How to Visit Khewra Salt Mine, Pakistan

When the world’s second-largest salt mine is en route to your next destination, then it’s a sure thing that you’re going to visit it. And that’s how we found ourselves visiting this, still operational salt mine, in Pakistan’s Punjab province.  While I say it’s en route, that’s not quite correct; you do have to go slightly off the main road to get there, but it’s still well worth the diversion to visit Khewra Salt Mine.  There are all sorts here, from numerous salt sculptures, crystal-clear brine pools, not-so-clear pools, and even a tiny salt mosque.  There’s an electric train to ride (but you can walk the six hundred or so meters (about 0.37 miles) instead, and a whole lot of different aspects of salt mining to explore underground.  Here’s my guide to visiting Khewra Salt Mine.

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In this guide to visiting Khewra Salt Mine, I’ll go through exactly how to get here, what to expect underground, and the best way to plan your trip. The town of Khewra, where you’ll find the salt mine of the same name, sits in a rugged part of Punjab where public transport options are slim to nonexistent, so most travelers end up taking a tour or arranging a private taxi. It’s a great optional stop if you’re traveling from Islamabad to Lahore overland.  Once you’re at the mine, the route is simple, and the guides do a great job of explaining the history and geology without overwhelming you. If you’re staying in Islamabad or Lahore and looking for a genuinely unique experience — this is it.

If you don’t want to do this as part of your transport between Islamabad and Lahore, then you can arrange a day trip from either city.  Ask at your hotel, or prebook and select one of two options from Lahore with Viator

• Visit Khewra Salt Mine and Rohtas Fort on a day trip from Lahore – details here
• Explore Khewra Salt Mine, the Katas Raj Hindu Temple, and the hill station of Kallar Katar on this day trip from Lahore.  There’s more on this trip here.

Why Visit Khewra Salt Mine?

We’ve visited mines around the world, but the only salt mining we’ve seen before has been on the surface, in Maras, Peru.  And so this is a new one for us.  Khewra is the world’s second-largest salt mine in the world.  The others?  Well, the largest is Sifton in Ontario, Canada, then there’s Khewra, and in third place, Prahova Salt Mine in Romania.

This is where much of the world’s pink Himalayan salt actually comes from, and you get to walk through vast chambers that have been dug out over the centuries. The mine has been worked since at least the era of Alexander the Great, and once you’re inside, you’ll find salt-brick sculptures and atmospheric tunnels that feel otherworldly without being claustrophobic.

It’s also a chance to see a real working mine.  You can’t actually go down to level 7, where the salt mining starts; you’ll stay on level 6 while miners work the levels above and below, but it does give you a sense for how big this operation actually is. More than six hundred people work here, across two six-hour shifts. Add in the “salt therapy” resort or hospital (popular with asthma sufferers), the electric train, and the temperate underground climate, and you’ve got more than a few reasons for visiting. If you’re travelling between Lahore and Islamabad, it’s easy to combine Khewra with Rohtas Fort (my guide to visiting Rohtas Fort is here) or the Katas Raj temples.  Alternatively, there’s an option to also visit the Mangla dam, the sixth largest in the world, or the Kallar Katar hill station. 

Where Is Khewra Salt Mine?

Khewra Salt Mine is located on the Potohar Plateau in the Salt Range of Punjab, about midway between Islamabad and Lahore.   This range of mountains, known as the Salt Range, is at the Himalayas’ southern tip, bounded in the north by the Jhelum River and the Potohar Plateau in the south.

The region is rugged and semi-arid, and the mine is set right on the edge of the city of Khewra, which has a population of around 35,000.  Or 80,000, depending on which website you read.  Regardless.  There are 600 salt miners employed here. The distance from Islamabad to Khewra is roughly 200 kilometers (124 miles), which takes around 3.5 hours depending on traffic. From Lahore, it’s slightly longer — about 260 kilometers (162 miles) and 4–4.5 hours of driving.

How to Get to Khewra Salt Mine

It’s pretty straightforward to get to Khewra, although it’s not possible by public transport, so here are your options.  And frankly, there are three.  All of which involve cars.  You’ll choose based, most likely, on where you are starting from and where you want to end up.

Take a Tour to Khewra Salt Mine

You can take a tour to Khewra from Islamabad or Lahore.  If you want to visit from Islamabad, then you’ll need to ask your hotel to arrange this for you and pay cash for your tour.  In Lahore, it’s a little easier.  There are two options available to you from Lahore.

There’s a dedicated Khewra day trip, which is ideal if your focus is the mine – but it also takes in the Katas Raj Hindu temple (which we did not get to see, but wish we had) and also the Kallar Katar Hill Station.  Here are the details.

You can also combine Khewra with a visit to Rohtas Fort from Lahore.  It makes for a long but excellent day. Here are more details.

These tours include transport, entrance tickets, and guiding, and they’re a great option if you’re based in Lahore.

