Salina Turda: a complete visiting guide, with prices, hours and tips

Salina Turda is a former salt mine where you go down as far as 120 metres underground: a gallery almost a kilometre long, two enormous chambers, a 20-metre Ferris wheel and a lake you can row on. It is about 35 km from Cluj and open every day, and the weather outside does not matter: it is 11–12 °C down there all year.

This guide gathers what you need to know before you set off: what it costs, which entrance to use, how long it takes, what there is to do at the bottom and when to go so you do not queue for the lift. We checked the prices and opening hours on the official website, salinaturda.eu, on 4 October 2026. They can change, so look again before you travel. Where the official site says nothing, we say where our information comes from.

What the tickets cost

The entry ticket covers the whole visiting route and is valid for one entry, on that day. The weekend price also applies on public holidays.

• Adults: 75 lei Monday to Friday, 90 lei on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays
• Seniors over 65: 50 lei and 60 lei respectively, with an identity document
• Children aged 3 to 18: 48 lei and 59 lei respectively, with a birth certificate, passport, school card or any other document showing their age
• Children under 3: free
• People with disabilities: a child with a disability and an adult with a severe or marked disability enter free, together with their personal assistant, on presenting the documents
• Guide: 205 lei, on request; free for organised groups of at least 20 people, by prior booking only

The official list has no separate student price. For a family of two adults and two children, entry costs 246 lei on a weekday and 298 lei at the weekend. The activities underground and the parking are paid for separately; their prices are further down.

How to buy tickets

• Online: at bilete.salinaturda.eu, the page the official site links to. You choose the date of your visit and pay by card, and the tickets arrive by email with a QR code
• At the machines by the entrance: you pay by card or phone; they were announced in August 2026, to shorten the queues at the ticket office
• At the ticket office: this is also where you show the documents for reduced and free tickets

An online order can also include the underground activities, the guide or the visit to the Ghizela Mine, but only together with an entry ticket. In September 2026 the salt mine warned that there are websites imitating its own and selling tickets for more than the official price. Buy only from salinaturda.eu and check the address before you pay.

Opening hours and how long a visit takes

The salt mine is open Monday to Sunday, from 09:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:20. Other websites give 16:00, or longer hours in summer; we have gone with what the official page says. Allow 2–3 hours for the whole route, and with the wheel, the boats, the minigolf and the lift queues you easily reach half a day. If you go in close to the last entry, you are left with too little time.

The two entrances and parking

The salt mine has two entrances, almost 4 km apart by road. This is the source of the most common mix-up: your sat nav may take you to the other gate.

• Entrance A, Durgău (Aleea Durgăului nr. 7): the modern entrance, with a ticket office and a large paid car park: 10 lei an hour for a car. This is where most visitors go in
• Entrance B, the old entrance (str. Salinelor nr. 54B, in the Turda Nouă district): the Franz Josef Gallery starts here, and you walk it from one end. It is the entrance for visitors with mobility impairments. Parking is scarce, on the surrounding streets

Leave the way you came in. If you parked at Durgău and come out through the old entrance, you have almost 4 km to walk through town to your car. A family who wrote about their visit in 2023 say the old entrance is usually quieter when there is a queue at Durgău.

Durgău entrance (main) on Google Maps

Old entrance, str. Salinelor on Google Maps

Getting there from Cluj

By car, take the DN1 (E60) over Feleac towards Turda: about 35 km and roughly 40 minutes from the centre of Cluj, without traffic. Put the address of the entrance you have chosen into your sat nav, not just "Salina Turda".

By bus, the regular Cluj-Napoca–Turda service is run by Fany. According to the timetable the operator publishes, from Monday to Friday there are departures from Cluj between 05:30 and 22:30, about every 20 minutes for most of the day; on Saturdays and Sundays, about every half hour, until 21:00. The journey takes around 45 minutes. The last bus back from the centre of Turda is at 21:10 on weekdays, 20:00 on Saturdays and 19:30 on Sundays. We could not confirm the fare or the departure stop in Cluj: ask the operator, on 0364 101 110.

