Salt Cave

Rejuvenating experience

SALT CAVE

Rejuvenating experience

SALT CAVE

Rejuvenating experience

SALT CAVE

Rejuvenating experience

SALT CAVE

Rejuvenating experience

SALT CAVE

Rejuvenating experience

SALT CAVE

SALT CAVE

Williamsburg Salt Spa has imported over 15 tons of therapeutic salt from Poland and the Himalayas in order to create a unique microclimate rich in minerals, such as: sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, bromine, and iodine. During your 45-minute therapeutic session, you will improve your health by relaxing in comfortable recliners, listening to the soothing sounds of music, and breathing air that is saturated with these beneficial minerals. The air temperature inside the Salt Cave is 75 F and the humidity is between 40-50%.

To schedule an appointment please call at:
757.229.1022

Rejuvenating, centering, and serene experience. Thank you for the amazing session and lovely conversation!

Birthday celebration adventure for my sister, neice and me. A wonderful experience and already planning my return.

Was in there with my grandchildren who both have asthma and noticed immediately that the quality of their breathing was so much better and I’m sure they will sleep better tonight after all the fun they had in there!

The spa is incredibly relaxing, clean, lovely and I truly do breathe easier for days and days after a visit.

This place was so wonderful and would recommend this to anyone. The staff was so knowledgeable and courteous. I would go to this place again


PREPARE FOR YOUR VISIT

COVID 19 updates

  1. Reservations are required.
  2. Our public salt cave sessions are limited to 8 guests (12 years old and up).
  3. You will be booked for our public salt therapy session unless you request a private session.
  4. Every salt cave session lasts 45 minutes.
  5. Please arrive 5 min before the appointed session. If you arrive late, your session will end at the originally scheduled time, so the clients following you are not penalized. If you arrive late and the session has begun, you can not take part in the session.
  6. Electronic devices or any personal belongings are not allowed in the salt cave (with the exception of medications, if needed).
    Williamsburg Salt Spa is not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged items. The small lockers are provided, please leave larger bags/purses in your car.
  7. Food or drinks are not allowed in the salt cave. If necessary, you can bring a bottle of water. We provide drinking water in the waiting room.
  8. Do not touch walls or any equipment inside the salt room.
  9.  Please be quiet during your session. 
  10. The air temperature inside the salt cave is 75F, we provide the blankets as needed.
  11. Tissues and earplugs are available inside the salt cave.
  12. The spa employee will inform you when the session is over.

DISCLAIMER

The information, advice and services made available at Williamsburg Salt Spa and WilliamsburgSaltSpa.com website are not intended to replace the services of a physician, nor does it constitute a doctor-patient relationship. Services at Williamsburg Salt Spa and information on its website are provided for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use this information for diagnosing or treating a medical or health condition. You should consult a physician in all matters relating to your health, and particularly in respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention. Any action on your part in response to the information provided at Williamsburg Salt Spa and on its website is at the reader’s discretion. Readers should consult their own physicians prior to beginning any sessions especially if they are pregnant or have any other type of health condition including but not limited to cancer, hyperthyroidism, tuberculosis and claustrophobia. Staying in the salt cave is an effective method of treatment for chronic respiratory diseases, working well with or without medical treatment and without any known side effects. You may experience a dry throat and increased coughing at the beginning. This is an absolutely natural part of the cleaning process of the respiratory system, during which the pollution, accumulated over time and released by salt, is expelled from even the deepest regions of the lungs. Williamsburg Salt Spa, LLC makes no representations or warranties with respect to any information offered through its office or provided on its website WilliamsburgSaltSpa.com regarding any treatment or action. Williamsburg Salt Spa is not liable for any direct or indirect claim, loss or damage resulting from use of its facilities or its website and/or any website(s) linked to/from it.

BENEFITS

Salt Therapy sessions are extremely effective in promoting health in many cases, such as:

  • Allergies
  • Asthma
  • Chronic or temporary respiratory tract inflammations
  • Emphysema
  • Sinusitis
  • Bronchitis
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • COPD
  • Cardiovascular illnesses
  • Depressions
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Weakened immune system

Information

History

In 1843 doctor Felix Boczkowski formulated that the presence of the air in the salt mines in Wieliczka in Poland saturated with dry salt particles caused healing effects on people with pulmonary and respiratory problems.

