Article Summary
What this article covers: Where Himalayan salt is actually mined, how the deposits formed, what visitors see inside the Khewra Salt Mine in Pakistan and how to plan a day trip there from Islamabad or Lahore.
Who this is for: Travellers planning a trip to northern Pakistan, readers curious about where pink salt comes from, and culture enthusiasts interested in mining heritage.
Key takeaway: The Himalayan salt mines are in the Salt Range of Punjab, Pakistan, well south of the high Himalayan peaks, and the largest of them, Khewra, has been worked for centuries and is open to visitors every day.
Expert insight: “I knew the Earl of Mayo as a name from Irish history long before I found out that Pakistan’s biggest salt mine carried his title for decades. The British called Khewra the Mayo Mine after he visited it as Viceroy of India, so a county in the west of Ireland ended up attached to a tunnel in the Salt Range of Punjab. Most people buying a jar of pink salt have no idea the story runs that way, and it says a lot about how far a label can drift from the place a product really comes from.” , Ciaran Connolly, Founder of ConnollyCove
Quick facts:
- The Khewra Salt Mine in Jhelum District, Punjab, is the world’s second largest salt mine, after the Sifto mine at Goderich in Ontario, Canada.
- Khewra’s salt comes from Ediacaran to early Cambrian evaporites of the Salt Range Formation, laid down more than 500 million years ago.
- Khewra was named the Mayo Salt Mine in honour of Lord Mayo, the Dublin-born Viceroy of India, and it now receives up to 250,000 visitors a year.
Table of Contents
Most people who buy a jar of pink Himalayan salt picture snowy peaks, but the salt is dug from low, dry hills in Punjab, Pakistan. The Himalayan salt mines sit in the Salt Range, a band of ridges between the Jhelum and Indus rivers, well to the south of the high Himalayas themselves. The biggest and best known is the Khewra Salt Mine in Jhelum District, which has been worked for centuries and is now one of the busiest visitor attractions in Pakistan.
ConnollyCove is an Ireland-based travel and culture platform, and this guide treats Khewra the way we treat any heritage site: what formed it, who has worked it and what you can see when you visit. It corrects several figures that are repeated widely online, explains how the salt is mined today and covers the practical side of a day trip from Islamabad or Lahore. It also follows a thread back to Ireland, because for much of the colonial period the mine carried the title of an Irish earl.
Himalayan salt mines are in Pakistan’s Salt Range, not the Himalayas
The Himalayan salt mines are in the Salt Range of Punjab province, Pakistan, and almost all of the pink salt sold around the world comes from there. The range runs for roughly 300 kilometres between the Jhelum and Indus rivers and rises only modestly above the plain; the Khewra mine itself sits at about 288 metres above sea level.
The name comes from the mountain system, not the peaks
The Salt Range lies along the frontal thrust zone of the Himalayan mountain system, which is how the salt earned its name. The label has helped the salt sell abroad, but it gives a misleading picture of where the rock is actually dug. In South Asia the same salt has long been sold as Lahori namak, after Lahore, which lies about 250 kilometres from Khewra by road and was the main market city for the trade.
Khewra is one of several mines in the Salt Range
Khewra is the largest and oldest of several mines that cut into the Salt Range. SaltWorks, a US salt company that sources from the range, says there are six primary mines, and the photographer Luke Duggleby has documented work at the Warcha and Kalabagh mines as well as at Khewra. Khewra is the only one set up for regular tourism, which is why most writing about the Himalayan salt mines is really about Khewra, and the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) has run it since 1974.
The salt formed from an ancient sea more than 500 million years ago
The salt in the Himalayan salt mines formed when an ancient shallow sea evaporated, long before the Himalayas existed. Geologists date the Salt Range Formation to the Ediacaran and early Cambrian periods, which places the salt at more than 500 million years old. Figures of 200 or 250 million years appear on many websites, including an earlier version of this page, but they do not match the geological dating.:
The collision of India with Asia pushed the salt towards the surface
The salt lay buried for hundreds of millions of years before plate movements brought it within reach. As the Indian plate pushed north into Eurasia, the buried salt beds were lifted and shoved southwards along thrust faults, riding on the leading edge of the rising mountains. Rock salt is weak and flows under pressure, so the seams inside Khewra are heavily folded, faulted and stretched. Desert evaporation still produces salt at the surface elsewhere, and Egypt’s Siwa salt lakes show the same process at work in a very dry climate today.
