Krakow & Warsaw 2026-27

Schindler’s Factory. Known worldwide thanks to the film “Schindler’s List”, Oskar Schindler’s Factory (Muzeum Schindlera) is part of the country’s history. The factory’s owner used all his connections and skill to save as many lives as possible during the Nazi occupation of Poland.

Who was Oskar Schindler? A member of the Nazi Party, which he joined for the economic advantages it brought, Oskar Schindler was a shrewd businessman, chosen by the SS as a spy and with special ties to senior Nazi figures. During the invasion of Poland, Schindler acquired a cookware factory, known as the Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik, where he decided to produce field utensils. As German labour was too expensive, he chose to select his workers from among the Jews held in the Plaszow concentration camp. As he became aware of the atrocious torture inflicted on the Jews by the Germans, Schindler’s conscience awoke and he negotiated to keep his workers away from Plaszow, giving them refuge in his factory. When the production of pots ceased to be profitable, the factory began to manufacture shells. Schindler ordered his workers to make some of the shells deliberately defective. Schindler managed to protect the workers in his factory, keeping them away from the extermination camps and thus saving more than 1,200 people.

Schindler’s Factory. Today Schindler’s Factory houses a permanent exhibition entitled “Krakow under Nazi Occupation, 1939–1945”. The exhibition traces the history of the city from the end of 1939 to the “freedom” of the communist era. The factory presents reconstructions, images and sounds that convey to visitors the anguish suffered and the hardships endured by the Jews in Poland during the Nazi occupation.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978. In the Middle Ages this place was called Magnum Sal (“The Great Salt”). This mineral hidden underground was once of inestimable value, and it was thanks to the salt trade that numerous Polish merchant and noble families acquired their wealth. From the 13th century onwards the mine was systematically enlarged: new chambers, sculptures, small lakes, chapels. Until the first partition of Poland (1772), the Wieliczka mine, together with the nearby Bochnia mine, formed the largest industrial enterprise in Poland: the “Krakow Saltworks” (Żupy Krakowskie). Worked for 750 years, the Wieliczka deposits are unique. The mine extends over nine levels, the deepest of which lies 327 m below ground. The network of galleries is currently roughly 300 km long. The 3,000 chambers reach depths of up to 327 m. The mine comprises more than 200 km of corridors and 2,040 chambers with a total volume of 7.5 million cubic metres. Underground there are churches and chapels, the most spectacular of which is undoubtedly the one dedicated to St Kinga (Cunegunda) of Poland; the chapel can hold up to 500 people and every element of its interior furnishings is carved from salt. Also of inestimable value is the collection of mining tools, wagons, machinery, implements and animal-powered transmission mechanisms gathered in the Krakow Saltworks Museum. At a depth of 135 m, in the chamber of Lake Wessel, there is also a Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for people with allergies and respiratory diseases. The Wieliczka Salt Mine lies around 12 km from Krakow.