Today the Wieliczka Salt Mine is operating as the largest Underground Rehabilitation and Treatment Center. They are the world leader in providing innovative rehabilitation and treatment of respiratory diseases by combining both the natural microclimate of the underground salt excavations and the best practices of contemporary medicine.

Salt contains elements essential to life: iodine, calcium. magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron , selenium, and copper. These are just some of the micro-elements whose lack or shortage in the human body lead to serious problems with physical and mental health. For example, the selenium contained in salt has a huge impact on halting skin aging processes. This is why treatments involving selenium saturated salt solutions are included in the offering of Polish health resorts and health and beauty centers. Many guidebooks on Poland feature detailed descriptions of the tourist and therapeutic value of the natural salt caves in Wieliczka and Bochnia. They offer comprehensive treatment of asthma, allergies, respiratory diseases, skin diseases/blemishes, and obesity. The part of this health spa (located 135 meters under the surface), in a chamber called Lake Wessel, offers unique therapeutic benefits, as well as, having a great aesthetic. Seven hour stays in absolutely pure air saturated with therapeutic sodium choride, ions of magnesium and calcium, in the expert care of doctors and physiotherapists, are not cheap. This treatment for the body and soul cannot be compared with anything available at the conventional sanatorium.

The salt mine in Wieliczka is unique on a global scale, but the therapeutic properties of salt are successfully used by other centers, in artificial caves built exclusively from timber without any metal parts, filled with salt. The special atmosphere of these artificial caves is due to the great care taken in recreating the landscape forms of natural caves, appropriate lighting that brings out the structures of lumps of salt crystals, soft music, and a pleasantly higher temperature and humidity compare to natural caves. Saturation with bio-elements precious to human health is many times higher than caves’ climate is conducive to absolute relaxation, as obviously, they are free of the unpleasant wind and noise of a raging storm.

The list of therapeutic effects of staying in artificial salt caves includes positive results in treatment of neuroses and neurotic states, rehabilitation after injuries sustained in sports or accidents, and in alleviating the effects of physical and emotional exhaution resulting from working in jobs that involve, for example, a high level of responsibility for the lives of other people or financial accountability.

Sources: www.poland.travel.en/us and kopalnia.pl

The Wieliczka Salt Mine Underground Rehabilitation And Treatment Centre

“Salt makes us strong, it is a balsam for all things”

-Schroetter (Polish-Latin poet)

“We want all our actions, dictated by the patient’s health needs, to be supported by the knowledge and skills of the highest level, and the provision of our health services to be based on professionalism and quality.”

These are the words of the mission statement which the Wieliczka Health Resort puts into practice. They set the direction of the development of the whole institution, but are also an expression of the ideals and the passion which all its employees carry in their hearts. In order to understand the meaning of these words in-depth, we should go back many centuries to the beginning of treatment in the underground of the salt mine.

The treatment properties of salt have been known since antiquity. It is no wonder; after all, salt is one of the elements which every living organism needs to live. The use of the Wieliczka salt in medicine was commented upon by humanists visiting the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine, who recommended the use of salt-based medications for a variety of ailments. However, the real development of the town of Wieliczka as a health resort started in the nineteenth century thanks to the-then saltworks physician Dr. Felix Boczkowski. Taking advantage of the medical advances and the fashion for health resorts which prevailed at that time in Europe, he opened in the 1839 the first bath facilities in Wieliczka, offering brine baths, baths in salt mud and sulphuric waters brought over from the Swoszowice spa, as well as steam inhalations. Boczkowski was a good manager and thought not only about the patients’ treatment, but also made sure that their stay in Wieliczka was pleasant and interesting, ordering the town and establishing a park where patients, in accordance with the tradition of world-famous resorts, could relax to the music of an orchestra. In Wieliczka, naturally, it was the miners’ orchestra. This splendid development of the Health Resort was interrupted by the turmoil of history, which did not spare Wieliczka, putting an end to Boczkowki’s lofty plans.