From Turda, local bus 17 (Micro III – Durgău/Salină) goes to the Durgău entrance, about once every hour and a half. According to the Transport Urban Public Turda timetable, it leaves Micro III at 08:07, 09:27, 10:52, 12:23, 13:43 and 15:08 and comes back from the salt mine at 13:03, 14:23, 16:00, 17:20 and 18:47, every day. If you miss the bus, there are taxis.

What you see underground, in order

The route first goes through the access gallery and a few rooms that serve as a salt-mining museum, all on the same level, then drops into the two big mines.

• Franz Josef Gallery: the tunnel the salt was taken out through, dug between 1853 and 1870 and 917 metres long
• Iosif Mine, the "Echo Room": a cone-shaped mine you see only from balconies cut into the salt; a sound comes back up to 20 times
• Crivac Room: the vertical-axle winch of 1881, turned by horses, the only one of its kind in Europe kept in its original place
• Extraction Shaft Room: the 87-metre shaft through which the salt came up from the Rudolf Mine
• Roll-Call Room: with the Altar carved into the salt and the Staircase of the Rich, the oldest wooden structure in the mine
• Staționar Ghizela: the treatment base; the official list has a separate fee for visiting the Ghizela Mine, 32 lei per person

Rudolf Mine: the wheel, the minigolf and the playground

The Rudolf Mine is the chamber in the photographs: 42 metres deep, 50 metres wide and 80 metres long, the last place in Turda where salt was mined. You first see it from above, from the balcony, then go down to the floor by 172 steps, which is 13 storeys, or by the panoramic lift. The salt mine's website says that at the bottom you are 120 metres underground. Salt stalactites grow on the ceiling, about 2 cm a year, up to 3 metres long.

The leisure area is on the floor of the mine. Each activity is paid for separately from the entry ticket:

• Ferris wheel, 20 metres high: 35 lei per person for an 8-minute ride
• Minigolf, 6 lanes: 35 lei per person for 20 minutes
• Table tennis, 6 tables: 35 lei for 30 minutes
• Billiards, 3 tables: 2.5 lei a minute
• Bowling, 2 small lanes: the price is not in the official list; ask on the spot
• Sports court: 335 lei an hour
• Children's playground and a 180-seat amphitheatre with heated seats

Terezia Mine: the lake and the boats

From the Rudolf Mine you go down one more level, by stairs or by a second lift, into the Terezia Mine: a bell of salt 90 metres high and 75 metres across, the oldest working in the mine, where salt was extracted between 1690 and 1880. At the bottom is a lake up to 6 metres deep, covering about 80% of the floor, with an island of salt in the middle.

Rowing boats are hired at 56 lei per boat, for 20 minutes, with no more than 3 people in a boat. A family of four therefore needs two. It is the darkest and quietest part of the mine; some parents say it is too dark for small children.

Lift or stairs

The salt mine's rules say plainly that access is by the stairs and the lift is optional: the visit does not depend on it working, and the management can stop it at any time. The panoramic lift is small, taking about 7 people, and it is where the queue everyone writes about forms: from around 10 minutes on a quiet day to 45 minutes or even an hour on busy days, according to visitors' accounts.

What usually works: go down by the stairs, because it is easy and you see the mine from every landing, and come up by lift. If you cannot climb 13 storeys on foot, count the wait for the lift into your plan.

Temperature and what to bring

It is 11–12 °C in the mine all year, with humidity of 73–82% and almost no air movement. In summer you feel the difference from outside within minutes, and the visit lasts hours.

• a thick jumper or a jacket, even in August; the rules recommend warm clothing
• long trousers and, for children, an extra layer
• closed shoes with soles that grip: there are 13 storeys of stairs
• cash for the activities
• the documents for reduced tickets: seniors' identity cards, a document showing the children's age

Visitors who wrote about the mine in 2026 say the activities at the bottom are paid for in cash and that there is no cash machine underground. The official site does not say how you pay, so bring cash or add the activities to your online order. There is no phone signal underground: agree on a meeting point in case you get separated. Pets, food, alcohol and smoking are not allowed.