Take a Private Taxi to Khewra Salt Mine

Taking a private taxi to Khewra Salt Mine gives you the most flexibility, including where you start and finish.  And private taxis do NOT need to be just a one-day trip.  You can make this a two-day trip and stay overnight close to either Khewra Salt Mine or Rohtas Fort.

From Islamabad or Lahore, any hotel or driver service can arrange a car for you.  It’ll cost more than a regular city taxi because of the distance, but the convenience is fabulous. And when I say cost more, it’s truly nothing by Western standards.  A private taxi also lets you combine Khewra with Rohtas Fort or even make it part of a one-way journey between the two major cities.  As an example, we paid for two days of a private driver, including all tolls, fees, parking, and his accommodation.  We got a great, comfortable Toyota Corolla car and a super confident and capable driver, too.  We arranged this through Royal Taxis. 

We paid 45,000 PKR for a good-quality sedan car and a great driver from Royal Taxi for a two-day trip from Islamabad to Lahore, stopping at Rohtas Fort and Khewra Salt mines.  We had planned to stop at the Katas Raj Hindu temple, but decided not to in the end and continued onwards to Lahore, arriving in Gulberg around 19:30.  If this suits your route, then I recommend Royal Taxi and their drivers.

If you want to turn it into a slower trip, you can overnight near Rohtas or Katas Raj. The only accommodation in the area that accepts foreign travelers is Rohtas Resort (near Rohtas Fort) and Green Pak Katas Raj (near the temples). From either place, you can continue to Rohtas Fort the next day and make a two-day adventure of it.

Connect with Rohtas Resort here – Imran is very responsive, and if you check out his Facebook page, he’s very used to hosting foreign guests.

Green Pak Hotel Katas Raj was disappointing for us, despite stating availability on the website – and we made a booking, we were only glad that the email telling us that they were closed for the season (early December) arrived before we’d driven all the way there!

I’ve detailed other ways to get between Islamabad and Lahore (if you just want to go straight there) in my guide here.

Using Ride Hailing to visit the Khewra Salt Mine

I’m including this, as city-to-city is one of the options on Indrive, the popular ride-hailing app here in Pakistan.  You can use it to hail a ride (the entire car) from Islamabad to Lahore.  The app itself does NOT allow for stops in Khewra easily, but once you’ve got yourself a driver, then it’s up to you to negotiate a rate for a stop at Khewra, Rohtas, or wherever you want.  It may work out more cost-effectively than arranging a taxi.  It also may not work out.  Let me know if you do this.

Indrive is hugely popular across Pakistan because you propose your fare, and drivers counteroffer. Although the app does suggest what fare you should offer, you can make your offer higher or lower.  Indrive can be downloaded here.

Take Public Transport to Khewra Salt Mine

There’s no convenient or reliable public transport to Khewra from either Islamabad or Lahore. At all. If you’re travelling independently, arrange a private car — it’s the only realistic option.

History of the Khewra Salt Mine

Khewra’s salt story goes back more than two thousand years. The mine is traditionally linked to the era of Alexander the Great, whose horses reportedly licked the salty rocks in 326 B.C., alerting soldiers to the deposit.   Seeing the horses licking the rocks, a soldier reportedly licked one and found it salty.  Our guide at the mine convinced 50% of the people in our group to lick the rocks and see how salty it was.  I don’t plan on participating in the Darwin Awards and didn’t, although Nigel mimed doing it for the camera.

Official records don’t detail any salt mining here until the Janjua Raja tribe in the 1200s, but it was likely mined and traded since its discovery in Alexander’s time.

In 1500 A.D., ASP Khan, the local leader of Khewra, advised King Akbar the Great that there was salt here to be mined, and organised mining began then, under that the Mughal Empire.  It expanded during British rule, when more structured extraction methods were introduced.  The main tunnel was excavated in 1872.

In 1890, a railway station and bridge were built at Khewra to be able to easily transport the salt, and production of salt reached 80,000 metric tonnes a year in 1914.   Current production is around 325,0000 metric tonnes a year, with around 220 million tonnes over the lifetime of the mine.

The electric train tracks, engine, and carriages have been around since 1930, when the British began using a 600 mm wide mine cart train.  It was used then to haul the salt from the mine, but now it hauls tourists.

After 1947, the BMR took over, then the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation in 1956.  It’s been managed by the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation since 1974.

How big is the Khewra Salt Mine?

The Khewra Salt Mine covers 110 square kilometers and is 228 meters deep.  There are 17 different levels and 40 kilometers of tunnels.  5 of the levels are above the ground (into the mountain), and 11 are below the ground, with the first level being the level that you walk in on.  There are 7 salt seams in the mine, with a cumulative thickness of 150 meters.  There are more details here on mining at Khewra from PMDC.

What type of salt is mined at Khewra?

