- Where
- Durgău-Valea Sărată, Turda
Cluj County, Transylvania - Coordinates
- 46.59° N
23.79° E - Mined
- From the Middle Ages to 1932
first named in a charter of 1271 - Deepest chambers
- Terezia and Iosif
112 m from the shaft mouth to the floor - Open to visitors
- Since 1992
rebuilt and reopened January 2010 - Getting there
- By road from Cluj-Napoca
ticket at the entrance - Best visited
- Year-round
- Advisory
- Romania Level 1
Hayfields and red roofs outside, and then a long tunnel into the hill, its walls banded grey and pale and cold enough for my scarf. The air tasted of the seaside, which made no sense at all. At the end the floor fell away into a hall full of lights, a big wheel turning slowly in it, and far below, little boats on a black lake.
The short answer
Salina Turda is a salt mine in the Durgău-Valea Sărată area of Turda, a town in Cluj County, Transylvania, 34 kilometres from the county seat, Cluj-Napoca, to which European route E81 connects it, Wikipedia records. Salt was taken here in antiquity, and the mine produced salt continuously from the Middle Ages until 1932; English Wikipedia dates its first mention to a charter of 1 May 1271, while Romanian Wikipedia cites a Hungarian document of 1075 that already names the customs post of Turda’s salt mines. It was a shelter in the Second World War and afterwards, for a time, a cheese store. It reopened in 1992 for visitors and salt-air treatment, and after a rebuilding of about €6 million under the European Union’s PHARE programme it reopened in January 2010. English Wikipedia records about 618,000 visitors in 2017. The mine is on Cluj County’s list of historic monuments.
Why it's worth knowing
Salt from a vanished sea. The salt under Transylvania formed about 13.5 million years ago in a shallow sea under a hot climate, and lies in a layer about 400 metres thick, Romanian Wikipedia records. Pressed by the sediments laid on top of it, the soft salt rose where the crust was weakest, at the edges of the basin, in mushroom-shaped columns more than 1,000 metres high, sometimes reaching the surface; the one at Turda is about 1,200 metres high. The old salt towns of Transylvania, Turda, Praid, Ocna Mureș and others, stand where those columns come up.
Dug downwards, into bells. Miners here opened a chamber from the top: two shafts were sunk side by side, sealed with clay, chaff and sheep’s wool and then lined with timber, and, once they were in the salt, the cut was widened downwards into a cone, Romanian Wikipedia records. A new chamber was declared ready for work only when an official, standing on a block of salt in its middle, could no longer touch the ceiling with a hammer. The Terezia mine, begun in 1690 and worked until 1880, is one of these bells: 90 metres high and 87 metres across, and 112 metres from the mouth of its shafts to its floor, where a lake between half a metre and 8 metres deep covers about 80 per cent of the floor around an island of low-grade salt left after mining ended, English Wikipedia records. The Rudolf mine, worked from 1864 to 1932, is the other kind, a trapezoidal hall 42 metres deep, 50 wide and 80 long, reached by 172 steps or a panoramic lift; the year each of its thirteen levels was opened is marked on its walls, and salt stalactites up to 3 metres long hang from its ceiling.
A town with a long memory. Turda stands on the Roman town of Potaissa, which held the camp of the Fifth Macedonian Legion from 166 to 274; the Romans worked the salt here in open pits 12 to 15 metres deep that later filled with water and became lakes, Wikipedia records in English and Romanian. In 1568 the Diet of Transylvania, meeting at Turda, extended religious freedom to all; English Wikipedia calls the Edict of Turda the first attempt at legislating general religious freedom in Christian Europe, and notes that its legal effectiveness was limited.
The field notes
A tunnel with a signature
The way into the mine until 2010 was the Franz Josef gallery, dug between 1853 and the end of the nineteenth century to make hauling salt easier: 917 metres long in the end, 850 of them walkable today. On its left-hand wall, before the gallery enters the salt, the diggers cut the letters K. F. J. Fü. Sb., for Franz Joseph, King, and Prince of Transylvania, Romanian Wikipedia records. Since 2010 the main entrance has been at the new Salina-Durgău tourist centre.
The echo room and the winch
The Iosif mine, a bell 112 metres deep, has no other opening into the main chambers and so a strong echo, which gave it the name the Echoes Room; visitors see it from balconies carved in the salt, and a 50-metre tunnel dug between 2012 and 2014 joined it to the Terezia mine, the two Wikipedias record. In an octagonal room stands the crivac, the winch that lifted salt to the surface; the present one dates from 1881.
Salt by ox cart and raft
Turda’s salt was carried by ox cart to the landing at Mirăslău, loaded onto rafts and floated down the Mureș to the port of Alba Iulia, Romanian Wikipedia records. It could never go by raft on the nearer Arieș, because waterfalls over hard volcanic tuff blocked the river, the largest of them, at Gura Arieșului, about 3 to 4 metres high.
The lit island and rowing boats on the lake in the Terezia mine, May 2017.
The banded salt ceiling of the Rudolf mine, April 2019.
Salt recrystallised where water seeps through the mine wall, April 2010.
