Krakow and Katowice, Poland - discover the hidden gems below the surface with Scotland on Sunday travel

Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow has 2,400 chambers and the spectacular Chapel of St Kinga with chandeliers and a 3D Last Supper carving, as well as a health spa for pulmonary conditions

It’s perhaps a well-rehearsed line, but it’s pretty good nonetheless. Our guide through the fascinating Wieliczka Salt Mine on the outskirts of Krakow lets a couple of our group operate some of the machinery on display. “It’s wonderful to see someone from Great Britain working in Poland,” he says drily.

An entertaining host, he explains that he is the fourth generation of his family to work there, and reassures us that while he hasn’t been through the whole mine, “I do know the way out”.

Just as well – there are almost 2,400 chambers and the Tourist Route that we follow covers only 1 per cent of the entire underground site.

We’re told we can lick the walls – although as we’re advised to find an area unlikely to have been tried out before, I decide to give it a miss.

The mine is on Unesco’s World Cultural and Natural Heritage List and it once welcomed Danny DeVito, who was apparently prompted by a Polish friend. “Now I understand why he insisted so much,” the actor said, and I’m inclined to agree.

The site’s pièce de résistance is the spectacular Chapel of St Kinga, with sparkling chandeliers overlooking a 3D rendition of the Last Supper carved out of the grey, granite-like salt walls.

There’s also the option of taking the Miners’ Route tour dressed in hard hats and boiler suits, which looks like fun, and there’s even a health spa to help pulmonary conditions.

Historic and contemporary attractions make Katowice worth a visit, and the Muzeum Zlskie's artworks are not to be missed

After lunch, we surface from the cool, salty depths and head to central Krakow, checking in at Vienna House Andel’s Cracow, one of the chain’s five hotels in Poland. (There’s also a branch of the company’s more trendy, less formal, Vienna House Easy brand in the city.)

My room is a decent size, decorated in reds, blacks and whites, and overlooking the shopping centre. After a relaxing soak in the large tub with some bath salts, it’s time for dinner at the hotel’s greenery-filled Mavericks Cracow Restaurant. Somewhat surprisingly, it specialises in what is billed as California-style dishes with Asian, Mexican and European influences.

We demolish a lengthy list of tasty dishes to share, with my favourites including the tuna tataki, lightly seared slices of pink-centred fish with ponzu sauce, avocado, coriander and grapefruit. Rounded off by desserts including a chocolate brownie with raspberry jam and vanilla ice-cream, we have a nightcap against the copper, blue and maroon colour scheme of the hotel’s Bar Smok.

The following day we take a guided walking tour of the old town, which is just a short walk from the hotel. Large golf cart-style electric vehicles seem to be an understandably popular way to see the city, zooming quietly through the streets. Our tour includes Wawel Castle, which was the residence of the German governor general Hans Frank during the Nazi occupation. Poles managed to remove the landmark’s most valuable objects, such as tapestries to Canada, and these were later returned.

The tour ends in Kazimierz, a district steeped in Jewish heritage, where synagogues, and murals paying tribute to former residents such as the Rosak family, sit alongside a lively, bohemian collection of kosher restaurants.

We also try our hand at rustling up Poland’s famous dumplings, known as pierogi, at Kogel Mogel Restaurant near the Main Square. This involves cutting out, stretching and filling the dough, then choosing one of several techniques to seal the dumpling tightly shut before cooking, almost as satisfying as eating our own bodyweights in batches of freshly cooked pierogi stuffed with various fillings, from stewed sauerkraut to mushrooms.

We make our way to the city of Katowice, about an hour from Krakow by road and the location of the airport I had flown into on low-cost airline Wizz Air’s direct service from Glasgow. It has a strong industrial heritage dominated by coal and steel, but it’s now bringing its cultural side to the fore.

We check in to Vienna House Easy Katowice, where my room has a bright yellow colour scheme, and I take advantage of the option to borrow a potted plant to further brighten up my accommodation. After breakfast the next day – with the buffet including lard, although there are more palatable dishes from which to choose – I take a wander around the city, which has a quieter, calmer feel than the more tourist-friendly Krakow.

I discover a pleasing combination of historical buildings and modern shopping areas, the latter including doughnut outlet Stara Pączkarnia, and I can’t resist wolfing down one of the glazed treats, served warm.

At the Muzeum Śląskie, I learn about the history of the region of Silesia, which predominantly covers southwest Poland but also stretches into Germany and the Czech Republic. As I boost my energy levels further with a quick coffee in the museum café, I have little idea of the amazing displays ahead. I’ve also (unintentionally) timed my trip for a Tuesday, when entry is free. While I enjoy the art section, it’s the huge space on the level below devoted to the history of Upper Silesia from ancient times to 1989 that has me transfixed.

A mix of reconstructed living rooms, family mementoes and propaganda posters really bring the often turbulent past of the region off the pages of the history books into life in vivid, compelling fashion.

My attitude to museums is usually to see everything at a reasonably quick pace, but I’m at this one for two hours and I only leave because it’s time to catch my flight home.

The museum describes itself as having turned a former coal mine into a cultural mine. Certainly Krakow and Katowice both offer sparkling gems below the surface, just waiting to be uncovered by visitors.