White, pink, and black salt are mined at Khewra.  Most of the rock salt in the world that’s marketed as Himalayan Rock Salt and Pink Salt comes from the salt mines of Pakistan.  Himalayan Salt dates back to 600-450 million years ago and is a product from what’s called the “Evaporite Layer”.  This is a band of sedimentary rock that is composed of minerals left behind when the water evaporates in the heat.  So when the lake or sea water dries out, it becomes salt.

It’s this salt that’s used in the salty chai of the Hunza valley, where you’ll often see a chunk of rock salt used to stir a cup of hot chai, in place of sugar.

How is salt mined at Khewra?

Salt is mined here at Khewra using the “room and pillar method”.  Large chambers are excavated, but pillars are left to support the roof of the mine.  Salt is broken into large blocks, which look like bricks, to bring it out of the mine.

How much salt remains at Khewra?

It’s estimated that there is somewhere between 82 million to 600 million tonnes of salt remaining at Khewra Salt Mine.

What to See at Khewra Salt Mine

Your entire visit takes place underground, and the entry point is about six hundred meters (roughly 0.37 miles) from the visitor gate. After leaving your vehicle in the parking lot, you’ll head first to the ticket office. 

Tickets for foreigners are US$20 per person.  Payable in Pakistani Rupees.  Locals pay 430 PKR.  Everyone has to pay 250 PKR if they want to ride the train.  Yes, even if you’re just paid out US$20, you need to hand over another 250 PKR for the train.  If that’s going to break the bank, then you can walk along the flat path beside the train tracks.

After you have your ticket, you’ll need to sign a disclaimer absolving the mine of any and all responsibility if you get hurt/sick, etc, inside the mine, as well as let them see your passport and visa grant notice (for one person from your group).  And then you are ready to go into the mine, so you’ll need to follow the covered walkway back down, past the parking lot, over the river, and to the mine entrance area, where your tickets will be checked and where the little electric train awaits.

Ride the electric train into the Khewra Salt Mine.

It’s quaint, costs less than a dollar, and it’s fun to ride.  It doesn’t go very fast (I don’t think it can), but hey, why not, eh?  Open carriages seat four people, and I’d recommend either the very front or the very back, as you’ll be best able to see the tunnel and the engine itself.  You’ll ride the train for around 600 meters (just over 1/3 of a mile) to what they call “Chandi Chowk” in the mine itself. After this, you’ll be walking.

Guided Tours of the Khewra Salt Mine

Most of the tours here are given in Urdu, so you’d be advised to contact Khewra Salt Mine ahead of time and let them know you’re coming and that you’d prefer an English-speaking guide.  You can do this on WhatsApp (+92 312 7423101) – they are fabulous at responding (during business hours) – and when we changed our plans and gave them 40 minutes’ notice of arrival, they were able to assist with an English-speaking guide.

The tours follow a set route – basically a circular route through some of the tunnels, showing off structures that they’ve built with salt bricks, some of the pools, and, of course, through the obligatory gift and coffee shop.

You’ll also learn about the “health resort” area, used for salt therapy and said to benefit asthma sufferers.

The Entrance to Level 7 and the “Real” part of the Mine

Don’t miss the entrance to the mine.  It’s roped off, but you can see down the tunnel, and there will likely be some guards there stopping you if you attempt to head down there, but this is where the real work happens.

Structures and Attractions in the Khewra Salt Mine

There’s a copy of the Badshahi Mosque, made entirely from salt bricks, complete with a minaret and lit up, a version of the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, and even a salt library.

There are sump pools designed to store water, pools filled with rainwater filling enormous caverns.  Most of the pools are filled with salty, briny water – so salty that you will float, like in the Dead Sea.

You’ll see one of the original electric trains from the 1930s and also one of the cutting tools, as well as the cutting mark it made in the wall.

Practical Tips for Visiting Khewra Salt Mine

• Snacks and drinks are available both above ground and inside the visitor area of the mine.
• Wear sturdy walking shoes. The ground underground is uneven, damp in places, and not ideal for flimsy sandals.
• A tour and visit will take around 1 hour and 20 minutes if you take the train, slightly longer if you plan to walk in and out and not take the train. 

Entrance Fees for Khewra Salt Mine

• Foreign visitors: US$20, payable in local currency
• Local adults: 430 PKR
• Train ride (any nationality): 250 PKR

Opening Hours of Khewra Salt Mine

• 09:00 – 18:00 (ticket office closes at 17:00)
• Train rides stop at 16:00
• Trains run when full, or on an ad-hoc schedule — not at specific timed departures.

Final Words on Visiting Khewra Salt Mine

This is a fascinating stop between Islamabad and Lahore, into an underground world that you wouldn’t know existed from above.  While the structures that have been built are somewhat twee, what isn’t is the fact that they’ve used salt bricks for all of them.  It’s a super look at the industry of this part of Pakistan and a history lesson all bundled together with a short, but fun, electric train ride.  You’ll learn about salt and the different types that are mined here, as well as how it’s mined.  It’s a great stop, don’t miss it.

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