Chelm Chalk Tunnels

Chelm stands on a chalk hill and from the Middle Ages its inhabitants dug the chalk out from under their own houses, cutting galleries on several levels to extract material for building and for lime - by the eighteenth century the workings ran under most of the old town, and in the 1960s subsidence forced a survey and stabilisation. About two kilometres of the system survive, of which some hundreds of metres are open as a guided route, walked with oil lamps through white passages cut by hand, with pick marks in the walls and chambers where the miners worked. It is the only chalk mine of this kind open to visitors in Europe. The tour includes a meeting with Duch Bieluch, the mine's traditional spirit, played for the visitors, which is either charming or not depending on temperament. It is around nine degrees down there all year.

What you actually see

• Hand-cut chalk galleries - white passages with pick marks, on several levels.
• Oil-lamp walking - the route lit as the workings would have been.
• The only one in Europe - a chalk mine of this kind open to visitors.
• Duch Bieluch - the mine spirit, met in character on the tour.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Guided tours only, on set departures, and it books up at weekends. Around nine degrees underground - take a layer. Passages are narrow and low in places. Tours are in Polish unless arranged otherwise.

Nearby

The Chelm basilica on the hill is above; Lublin is west.