Photograph: Cristian Bortes · Salina Turda - cristale de sare · CC BY 2.0
- Walk the long tunnel in slowly and let the cold find you a step at a time.
- Lower your voice by the rooms where people come to sit and breathe the air for their health.
- Ride the big wheel once. (Rode it. Saw a little boat far below and added the boat. From the boat, saw the wheel, and added that again.)
- Wear your warmest jumper down there, even while the hayfields bake, and shoes that do not mind a damp floor.
- Stand in the round room with the echo and say something kind out loud, then wait for it to come back.
The crivac. In an octagonal room of Salina Turda stands the crivac, or gepel, a winch of the kind used to lift rock salt from the mine to the surface. The one in place dates from 1881; it replaced a smaller machine installed in 1864. English Wikipedia records it as the only machine of its kind in Romania’s salt mines, “and probably in Europe”, still in its original location. It is seen on the visitors’ route, in the room built for it.
Tally, in the marginA great wooden drum on an upright post, built for turning. I had circled it, admiring the joints, before I wondered who, or what, had turned it, day after day. I went round again more slowly after that, out of respect.
Getting there
How to get there. By road. Turda is 34 kilometres from Cluj-Napoca, on European route E81 (Wikipedia), and Cluj-Napoca has the nearest international airport; route planners (Rome2Rio, as indexed) put the airport about 39 kilometres from Turda by road and list buses from the airport and from Cluj-Napoca to the town. The mine’s main entrance is at the Salina-Durgău tourist centre, Aleea Durgău 7, in Turda (Romanian Wikipedia).
When to go. Any time of year: the mine is underground and visited all year (Romanian Wikipedia). Guides published in 2026 give the temperature inside as a steady 11 to 12°C, so bring a warm layer even in summer. The mine’s hours change between seasons, and the guides we read disagree on them.
What to arrange ahead. Nothing beyond a ticket, bought at the entrance; no permit is needed. Prices differ between weekdays and weekends, and the rowing boats on the Terezia lake and the Ferris wheel are paid separately, but the 2026 guides we read give different figures, so check the operator’s own site for current prices and hours (it could not be read from here). The Rudolf mine is reached by 172 steps or by lift.
Safety. The State Department has Romania at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level; it notes moderate seismic activity and a history of strong earthquakes, with Bucharest at the highest risk (advisory dated 14 October 2025 in its feed, read 7 October 2026). In 2025, after the Praid salt mine, elsewhere in Transylvania, was flooded and closed, the company that runs Salina Turda, under the municipality of Turda, reported water infiltration in the Terezia mine and other parts of the workings and asked for public money for consolidation, as Romanian press reported the Cluj County prefect and the economy minister (indexed); a local paper reports that the company’s 2026 investment plan includes securing the mine and controlling the infiltration (TurdaNews, indexed). No closure or restriction on visitors had been reported when this entry was checked on 7 October 2026. Inside, the floors and steps can be damp; keep to the marked routes.
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Common questions
Where is Salina Turda?
Salina Turda is a former salt mine in the Durgău-Valea Sărată area of Turda, in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. Turda is 34 kilometres from Cluj-Napoca, on European route E81, and the mine’s main entrance is at the Salina-Durgău tourist centre.
What is inside Salina Turda?
Salina Turda, in Turda, Romania, has several former mining chambers open to visitors: the bell-shaped Terezia mine, with an underground lake and rowing boats; the Rudolf mine, with a Ferris wheel and salt stalactites; the Iosif mine, known as the Echoes Room; and rooms used for salt-air treatment.
How deep is Salina Turda?
The Terezia and Iosif mines at Salina Turda, Romania, each measure 112 metres from the mouth of their shafts to the floor, English Wikipedia records. The Terezia chamber itself is 90 metres high and 87 metres across, and the Rudolf mine is 42 metres deep.
How old is Salina Turda?
Salt was mined at Turda, Romania, in antiquity, including by the Romans, and continuously from the Middle Ages until 1932. English Wikipedia dates the mine’s first mention to a charter of 1 May 1271; Romanian Wikipedia cites a document of 1075 naming the customs post of Turda’s salt mines.
When did Salina Turda open to visitors?
Salina Turda, in Cluj County, Romania, opened to visitors and for salt-air treatment in 1992, after mining ended in 1932. A rebuilding of about €6 million, funded under the European Union’s PHARE programme, added its present attractions, and it reopened in January 2010.
Do you need a permit to visit Salina Turda?
No. Salina Turda in Turda, Romania, is visited with a ticket bought at the entrance; the rowing boats and the Ferris wheel are paid separately. Prices differ between weekdays and weekends, and the 2026 guides disagree on the figures, so the operator’s own site is the place to check.
How cold is it inside Salina Turda?
Guides published in 2026 give the temperature inside Salina Turda, Romania, as a steady 11 to 12°C all year, so visitors bring a warm layer even in summer. The mine is underground and open all year.
Is Salina Turda safe to visit?
Salina Turda was open with no restriction on visitors reported on 7 October 2026, and the State Department has Romania at Level 1, its lowest. In 2025 the operator reported water infiltration in the Terezia mine and sought consolidation funds; its 2026 plan includes work to control it, Romanian press reports.