Cardona Salt Mountain, the mine from inside

What it is

The Salt Mountain is a diapir: a mass of salt pushing up from below and rising about 120 m above the Cardener valley, with about two kilometres more underground. It is still growing while rain erodes it from outside. Between 1929 and 1990 it was the Mina Nieves, one of the world's great potash mines. Today the old mining site is the Parc Cultural de la Muntanya de Sal, run by the Fundació Cardona Històrica.

What the visit is like

It is always guided and lasts about an hour. You arrive at reception, are given a helmet (compulsory for everyone, children too) and a minibus takes you down to the gallery, open to the public since 1997. You walk about 500 m at 86 m deep. The floor is flat, with a few small slopes and no stairs. What you see are the folds of the salt in white, grey and reddish bands, and stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Photos are only allowed in the room they call the Sistine Chapel, the most spectacular; on the rest of the route, no.

Outside, under the headframe of the María Teresa shaft, the route continues in the open air through the old facilities: the shaft's engine building, with machinery built by Alsthom in the 1920s, the audiovisual "Alma minera" at the Albert shaft and the Salt Craft Centre, Art-Sal, in the Casa del Romero.

Prices and hours

Guided visit: €12.75 adults, €10.25 pensioners, €12 ages 12 to 16, €6 ages 5 to 11 and €3 ages 2 to 4. There are visits Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays; on Mondays that are not public holidays, no. Departure times are chosen when you buy the ticket on the Cardona Turisme website. Large families get a 10% discount with the code the website itself publishes.

At weekends and public holidays there is also "GeoTok, the eighth wonder", a theatrical visit in Catalan designed for families, with the same route: €14 adults, €12 pensioners, €8 ages 5 to 11 and €4 ages 2 to 4.

Before you go

Buy your ticket on the website in advance: capacity is limited and at weekends it sells out. Arrive 30 minutes before your time. Inside it is 17 or 18 degrees all year, so in summer bring a light layer. After rain, drops fall from the stalactites: take care with leather clothing. Dogs are not allowed on the site and pushchairs can't go down the mine. If you use a folding wheelchair, you can do the visit; if it is not folding, give 15 days' notice so they can adapt the minibus.

Getting there

The Parc Cultural is on the Carretera de la Mina, less than 2 km from the centre of Cardona. It has free open-air parking, a picnic area with tables and toilets and a shop.

Round off the day

Cardona Turisme recommends leaving two hours between the start of this visit and that of the castle and collegiate church of Sant Vicenç. On leaving the site, the return minibus passes the best spot to see the south face of the castle. For lunch afterwards, La Volta del Rector is in the old town.