Turda Salt Mine

Salt has been extracted at Turda since Roman times, and the mine worked until 1932. What has happened since is unusual: after decades as a cheese store and a wartime shelter, it opened to visitors in 1992 and, after a modernisation, reopened in 2010 as an underground leisure complex, and the result looks like the set of a science fiction film. In the vast Rudolf chamber, a ferris wheel turns beneath a ceiling of salt stalactites, with mini-golf, table tennis and a bowling alley on the floor around it and futuristic lighting pods hanging from the roof. A staircase descends to a lower level where a salt lake fills the bottom of the Terezia chamber and visitors row boats around a salt island. The air is cool, still and salty, and the mine is used for halotherapy sessions.

History

Salt was first extracted here in antiquity, the mine is first named in a document of the Hungarian chancellery dated 1 May 1271, and it produced table salt until 1932. It reopened in 1992 as a halotherapy centre and tourist sight, and after a modernisation worth €5,888,000 it reopened in January 2010; about 618,000 people visited in 2017 (Wikipedia, Salina Turda).

What you'll find

• Rudolf chamber - the ferris wheel, sports courts and lighting pods in the main hall.
• Terezia chamber - the underground salt lake with rowing boats around a salt island.
• Josif chamber - the echo room, with a striking acoustic effect.
• The salt formations - stalactites and crystallised walls throughout the workings.

When to go

Any time; the mine holds a steady cool temperature year-round, which makes it an excellent hot-day or rainy-day option. Weekends and Romanian school holidays are much busier. Book online in peak season to skip the queue.

Before you go

It is around 10 to 12 degrees underground regardless of the season, and visitors arrive in summer clothes and freeze; bring a jacket. The atmosphere is firmly an attraction rather than a heritage site, and anyone hoping for a quiet historic mine will find the ferris wheel jarring. The stairs are numerous if the lift is queued.

Nearby

Cluj-Napoca is half an hour north; the Turda Gorge is a short drive west.

Key facts