Salt Mines

Another trip, just a few kilometers from Hallstatt, is a must—the Salt Mines. For this excursion drive to the nearby town of Lahn where you will see signs to the funicular. Park your car and take the funicular up the steep incline, where you find at the top a restaurant with a spectacular panorama of the lake and mountains. After a cup of coffee or some lunch, follow the signs to the salt mines. The path leads across a meadow and up a hill—about a ten-minute walk—to the main lounge where you buy a ticket and wait until your tour number is called. Then follow the guide into what looks like a locker room where pajama-like outfits are hanging according to sizes—small, medium, and large. Here you put on loose scrub-suit-like pants and tops over your clothing. After a few laughs you continue with your guide into the tunnel. The guide will probably not speak English, but if you have visited the mining museum in Hallstatt, you will certainly get the general idea of what is being said as you tag along with the group along a route that descends deeper and deeper into the earth. You will not need an interpreter when you arrive at the gigantic wooden slide worn smooth as velvet over the years, one of those placed at strategic points to speed the miners’ journey underground. Those still young at heart will love the ride, but for the less adventurous, a staircase parallels the slide to the bottom where you again follow the leader as you weave through a labyrinth of tunnels. (You will quickly see why you need your guide.) Before your adventure is over, you will have conquered another slide, seen an underground lake, had an audio-visual lecture on the caves (you probably will not understand a word), and walked for an hour. The tour ends dramatically. The group climbs up on a small train which consists of bench-like cars; then, once all are, the brake is released and the train zips down the incline for about a kilometer and out again into the open air. A true adventure.