Auschwitz and the mines, my feet were completely wiped out after the mine tour. In retrospect, the salt mine tour probably wasn't worth the time invested, at least not to me. Had I had a week in Krakow instead of only four days, it might have been a different story.

We booked a private driver from Rick's book who drove us to the mine, with tickets I booked myself, waited for us while we did our mine tour, and then drove us and dropped us off at the Schindler Museum.