UPDATE: A counterpoint – someone who had a great time at the salt mine with kids – / . Maybe we just got unlucky and got dissuaded by the huge summer crowds and crazy heat.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine , just outside Krakow, was a waste of a couple of hours, because there are no tour options for young children.  Our research online had led us to believe that there was a “short tour” option available for younger ones, but it turned out not to be the case – and we only found this out after about an hour of sitting out in the baking sun waiting to buy tickets.  The line-up wrapped around several buildings, with no shade at all, or indication that you were in the right line-up (there’s different line-ups for different languages).  For this reason, we would not advise the salt mine on a hot day – it might seem like a good idea since the mines themselves are very cold, but lining up on baking pavement with no shade for an hour or more is no fun.

It turns out the tours all involve a substantial amount of climbing, and are all a minimum of 4 hours long.  For our then 3 and 5 year old, that was more then we knew they could manage, so we gave up and left.  The only good side: There is a (once again, completely unshaded) fairly good playground on the way out by the parking lot.