Hallein Salt Mine

Salt has been mined around Hallein on the west bank of the River Salzach, 18 km south of Salzburg, for more than 7,000 years. The area is best known for the artefacts of the Celtic civilisation that flourished about 2,500 years ago that are displayed in the Keltenmuseum (Celtic Museum) which occupies the former administrative building of the saltworks dating from 1754, facing the river.

The museum includes a section on the saltworks but visitors can also take a cable car from the town to visit the mine itself on the mountain called the Dürmberg, which employed 200 people in 1903. The workings extend beneath the border between Austria and Bavaria, about which a working agreement between the two countries was negotiated in 1829. Visitors can see a film explaining how the mine was operated and are then offered a 90-minute guided tour which includes a journey of 400 m on an underground electric train, two sets of 42 m long wooden slides between working levels, and a boat trip on an underground lake.

Hallein Salt Mine
Salzwelten Hallein
Ramsaustrasse 3
5422 Bad Dürrnberg
Austria
+43 (0) 6132 - 2008511
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