Wieliczka Salt Mine Health Resort: treatment underground

The Wieliczka Salt Mine Health Resort (Uzdrowisko Kopalnia Soli „Wieliczka”) is an unusual treatment centre: its wards and halls lie 135 m underground, on the third level of the famous salt mine in Wieliczka, some fifteen kilometres from Kraków. Here the airways are treated with the underground microclimate – a method called subterraneotherapy. The resort stresses that the method was born right here, and the mine's healing tradition goes back to the 19th century: the local doctor Feliks Boczkowski already used brine baths then, and systematic research into underground treatment developed in the 1950s. The centre belongs to the state company Kopalnia Soli „Wieliczka” S.A.

Microclimate and natural resources

The air in the treatment chambers is bacteriologically very clean, with a constant temperature of 13–14.5 °C and a relative humidity of about 60–75%; it is rich in sodium chloride (about 24 mg per cubic metre) as well as magnesium, manganese and calcium. The second natural resource is Wieliczka brine, certified as medicinal: its total mineralisation is 68.9 g per litre, dominated by chloride and sodium, with calcium, magnesium and potassium. The brine is used for inhalations underground and on the surface, and in the graduation tower.

Underground chambers

• Wessel Chamber (Komora Wessel) – the heart of the complex, with a lake of natural brine; around it are areas for group and individual exercise, rest and inhalation, plus a doctor and nurse station.
• Eastern Mountains Stable (Stajnia Gór Wschodnich) – with an underground brine cascade and places to rest; its second part has 28 places for sleeping underground.
• Smok Chamber – a kinesitherapy hall and a modern inhalatorium for individual brine and drug inhalations.
• Boczkowski Chamber – the only leaching chamber open in the mine, with picturesque salt "combs"; used for rest and health-education classes.

What is treated

The resort works above all for people with diseases of the upper and lower airways: bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic and recurrent diseases of the nose, sinuses, throat and larynx, chronic bronchitis and allergic conditions. The pulmonary rehabilitation programme includes several hours underground under medical supervision, breathing exercises (breath control, diaphragmatic breathing, respiratory muscle training), relaxation exercises and aerobics, inhalations by the underground brine outlets, and education about the disease. Both children and adults can be treated. On the surface there are consultations with a rehabilitation specialist, a pulmonologist and an ENT doctor, diagnostics, AMSA, ultrasonic and pneumatic inhalations, and physiotherapy – kinesitherapy, physical therapy and massage for respiratory and musculoskeletal conditions. There is a list of contraindications to treatment in the salt-chamber microclimate, so the programme is chosen by a doctor.

Programmes for visitors

Day for Health (Dzień dla zdrowia) – five hours in the healing microclimate, Monday to Friday: descent by lift down the Regis shaft, care by a doctor, nurse and physiotherapist, breathing and general exercises, exercise equipment. It costs 228 zł per day (meals not included); no tests are needed for one to three days, while for longer stays blood and urine tests, an X-ray and an ECG are recommended. Healthy Sleep (Zdrowy sen) – a night underground: meeting at 19:00, back on the surface at about 7:30 the next day; for adults and children from 4 accompanied by an adult. It is about 700 m on foot from the Regis shaft to the treatment chambers, so bring warm sportswear, spare shoes and your own food; smoking and alcohol are banned underground.

The brine graduation tower in St Kinga Park, by the Daniłowicz shaft, is the largest of its kind in southern Poland: 7,500 m² and a 22 m viewing tower. At least 30 minutes of active walking is recommended; no booking is needed, entry is 10 zł and free for children under 4. Opening hours vary with the season.

Practical information

The resort clinic and physiotherapy are in the Salt Mill building (Młyn Solny, Park Kingi 1, entrance from Matejki Street); the sales office is at the Regis shaft, pl. Kościuszki 9. There are bus stops by the Daniłowicz shaft with connections to Kraków. Paid physiotherapy treatments are available Monday to Friday 8:00–19:00 by appointment. A treatment day can be combined with the mine's tourist route, but these are separate tickets.

Nearby: trails, peaks, sights

From the historic saltworks in Wieliczka the long Wieliczka Warzelnia – Lubień trail heads south towards the Beskids. Kraków's other spa with medicinal water is the sulphurous Swoszowice.

Official website: kopalnia.pl

Photos: Marek Mróz, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Happa, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Szydzio, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; ErwinMeier, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.