Salina Turda: The Underground Theme Park of Romania

blorg (65)in #travel • 6 years ago

As you already know, Cluj-Napoca is the 2nd biggest city in Romania. One of their most notable destinations is Salina Turda, an underground salt mine that was converted into a theme park!

Guide To Visiting Salina Turda

I only spent two nights in Cluj so I didn't get to completely see the city. My main destination goal in visiting was to see Salina Turda. I saw a picture of the place earlier this year so I wanted to go see it for myself if I ever had a chance. Luckily, I scored a super cheap flight from Malta.

In 2009, the Romanian government decided to create an underground theme park/health facility in an unused salt mine. That place is Salina Turda, located 40 minutes outside of Cluj, Romania.

To get to Salina Turda, you can take a public bus from Cluj. It might be a little difficult because the public transportation system isn't very straightforward. Uber is available in the city if you'd like to just be driven there and taxis are also an option. The price each way was estimated at $30USD at the time I was there (July 2018). BUT, I had a better solution!

Tour Price: I booked a private tour for 370RON ($92.50) to Salina Turda and Alba Iulia which worked out perfectly for my schedule. I was flying to Constanta the next day at 6:30pm and they catered to my schedule. I booked via Cluj Guided Tours. You just have to contact them about the type of tour and they can get back to you with a price. This was the first private tour I've done and it was the best experience since everything was at my fast pace. Lorena was my guide and it was like traveling with a friendly local showing you all the best sites (cause she was a friendly person from Cluj).

Most critical tip: Bring a jacket! It's very cold underground. I went during summer and didn't expect it to be cold, but my guide insisted that I would need one. I'm glad I took that advice. If I went solo, I wouldn't have known.

Food/Beverages: Drinks and snacks are not available for purchase inside Salina Turda to prevent any trash build up. You can find stalls that sell these items around the parking lot on the ground level.

Restrooms: Restrooms are available above and below ground. Real restrooms too!

Entrance Fee: 30RON ($7.50USD) for a day pass

Timing is Everything

Salina Turda is probably the biggest tourist spot in Cluj. Locals also show up for the natural healing properties of the salty air. This causes the place to be very crowded. They open at 9am and with my private tour, we arrived at the entrance at 9:05am with no line to get in.

The tour buses of people started arriving at 10am. Lots of people! My experience would have been very different if I had to wait around a large group of people.

Going Underground

After purchasing your ticket, you begin your journey by walking down a staircase to the top level of the salt mine. From there, you can see from a very far distance the bottom of the salt mine and you can play with the echos in a sound chamber.

From that floor, you walk down several flights of stairs to get to the observatory deck. Here you can get a good look of the theme park. There's an elevator to take you down if you don't want to take the long journey of steps to the theme park level.

I descended to the theme park level by taking the staircase. It was probably 10 minutes of going down a narrow staircase. It can be a little dangerous since some steps are very steep and slippery. Be aware and careful.

Salina Turda Activities

Congratulations! Hopefully you have made it to the ground level. As you'll immediately notice, it's cold! Hopefully you're not tired from the hike because there is no food or drinks available for purchase.

Most people come here just to hang out and take in the salty air for health reasons. But you can also have fun! There's a ferris wheel, boats, mini golf, billiards, table tennis, bowling, sports field and amphitheatre! All of these are available for an additional charge (but it's pretty reasonable).