about an hour south of cluj-napoca, romania is a an amazing place – the salina turda salt mine, turned underground amusement park. salina turda was a massive salt mine consisting of multiple large underground caverns, excavated since the 1600s. there remains enough salt in the immediate area to satisfy the entire world’s needs for the next 60+ years. in the past, horses would be brought into the pitch-black depths and pull loads of salt along purpose-built narrow gauge railway tracks within the mine until they died. more recently, and continuing until today, people with various respiratory ailments would spend weeks at a time within the mine, as being surrounded by salt in an enclosed space is believed to have curative properties. a section of the mine is reserved for guests with a romanian doctor’s prescription for this.
this now isn’t just any salt mine though – an amusement park has been built within one of the large mine caverns. you can take an underground ferris wheel ride, play underground table tennis, and ride a rowboat on an underground lake. salina turda has been named the world’s best underground attraction!
