A trip to the Guido mine and the Queen Louise Adit in Poland

The Guido mine (Kopalnia Guido) in Zabrze, Poland, is well worth the trip, and it’s close to Slovakia: about two hours’ drive from Žilina. I’d combine it with a visit to the deepest restaurant in Europe and a boat ride through the Queen Louise Adit (Sztolnia Królowa Luiza). The adit shows how coal was mined by hand two hundred years ago.

Quick factsby Milan Bez Mapy

How far

About two hours’ drive from Žilina in Slovakia; I came over from Katowice during my trip to Warsaw

Guido mine

A lift takes you 320 metres underground; the tour is hands-on and the machines still work

Underground pub

If all you want is a beer 320 metres down, a token ticket for the restaurant alone will do

Queen Louise Adit

The highlight for me was the boat ride 40 metres underground; the route covers about 2.5 km of tunnels

Where I stayed

Hostel Guido, 150 metres from the mine; next time I’d stay in Katowice, as Zabrze is quiet in the evenings

I’d been planning a trip to the Guido mine for ages, but, as tends to happen, the ‘right time’ never came. It’s always the places closest to home that we put off the longest.

Then, during my trip to Warsaw, I decided to pop over to Katowice. From there it’s only a short hop to the Guido mine. Mind you, you can do this trip from almost anywhere in Slovakia: from Žilina, for example, it’s only two hours by car.

Tip from Milan I’d recommend booking your accommodation as early as you can, because rooms in a good location at a fair price go first. Here you’ll find accommodation offers in the area valid today.

What to see in Zabrze, Poland: a short history of coal mining

Zabrze in Poland has a long mining history. Coal mining here began as early as the late 18th century, and the town gradually became one of the region’s main mining centres. Miners worked in tough conditions, often hundreds of metres underground, relying on horses, steam engines and their own skill.

Mining shaped not only the town’s economy but also its culture. You can still feel the mining tradition here. The town’s history lives on in old mines, machinery and adits, which now make fascinating places to visit. I went to the two main ones, the Guido mine and the Queen Louise Adit.

What’s the difference between a mine and an adit?

A mine is the whole underground complex where all the mining happens: cutting the coal, the machinery, the lifts and moving material around. An adit, by contrast, is a horizontal or gently sloping tunnel. It links parts of the mine or handles drainage, ventilation or coal haulage. Put simply, the mine is the whole site where coal is extracted, and an adit is one specific tunnel between the workings.

Where to stay in Zabrze and the surrounding area

Finding somewhere to stay in Zabrze is no problem, but bear in mind that it’s a small town near Katowice. I stayed at Hostel Guido, in a private room with its own bathroom. The big plus is that it’s right by the Guido mine, about 150 metres away; you can’t stay any closer. If I went again, though, I’d rather stay in Katowice and do Zabrze as a day trip. Zabrze is peaceful and cosy, but after dark there isn’t much going on compared with a bigger city.

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Visiting the Guido mine in Zabrze, Poland

The Guido mine in Zabrze is one of the most interesting industrial heritage sites in Poland, one of the rare places where you can experience mining history first-hand. Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck founded it in 1855, and it bears his name. The descent alone, 320 metres down in the miners’ lift, is quite something. It takes you back to the days when Upper Silesia was one of Europe’s industrial heartlands.

Another curiosity is the ladder the technicians used, so they could get down into the mine without the lift. As I mentioned, Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, who opened the mine in 1855, came from Germany. Under communism, a test mine called M300 was set up here. The name stood for mechanisation at a depth of 300 metres. It was chosen so it had nothing to do with the German founder, because, well, communists.

The tour shows a modern mine, with the machinery and infrastructure used for mining. In the Queen Louise Adit you’ll also learn more about the pit ponies that worked underground and about old miners’ lamps. I like that the tour is hands-on: I could see the machines still working and try things like starting the conveyor belt.

In the second half of the 20th century, Guido served as an experimental mine, a testing ground for new mining technology. Under communism, the mine also relied on the forced labour of so-called soldier-miners. These were young men the regime found troublesome, sent to do hard, dangerous work underground instead of ordinary military service. To check for carbon monoxide, miners relied on the classic ‘living detectors’: canaries. Another curiosity: the miners wore white shirts because they were the cheapest. Coloured fabric was beyond their means back then. Today modern equipment pumps oxygen down into the mine.

Combine the Guido mine with a visit to Europe’s deepest restaurant

The highlight of a visit these days is the underground bar, 320 metres below the surface and one of the deepest pubs in Europe. You can have local craft beer and food down here, which isn’t something you get to do every day.

• Tip from Milan Don’t want the full tour of the Guido mine, just a beer that far underground? You can pay a token admission fee and go to the restaurant only.

Queen Louise Adit in Zabrze: the underground boat ride

Besides the Guido mine, my trip to Zabrze also took in the Queen Louise Adit. It’s named after Queen Louise of Prussia, who died young, aged only 34, of pneumonia. Zabrze once had as many as eight working mines; today only one, a private one, is still running.

The name alone sounds grand, and there’s real history behind it. I learnt that the mine dates from 1791 and was one of the first state-owned coal mines in Upper Silesia. Its underground boat ride is now the longest in Europe. The adit took the name of the Prussian queen because the local miners admired her courage and strength of character.

This adit is one of the oldest in Upper Silesia. It had one of the first machine systems for carrying miners and material. From the start, though, the adit had a problem with groundwater, which kept building up. The highlight for me was the underground boat ride. The thought of gliding along several metres underground, through channels once used to drain the mine, was something special. Damp walls all around, silence broken only by dripping water: I felt as if I’d landed in a completely different world. And I had: the world of the miners, 40 metres underground.

I also picked up a few titbits. For example, one of the first underground water engineering systems was built here in the 19th century. At the time it was among the most advanced in Europe. Another is that the channels were built so well that we can still use them today, though for something quite different. Now they carry tourists.

The Queen Louise Adit has a different feel from the Guido mine: it’s more of an adventure. Guido feels industrial, while here I felt like an explorer poking around mysterious tunnels. If you’re in Zabrze, it’s well worth doing both, because only together do they give you the complete picture of the region’s mining past.

In the 19th century the adit had about 14 km of tunnels. Since its restoration, visitors can walk about 2.5 km of the original 14. Guido shows how mining worked later on, with machines. Queen Louise documents the work of two hundred years ago, when coal was dug by hand, without dynamite. Even children worked down the mine. You’ll enjoy a trip to the Guido mine.

Happy travels!