Wieliczka Salt Mine

Visiting the more-than-700-year-old mines of Wieliczka is a good way to spend half a day, combining the aesthetic pleasure of contemplating these marvelous underground salt chambers with a lesson in history and geology. As an added bonus, you can gulp as many breaths of the healthy balsamic air—famous for its medicinal properties—as your lungs can take. Noteworthy fans of the Wieliczka Salt Mine included Polish kings, Nicolaus Copernicus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Tsar Alexander I, and Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef. If all these arguments were not enough, this first-rate tourist attraction is a Heritage Site recognized by UNESCO. And yes, you are allowed to lick the walls.