Day trip from Cluj-Napoca: Turda Salt Mine & Alba Fortress

Your day trip from Cluj-Napoca starts in the morning when you will meet up with your tour guide and head to Alba Iulia to discover the city that was the largest Roman castrum and its star-shaped fortification, Alba Carolina. Situated in the heart of Transylvania, over time, this settlement was transformed by the German and Hungarian populations, which enriched its cultural diversity. Because of the influences imprinted over centuries, you will be able to observe that the buildings and churches have different architectural styles: Baroque, Romanesque and even Babylonian.

Alba Carolina Fortress is surrounded by 12 km of walls in order to protect the center of the city that won’t cease to amaze you. At its beginnings, the fortification was a Roman Fort, afterwards a fortress during the Middle Ages and later a Vauban type Citadel provided with 7 bastions. Regardless of which entrance we’ll use, you will be pleasantly surprised by all the Baroque decorative elements considered unique in European military architecture. The sensation of the past centuries will be sustained by the Austrian guards in their vintage clothes who protect the citadel even nowadays.

Your day trip continues on a small road that takes you to Rimetea, a small village filled with white houses with their lovely green windows, loved by time and cherished by its inhabitants. You will have lunch in this beautiful place and you will remain with an image to treasure all your life.

Your day trip from Cluj continues with a descent into the world’s largest salt mining history museum, known as Turda Salt Mine. The exploitation of the rich deposit was started by the Romans 2000 years ago during their occupation in Dacia. The museum includes three mines: Terezia, which reaches a depth of 90 meters, followed by Anton and Rudolf, both of them offering spectacular views. After admiring the huge room carved in salt, we will go down to the bottom of the mine and reach the salty lake, where you can enjoy a boat ride at the lowest point of the museum. A one-of-a-kind overview of the mine can be savoured while ascending or descending with the glass elevator. A constant temperature between 10 and 12 degrees is maintained naturally all year round, with a humidity of around 80%.

Besides being a museum, the Salina Turda is also an amusement park where you can play tennis, mini-golf, ride a Ferris wheel, or even take a boat ride on the underwater salt lake.

After the Turda Salt Mine tour, your day trip will come to an end, and you will be transferred back to Cluj-Napoca.

Departure time: 09:00 AM
Trip duration: 12 hours

Turda Salt Mine

Turda Salt Mine (Romanian: Salina Turda) is a salt mine from where the salt was first extracted during the antiquity, and continuously produced table salt from the Middle Ages.

Alba Carolina Fortress

The Alba Carolina Fortress (Romanian: Cetatea Alba Carolina) is a star-shaped fortress located in Alba Iulia. Its construction comenced on November 4, 1715 during the Habsburg rule in Transylvania, and was completed in 1738.