Bex Salt Mines, tourist attraction in Bex, Switzerland

Bex Salt Mines is a working salt mine turned visitor attraction in Bex, Switzerland, with over 50 kilometers of underground tunnels, galleries, and stairs. The site includes a wide staircase leading down into dark rock passages, caverns, and a small yellow train that carries people deep inside the mountain.

A shepherd reportedly noticed goats drinking from salty springs in the 15th century, which led to the first small-scale salt extraction in the area. Mining proper began in 1684, and over time the site passed into the hands of the Bern authorities, who planted nearby forests to supply wood for boiling brine into salt.

Visitors can taste special salts such as Fleur des Alpes as part of the experience, and the guide often explains that salt was called 'white gold' because it once shaped local trade and daily life. Interactive stations let people chip off a small piece of salt rock or hollow out a wooden log once used for ventilation, giving a hands-on sense of old mining work.

Wear sports shoes and warm clothing because the underground temperature stays at about 18 degrees Celsius year-round, and avoid bringing wheelchairs, walkers, or pushchairs since the terrain is uneven. Weekends offer a small bus from Bex train station to the mine, and there is free parking plus a covered picnic area for snacks.

A small yellow train takes visitors to a restaurant located about 400 meters below the surface, offering food with tunnel views. Another overlooked detail is that the mine runs on a small hydroelectric plant and produces salt from one of the lowest-concentration brines in the world.