Iron oxide gives the salt its pink colour
The pink colour of Himalayan salt comes from iron oxide within the crystal structure, and the shades range from clear and off-white through pink to a deep red. Khewra salt is about 99 per cent halite, the mineral name for sodium chloride. The small remaining fraction includes trace minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron, which colour the rock but are present in amounts far too small to make a difference to diet.
Khewra’s history runs from Alexander’s horses to the Mayo Mine
Salt has been dug at Khewra for at least a thousand years, and local tradition takes the story back to 326 BC. According to the legend, horses belonging to Alexander the Great’s army began licking the rocks while the army rested near the Jhelum, and the soldiers noticed the salt. The story cannot be proved, but Pakistan’s submission to UNESCO for the Salt Range accepts that the reserves were known when Alexander crossed the region.
Trade on a larger scale came under the Mughals, when Khewra salt reached markets as far away as Central Asia. Salt was one of the great commodities of the pre-industrial world, carried by caravan across deserts and mountains in much the same way as on the trans-Saharan trade routes of West Africa. After the Mughal empire declined, Sikh rulers took over the mines, and the British followed when they annexed Punjab in the 1840s.
Salt has a long history in ceremony as well as trade. Ancient Egyptians used natron, a naturally occurring salt mixture, to dry bodies during mummification, and the results can be seen in Cairo’s museums today.
The British rebuilt the mine and named it after an Irish viceroy
In 1872 the mining engineer Dr H. Warth reorganised Khewra, cutting a new main tunnel and introducing the room and pillar method that is still in use. The mine became known as the Mayo Salt Mine in honour of Lord Mayo, who visited it as Viceroy of India. Lord Mayo was Richard Southwell Bourke, the 6th Earl of Mayo, an Irish peer born in Dublin in 1822 who served as Viceroy from 1869 until he was assassinated in 1872.
The town of Khewra was established in 1876 to house the workforce, and a railway line carried salt out to the wider network from the same year. After independence in 1947 the mine passed through several state bodies before the PMDC took it over in 1974, and it remains the largest source of salt in the country.
The Khewra Salt Mine has a salt mosque, brine ponds and its own railway
The tourist route inside the Khewra Salt Mine follows the main tunnel, which has been open as a visitor attraction since 2002. The main sights are the Assembly Hall, the Pul-Saraat salt bridge, the indoor brine ponds, the Badshahi Mosque, the Sheesh Mahal, Crystal Valley, a model of the Minar-e-Pakistan, a narrow gauge electric railway and a working Pakistan Post office.
The small mosque, built from salt bricks with its own minaret, is one of the earliest structures inside the mine. Its bricks range from red to pink to white and are lit from behind, so the walls give off a warm glow. Later additions include salt models of landmarks such as the Great Wall of China and the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, built specifically to entertain visitors.
The scale of the chambers comes from the way the mine was worked. Only about half of the salt was removed from each area, with the rest left standing as pillars, so walking through Khewra feels like moving between rooms carved out of a solid hill. The Assembly Hall is the largest of these spaces, and the brine ponds that collect in some chambers reflect the walls and ceiling.
Sheesh Mahal, whose name means palace of mirrors, is a chamber where the crystals are especially clear and catch the light. When you visit, the railway carries you part of the way along the main tunnel, and you can see the older mining machinery that stands beside the route. Allow time to stop at the brine ponds, which are the best place to see the colour banding in the salt.
Himalayan salt is still cut by the room and pillar method
Salt in the Himalayan salt mines is cut by the room and pillar method: miners cut chambers into the salt and leave columns of untouched rock to hold up the roof. The method was introduced at Khewra in 1872 and is still used under PMDC oversight. Khewra produces more than 350,000 tonnes of salt a year according to Wikipedia, about 99 per cent of it pure halite, and that output makes up a large share of Pakistan’s rock salt.
Accounts of how the salt is loosened differ. SaltWorks says explosives were used only to open the mine entrances more than a century ago and that all mining is now done by hand, but more recent reporting from Khewra describes workers blasting the salt out. Until the current method can be confirmed with the operator, the fair position is that both hand cutting and blasting have been reported. Readers interested in industrial history can compare Khewra with the mining heritage of England, where room and pillar working was also common.
The miners’ working conditions are hard
Life for the miners is a long way from the soft lighting of the tourist route. Luke Duggleby’s documentary photographs show men working in near darkness inside Khewra, and a hilltop village above the mine occupied entirely by salt miners and their families. SaltWorks states that the PMDC pays fair wages and keeps conditions humane, while video reporting from the mine has described dangerous work for low pay, so this is an area where the sources disagree. If you want your visit to support the town, the shops near the entrance sell lamps and decorative pieces made from the mine’s own salt.
