Salt mines

We did Berchetesgaden in October and loved it. There’s a train ride. Two amazing slides. And a boat ride. We did Eagles Nest in the morning and the salt mine that same afternoon.

I would be shocked if someone here has been to all three to allow for a proper comparison. But happy to be proven wrong. If you do find that unicorn of a person, would you let one person's opinion guide you? I'd suggest going to Trip Advisor and reading the reviews of all three.

I can only share my experiences with the Hallstatt salt mine. You will ride a train, you will go down huge slides. There is no rollercoaster. The focus is a lot on the history of the salt mine.

I would be shocked if someone here has been to all three to allow for
a proper comparison. But happy to be proven wrong.

I am the one 😉 I have been to Hallstatt mine once as a young adult during a hiking week in Salzkammergut and we have been with the kids once in Berchtesgaden and once in Hallstatt. All visits are more than 10 years back thus my memories are not fresh anymore and I don’t know what might have changed in the meantime.

The experience is quite similar in all of the 3. Train ride in the mountain, boat ride, slide down a wooden slide (just a straight line, not roller coaster like. Of course, one could take the stairs as alternative) plus some walking with information about salt mining and history.

In Hallein and Hallstatt it was walk-in and train-out of the mine. In Berchtesgaden it was a train-ride in and out auf the mine, thus I assume it was overall the shorter walking distance.
Hallein and Berchtesgaden salt mine are even in the same mountain. In the Hallein mine you would cross the border from Austria to Germany deep in the mountain.
I would definitely recommend to visit one of the salt mines. Simply choose the one, that fits best to your overall travel route and schedule.

• Hallein is the closest one to Salzburg and the Celtic village would be a nice add-on.
• Berchtesgaden could be combined with a boat-ride on Königssee or a visit to Kehlsteinhaus/ Eagles Nest
• If you plan to visit Hallstatt anyway you could include the salt mine.

There is one more difference: In Berchtesgaden mine it was not allowed to take pictures, while that was not an issue in Hallein and Hallstatt.

I’ve done Hallstatt once, Hallein 3 times. Hallein in 1970 was the best with more of the slides, but going back in time isn’t possible 😂. I’d do whichever is more convenient for you.

Paul636 - you are a unicorn!

Thank you all!

I have done two: Hallein (2008) and Hallstat (2001). In 2001, there wasn't a boat ride. (You trained in, 2 slides, walked out) I preferred Hallein for 2 reasons. 1. The boat ride 2. It was less visited that Hallstatt. At Hallein, our guide took time to make sure we understood what was said in German. They also were friendlier and seemed less "worn out by all the tourists". And that was before Hallstatt became as popular as it is today. I felt tolerated at Hallstatt and welcomed at Hallein.

We went to Hallstatt in 2019 and wouldn't recommend the salt mine there. It takes a long time to do. First you take the funicular, then walk a good distance steeply uphill. Then a line for the tour, don coveralls and more walking and stairs to start the tour. If you're an English speaker you get very limited info. The guide would speak for a while in German and then say a sentence or two in English. She also didn't wait for everyone to catch up before she started speaking. The video presentations were sometimes hard to see because the group was so large and the English subtitles flew by too fast. We learned almost nothing about salt mining. The slide was fun though.

Thought the Hallstatt salt mine tour was fun, did it yesterday. However, walk uphill from funicular to mine entrance was a lot steeper & more stairs than I have read about in RS guide book. As a not so fit senior, it was challenging, especially in the unexpected 90 degree heat. Bring water! Did not need a jacket inside, I was sweating bullets.