His ideas were revived… only a century later, by Professor Mieczyslaw Skulimowski, who became in 1958 the official physician of the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine and started regular treatment in the salt chambers, thereby initiating a new field of medicine – subterraneotherapy. It consists in exposing the patients to predetermined elements of the microclimate of salt excavations. After a period devoted to experimentation and the development of a unique therapeutic method, Poland’s and the world’s first underground health resort of its kind was created at the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine in 1964, which was then transformed into the “Kinga” Health Resort Hospital. The hospital enjoyed a growing fame, and gradually Skulimowski’s creation started attracting patients not only from Poland, but also from around the world.

The traditions of treatment in Wieliczka were continued by the Underground Rehabilitation – Treatment Centre, created in 2003, and operated as a branch of the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine. Thanks to the passion and commitment of those creating the centre, a unique program of pulmonary rehabilitation using subterraneotherapy methods was created, included by Poland’s Ministry of Health in the “guaranteed services” package. In 2011, by the decision of the Minister of Health, the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine achieved the status of an underground health resort. A year later, it was renamed the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine Health Resort.

The next pages of Health Resort history are still to be written. New development directions are determined on a grand scale and basing on the best practices of modern medicine. But it is the patients’ needs which always determine the final direction of development!

The Health Resort

The “Wieliczka” Salt Mine offers treatment services in the underground mining chambers with the use of a unique micro-climate: an air free of pollution and allergens, rich in micronutrients, with a constant temperature, high humidity, and free from harmful radiation.

This innovative treatment method – subterranotherapy – was created right here and active rehabilitation of the respiratory system is still conducted at the mine, using the medicinal properties of the underground environment.

The activities of the Health Resort base on the best practices of modern medicine and are conducted in co-operation with the most eminent scientists. They are beneficial to patients suffering from asthma, COPD, recurrent infections of the upper and lower respiratory tract and allergies. Increasingly, also people who do not suffer health problems choose to rest in the depths of the earth to improve their fitness, attain psycho-physical balance, and regenerate the body.

It is worthwhile to visit the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine to take a deep healthy breath!

 

 
About The Mine

The “Wieliczka” Salt Mine is one of the most valuable monuments of material and spiritual culture in Poland. Each year it is visited by more than one million tourists from all over the world.

It is also a world class monument, featuring among twelve objects on the UNESCO’s World Cultural and Natural Heritage List.

Today, the “Wieliczka” Salt Mine combines many centuries of tradition and modernity, the history of several hundred years and an underground metropolis with extensive infrastructure.

The mine is a product of work of tens of generations of miners, a monument to the history of Poland and to the Polish nation – a brand, present in Polish consciousness for centuries.

Crumbs of knowledge

As the Polish saying has it – to know somebody, you must eat a barrel of salt together and, after all, it is work that is the salt of life. Salt has been an inseparable companion of humankind, however, this sentence can be reversed. After all, it is so much older than the humankind itself. The salt in Wieliczka is nearly fourteen million years old. It falls in the category of Miocene salt-bearing series consisting of rock salt deposits and (to a significantly smaller degree) potassium-magnesium salts. They stretch along the arch of the Carpathians, starting in the area of Silesia to carry on as far as the Iron Gate region of Romania.

The Wieliczka salt deposit was formed over thousands of years as a result of multiple processes. It has a diversified and unique geological structure.

The deposit is formed of two different parts – the upper and the lower one. The upper block or lump deposit was formed as marly claystone and claystone with halite crystals (called zubry) with plugs of rock salt, known as green, located between them. The lower deposit consists of layers of rock salts alternating with interlayers of gangue – it is a bedded deposit.

To the south, the Wieliczka deposit borders with Carpathian flysh formations. Its northern limit and, partly, overburden consist of Machow formations (Chodenice layers). Subsalt rocks are Skawina formations (Skawina layers). The deposit is surrounded with the lagging of claystone and gypsum and covered with quaternary formations.

