You drive straight into the mountain. Then the walls glitter around you, grey and white, and carved figures of pure salt appear in the lamplight.

The mine

The Çankırı Salt Cave, Tuz Mağarası, is about 18 km south of Çankırı. It is still a working rock-salt mine, part of the largest rock-salt deposit in Türkiye, and salt has been mined here since the Hittites, around 3000 BC. Part of the mine has been turned into an exhibition area, and visitors can drive inside.

What to see

Salt sculptures line the galleries, some made at a 2005 workshop by Marmara University sculptors and students, and in 2012 the Orkhon Monuments were carved from rock salt. A donkey, a rabbit and a snake are shown as they were found, mummified by the cave's air. A salt-therapy station was set up in 2014.

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  Salt sculptures Including the Orkhon Monuments.
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  Mummified animals Preserved by the salt air.
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  Salt therapy Halotherapy station.