With children and with a pram

In bad weather it is one of the best places in the area for children: a wheel, boats, minigolf, a playground and a room where the echo repeats their name. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

For the very young, the salt mine asks for caution. The official access page says all children under 3, like people over 65, enter with a doctor's approval, and the rules say newborns and children up to two should not be kept in the salt environment for more than 60 minutes. Ask your paediatrician first.

We found no official rule about prams. What is known: there are 172 steps, or a small lift that can be stopped, down to the floor of the Rudolf Mine, and one more level down to the lake. A baby carrier is the safe choice. If you do come with a pram, call 0364 260 940 beforehand and ask whether the lift is running.

Accessibility

Visitors with mobility impairments enter through the old entrance, at str. Salinelor nr. 54B. For them the mine can be visited only at gallery level: the Franz Josef Gallery, Staționar Ghizela (the treatment base), the balcony of the Iosif Mine, the Crivac Room, the Extraction Shaft Room and the Roll-Call Room. The floor of the Rudolf Mine and the lake in the Terezia Mine are not on this route. People with heart conditions enter only with a medical recommendation, the salt mine's website says.

The treatment base and the salt lakes

Staționar Ghizela is the salt mine's treatment base, for speleotherapy, which means spending time in the salty air. The salt mine recommends it for allergic rhinitis, mild and moderate asthma, chronic bronchitis and repeated respiratory infections. A course lasts 14–18 days for adults and 7–10 days for children, preferably between 9 and 14 o'clock. For courses there is a pass for at least 7 days: 65 lei a day for an adult, 37 lei for a child or a senior. The list of contraindications is long (serious cardiovascular disease, acute illnesses, claustrophobia, the last trimester of pregnancy), so talk to a doctor first.

In summer, Ștrand Durgău opens right next to the salt mine: an open-air bathing place on two salt lakes formed over old salt workings, with a sandy beach, wooden pontoons, showers and a bar with a terrace. In 2026 it opened on 1 June. The prices on the salt mine's website: 40 lei for adults, 25 lei for children and seniors; Monday to Thursday after 17:00, 25 lei and 18 lei; a sunbed, 15 lei; last entry at 20:00. It is open only in summer, and the opening date differs from year to year.

Potaissa Spa & Wellness, in Hotel Potaissa, also belongs to Salina Turda, with a salt-water pool, a swimming pool and saunas. You will find its hours and prices at potaissahotel.ro.

Ștrand Durgău on Google Maps

When to go to avoid the queues

• on a weekday: it is quieter, and the adult ticket is 15 lei cheaper than at the weekend
• at opening time, 09:00: early in the morning the lift queue is at its shortest
• not on long weekends and public holidays: that is when it is busiest, and the weekend price applies
• not on rainy summer days: when it rains outside, everyone goes down the mine
• with a ticket bought online: you skip the ticket office

The queue that matters is the one for the lift and the boats, not the one for tickets. On a busy day, take the stairs down.

What else to see the same day

The salt mine takes half a day, so there is time for one more place. Cheile Turzii is 13 km from Turda: a limestone gorge with suspension bridges, for which you need 3–5 hours. The good order is the salt mine in the morning, at opening time, and the gorge in the afternoon. The other way round, remember that last entry to the mine is at 16:20. Turda also has the Potaissa Roman fort and the History Museum.

Is it worth it?

Yes, if you know what you are going to. The chambers are genuinely impressive, and for children it is a full day. But it is not cheap: on a Saturday a family of four pays 298 lei for entry alone, and with the wheel for everyone, two boats and three hours of parking it comes to 580 lei. And it is not quiet at weekends. On a weekday morning you get the same mine, for less and with a much shorter queue for the lift.

The prices and opening hours are those on salinaturda.eu on 4 October 2026 and can change: in March 2025 the weekday adult ticket went up from 50 to 70 lei, and it is now 75. The bus timetables are those published by the operators on the same date. Check them all on the morning you leave.