To the west, the Wieliczka deposit undergoes gradual transition into the Barycz deposit while in the east into the Sulkow deposit, tested only with boreholes.

The Lake Wessel Chamber

The Lake Wessel treatment chamber, located on Level III of the Wieliczka mine, 135 underground, was excavated in the second half of the nineteenth century, and since 1909, it contains a salt lake, which is the main attraction of the chamber. The chamber was created as a result of exploiting a block of green salt. The Wessel Lake Chamber mass is composed of medium and coarse salt contaminated with a clayey substance.

The Lake Wessel Chamber offers 60 rehabilitation places located on the shore of the brine lake.

In the chamber, spaces have been set out for:

  • group breathing exercises,
  • patients’ rest (tables and chairs)
  • repose (4 couches)
  • group general fitness exercises – a “gym” equipped with ladders, mirrors, benches, gymnastic mattresses
  • educational classes, complete with audio – video equipment
  • inhalation (3 inhalation stations)
  • storage of patients’ personal belongings during stays (lockers) and
  • medical station with the medical – nursing duty office

The chamber is equipped with equipment for physical exercise: multigyms, ergometers, treadmills, and a stepper. Health Resort guests can also enjoy playing billiards or table tennis, and take walks or jog around the brine lake.

Sources: http://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com

Prices

Salt Cave

PUBLIC SALT CAVE THERAPY SESSIONS

Capacity: 8 people (12 years old and up) per session

# sessionper person
1 session$29.00
5 sessions$125.00
10 sessions$200.00

Salt therapy packages of 5 or 10 sessions are for the recipient only and cannot be shared.

45-minute private session (up to 8 people)$180.00
45-minute Swedish massage inside the Salt Cave*$180.00
45-minute Swedish massage inside the Salt Cave- couple* $300.00

* Restrictions may apply, Mon-Fri only, limited availability.

Specials

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Bring A Book To Read?

We do not allow any personal belongings in our public salt therapy sessions.

How Long Is The Session?

Every session lasts 45 minutes.

What Do You Offer?

We offer Salt Therapy treatment and the best relaxation time ever. Our Salt Cave is made of 15 tons of Polish and Himalayan salt. Salt Therapy sessions are extremely effective in promoting health in many cases, such as: allergies, asthma, chronic or temporary respiratory tract inflammations, emphysema, sinusitis, bronchitis, Cystic Fibrosis, COPD, cardiovascular illnesses, depressions, hypothyroidism and weakened immune system.

What Should I Wear?

Regular comfortable clothes; attire which would be appropriate for a public place. No bathing suits. This is not a salt pool, it is a breathing treatment.

What Is The Temperature In The Cave?

The air temperature is 75F , humidity is less that 50%. There is no steam and you will not sweat during the session. Makeup will remain perfect. If you should feel chilly we provide blankets.

Do I Need To Make A Reservation For A Salt Therapy Session?

We strongly recommend that you schedule an appointment due to limited seating.

What Is The Size Of The Salt Cave?

Our Salt Room is 400sq. ft. and very spacious but there are no windows. If you are claustrophobic please visit us to take a look at the room before you schedule your appointment.

Can I Bring Something To Drink?

No drinks are allowed in the Salt Cave. If you have any health conditions and you must have something to drink please bring only bottled water. No cups, no coffee, no soda. Also, we have a water dispenser in the waiting room and you are more than welcome to have a drink before and after the session. You can also leave the Salt Cave at any time.

I Saw The Info About A Massage In The Salt Room. How Does This Work?

Our special is a 45 minute Swedish massage during a private Salt Therapy session. This means we book the entire Salt Cave just for you and the massage therapist. Because it is our special deal we don’t offer it every day, all day. Reservation is required.

What About The Massage Room?

In February 2012 we opened our first Massage Room. It is a separate room in our spa with more availability for massages. Keep in mind, this is not a Salt Cave, so you will not receive a breathing treatment like you would during a massage in the Salt Cave however we offer a variety of different massages, for longer times at cheaper rates in our Massage Room.