Katowice: Black Trout Shaft & Silver Mine Tour

Within 30 km north of Katowice, there is an attraction worth visiting while being in the Upper Silesia region – the old Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Gory. This town has been one of the most important industrial centres in this part of Europe since the 16th century. Here is the only tourist route in Poland that allows you to visit the underground of the former mine of silver ore, established in Triassic dolomites and limestones. In July 2017 all this underground complex, including the drainage system, water supply infrastructure and numerous cultural landscapes were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. After sightseeing the mine, we will drive to another big tourist attraction in this area – the famous Black Trout Shaft. Here during the tour you will take an unforgettable underground boat cruise along the dolomite rocks of the Frederic mine.

We offer private tours to Black Trout Shaft and Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Gory from Katowice on request

Tour itinerary:

1. pick up from your hotel in Katowice at chosen time
2. approx. 40 min. drive from Katowice to the Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Gory by a comfortable car / van with our English-speaking driver
3. visiting the mine for up to 1,5 hour with local guide in chosen language; sightseeing program will be following:

• at first there will be a short introduction film in the cinema room (10 min.)
• Multimedia Museum (20 min.) – The tour begins in the mine shaft building, where there is a modern education center on silver, lead and zinc mining in Tarnowskie Gory. Here you can discover methods of metal extraction and underground drainage. The biggest attraction is a special installation depicting the operation of the first steam engine in Upper Silesia, which was brought to the city in the end of the 18th century. You will be able to see also old tools, a scrubber, lamps used underground, buckets for transporting the excavated material and even a mining portable toilet.
• Underground tourism route (around 1 hour) – After visiting the Mining Museum, you will put on a helmet, board the mining elevator and descend 40,5 m through the Angel shaft – here begins an extraordinary journey through the underground. During the journey, you will see mining faces carved in the rock, transport pavements and huge chambers created in the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The labyrinth of corridors, the lowest fragment of which is about 1,4 m high, is a remnant of the royal Fryderyk ore mine, which operated until 1913. You will get to know only a small part of the huge complex, which was built from 1784. The trail is 1740 m long and connects three former mining shafts: Angel, Viper and God Bless. One of the highlights of the route is the underground boat flow – they run between two harbors located at the shafts of God Bless and Viper.

4. after visiting the Silver Mine we will drive to the Black Trout Shaft (5 min.)
5. up to 15 min. walk to the starting point
6. visiting the shaft for up to 1 hour with local guide in chosen language:

• the guided tour starts from one of the shafts located in in the charming “Park in Repty and the Drama Valley”. You will get to the underground through the staircase. Depending on the shaft, it is 20 or 30 meters to cover. Short after that you will reach the marina for boats, and after a while they set off on an extraordinary voyage, carved in the dolomite rock, draining the Tarnowskie Gory underground. Our guide, like a Venetian gondolier will take you from one shaft to another, pushing boats and at the same time telling mining stories about the history of underground, unusual steam engines, legendary miners, as well as about the treasurer and black trout. While swimming, we will observe the sides of the rocks with visible vertical grooves, i.e. traces of blast holes.

7. approx. 40 min. drive back from the Black Trout Shaft to Katowice
8. drop off at your hotel in Katowice

Whole tour lasts up to 5 hours

Prices: Contact us for more information.

What is included?:

• hotel pick up and drop off,
• private transportation by a comfortable car/van
• the assistance of our English-speaking driver during whole tour
• entrance tickets to the Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Gory
• entrance tickets to the Black Trout Shaft
• service of local guides in Silver Mine and Black Trout Shaft in chosen languages

*In the underground there is a constant temperature of around 10 C all year round. We recommend wearing warm clothes and comfortable flat-soled shoes.

This private tour is available in following languages:
English, Spanish, German, Russian and Czech

*some languages may be subject to availability