Pakistan
Khewra Salt Mine
Amber tunnels inside a salt mine so vast it contains its own mosque and railway.
The tunnel walls glow amber and pink, lit from within by salt so pure it is translucent. Deep inside the mine, a mosque carved entirely from salt bricks stands beside a brine pool that reflects the chamber ceiling like a dark mirror. The air tastes faintly mineral. An electric railway rattles past on tracks laid in the 1930s, ferrying visitors deeper into a mountain that has been hollowed for over two thousand years.
Khewra Salt Mine in Jhelum district is the world's second-largest salt mine and Pakistan's oldest, with extraction dating to at least Alexander the Great's era — his troops' horses reportedly discovered the deposits by licking the rocks in 326 BCE. The mine extends 730 metres into the Salt Range and descends to 288 metres below the surface, with 19 levels of tunnels containing an estimated 6.687 billion tonnes of rock salt. Inside, workers have carved a mosque, a post office, assembly halls, and replicas of landmarks — all from pink Himalayan salt. The mine produces around 350,000 tonnes annually, a fraction of its reserves. The salt's distinctive pink colour comes from trace minerals including iron oxide, potassium, and magnesium. A narrow-gauge railway built during British rule still operates within the mine, carrying visitors on a circuit through illuminated chambers where salt stalactites hang from carved ceilings.
Family
Families find Khewra endlessly engaging — children ride the underground railway, touch translucent salt walls, and explore carved chambers that feel more like a fantasy film set than a working mine.
Couple
The mine's amber-lit chambers and reflective brine pools create an unexpectedly atmospheric underground experience — couples discover a subterranean world that feels nothing like a typical day trip from Islamabad.
Friends
A group of friends can explore seventeen levels of illuminated salt tunnels, photograph the carved mosque, and ride the colonial-era railway through chambers that glow pink and gold.
- The mine has been operating since the 14th century and produces 350,000 tonnes of Himalayan rock salt annually from reserves estimated at 600 million tonnes.
- Inside the mine, pink salt blocks glow amber and rose under electric light — the interior temperature stays at 18°C year-round regardless of outside conditions.
- A miniature train carries visitors 750 metres into the hillside to the main chamber, which contains a salt-brick mosque still used for Friday prayers.
- The salt formation was created when an ancient sea evaporated 600 million years ago — the layers of red, pink, and white salt map the sea's slow retreat.
Salt-encrusted souvenirs from the gift shop — lamps, ornaments, cooking slabs.
Desi murgh and dal from roadside dhabas on the approach from Jhelum.
Jhelum's famous kulchas — crisp, flaky, and served with chickpea curry.
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