Salt Mine Berchtesgaden — Attraction in Berchtesgaden

I visited on July 11, 2015 with a school group of 54 adults and high schoolers as an optional exclusion through our tour company EF. I'd also previously visited in 1998 and 2002. This third visit was the best of the three and if memory serves me right, there have been some significant improvements and additions in the past couple decades.

First up was getting dressed in jumpsuits with plenty of selfies taken by my students. Then was a quick photo op on a train that speedily took us deep into the mine. While the kids balked at saddling up directly behind and in front of other travelers, after the first few bumps, the complaints turned into giggles and laughter. Everyone was smiling when we arrived in the big cavern with the first slide. While the light show was a bit corny, I'm sure it would have been magical for kids middle school and younger--my kids and adults were amused as well.

And the slide--oh my! I'm extremely fearful of heights and speed and even though there was a grimace on my face, the few moments downward were well worth the hilarious photo. As a note, there is a walkway down for those who are unable to slide. The following tour was informative, interesting, and great for audiences of all ages. My high schoolers were especially interested in the chemistry aspect of it since they'd just learned it this year in class.

The second slide and little boat ride across the lake were cool additions, as were the suggestions to taste the water or walls (both salty, as you might imagine.)

The gift shop was reasonably priced with both practical and silly gifts. The photos were reasonably priced (3 for 12 euros, if memory serves me correctly.) They were high quality 5x7 and were popular with the kids.

Overall, I had a great experience and am already planning to visit again the next time I'm in Salzburg with groups. Thanks for...

We didnt go in. It is a tourist trap. Tickets are expensive 25€ and ~32€ with some combined tickets, 50minutes guided trip. Its beyond me why there has to be amusement parks in saltmines.

Torda salt mine was enough, also for a fragment of this price, and you could stay there as long as you wanted. Which is great for lungtherapy.

Western countries are so kapitalistic they would even make air as a privilege... Basic human necessities like peeing is already an expensive privilege in most part of germany. No I dont have coins, No I dont want to buy the cupon down in the overpriced shop, tankstation or whatever. It is rare to find free toilet in germany.

Their store: (Their tablesalt is slightly cheaper in the nearby stores.) +They have iodized salt with selene in the merch store. They have iodized salt with extra fluoride. I remember fluoride was the main experimental material in the soviet era, they poisoned the water source of an entire village, it turned out it is causing people to become paranoid and an intense drop in their IQ. For pregnant women it is highly recommended to avoid it. It also causes tyroid problems and the dissolvement of calcium from the bones into the bloodstream. Im strongly against this. It is just a scam that is good for your teeth. It is against your brain. Its not something advised to put in your food, but it is already in the tapwater... Which may explain the behaviour of society nowadays.

The fact they still successfully mistyped my name in their answer also just convinces me we did the right decision not going in...

Just because the government, the authority, the american FDA approved something as food and somebody got bribed to bend over the lobbying, it wont make things healthy or beneficial for the people or their health. Tobacco, sugar lobby, hidrogenized ultraprocessed plant oils,...

This was a surprisingly fun and very interesting tour. We enjoy learning about how things work and manufacturing processes throughout history. There are audio guides for non german speakers. However, the speech given in German by the excellent tour guide went on for much longer and obviously provided more info than what international guests received...which was a bit disappointing. I didn't realize I was claustrophobic until we took this trip. The initial train portion takes place in one of the beautiful old, but very constrictive tunnels. I am not prone to panic attacks but had to talk myself down from the edge of one on this portion of tour. I didn't realize how far into and under the mountain you go!

Fortunately the rest of the tour was in more open spaces. I still had to work to ignore the depths we were in. Focusing on the interesting history, engineering and mechanics; along with the 2 fun miners slides, the peaceful boat ride, the funicular, and much faster and more spacious retuen train ride helped me to focus on the fun and not the fear. We learned a lot and left wanting to learn even more.

Was surprised to learn there is a Gin process in the caves where they age the gin in clay casks.

Very impressed by the ingenuity and hard work of generations of Germans. We are intrigued enough that we are going to the salt works at Bad Reichenhall tomorrow

I highly recommend this tour unless you are truly claustrophobic.

There are coat racks and lockers for your packs and coats before starting tour.

Prices in gift shop much too high. Had hoped to try the gin, but not at gift shop prices.

Props to the miners overall ladies. They quickly and without error picked the proper size for all 50 people...