The published figures for Khewra do not agree
Almost every figure about the Himalayan salt mines appears in more than one version online, and no single source settles them all. The table below sets out the main conflicts and the figure this guide uses.
| Figure | What different sources say | Figure used in this guide |
|---|---|---|
| Age of the salt | About 200 million years (several retailers), 250 million years (the earlier version of this page), 500 to 600 million years (ScienceABC) | Ediacaran to early Cambrian, more than 500 million years |
| World ranking | Second largest after Goderich in Canada (Al Jazeera, ScienceABC); second largest after Poland (some tour operators) | Second largest, after the Sifto mine at Goderich |
| Salt reserves | 82 million tonnes (Al Jazeera, ScienceABC); up to 600 million tonnes (salt retailers) | About 82 million tonnes, noting that higher estimates exist |
| Annual output | 325,000 tonnes (Atlas Obscura); more than 350,000 tonnes (Wikipedia); 360,000 tonnes (Al Jazeera); 400,000 tonnes (Tasting Table) | Roughly 325,000 to 400,000 tonnes, depending on the year reported |
| Working levels | 17 levels (ScienceABC); 19 levels (salt retailers) | 17 to 19 levels, about 40 kilometres of tunnels |
| Mining method | All by hand (SaltWorks); blasting (video reporting and the earlier version of this page) | Both reported; current method to be confirmed |
The differences are partly a matter of date, since output and the number of levels have both grown over time. Some are copied from marketing material without a source. Where a figure matters to your plans, such as opening hours or ticket prices, check it locally before you travel.
A visit to Khewra works best as a day trip from Islamabad or Lahore
Khewra is the only one of the Himalayan salt mines set up for regular visitors, and it is an easy day trip from Islamabad, about 160 kilometres away, or a longer one from Lahore. Most visitors spend half a day at the mine, and many tour operators pair it with the Katas Raj temples, a group of Hindu temples a short drive away in the same hills.
Getting there by road and rail
By road, the fastest route uses the M2 motorway between Islamabad and Lahore, leaving at the Lilla or Kallar Kahar interchange and continuing on local roads to Khewra. The drive from Islamabad takes about two and a half to three hours, depending on traffic and the state of the local roads. Khewra also has its own railway station, and Pakistan Railways has run tourist trains from Lahore and Rawalpindi, although you should confirm the current timetable before relying on one.
Travellers exploring the region’s religious heritage can build a longer trip around the mine. Our guide to the Sufi shrines of Pakistan covers sites in Punjab that fit well alongside a day at Khewra.
Tickets, opening hours and time inside
Nature Adventure Club, a Pakistani tour operator, lists entry to the mine at Rs 800 for adults, Rs 500 for students and 20 US dollars for foreign visitors. Published opening hours vary: Tripadvisor lists 9am to 5pm every day, while other guides give 4pm as the closing time, so plan to arrive in the morning. Carry identification, since foreign visitors pay a separate rate, and keep some cash in rupees for the ticket office and souvenir shops.
Travel advice for UK and Irish visitors
Check the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice for Pakistan before you book, and Irish citizens should also read the Department of Foreign Affairs travel advice for Pakistan. At the time of writing, the FCDO’s restrictions in Punjab province singled out Dera Ghazi Khan for all but essential travel, and the FCDO warns that travelling against its advice can invalidate your insurance. Advice can change quickly, so read it again in the week before you travel.
Seasonal conditions and the best time to go
The best time to visit Khewra is between October and March, when the drive across Punjab is more comfortable. Summers on the Punjab plains are very hot, with temperatures that often pass 40°C in May and June, and the monsoon brings heavy rain from July to September. Winter mornings can bring dense fog on the plains, which sometimes slows motorway traffic, so allow extra time on an early start.
Inside the mine the temperature stays at about 18 to 20°C all year, according to one Pakistani salt producer, so a light layer is enough whatever the season. Weekends and school holidays bring school groups and longer queues at the ticket office, which makes a weekday morning the quieter choice. Opening times can change around Eid and other public holidays, so confirm them with the PMDC or a local operator before you set off.
Pink salt is nutritionally similar to ordinary table salt
Himalayan salt is nutritionally similar to table salt, and the idea that it contains much less sodium is a common misconception. Its trace minerals are present in amounts too small to affect health, and pink salt is usually not iodised, which matters for anyone who relies on salt for iodine. Wikipedia’s summary of the evidence notes that pink salt can cost up to 20 times as much as table salt, mainly because of marketing.
The same caution applies to the products made from Khewra salt. Salt lamps give a warm light, but the claims that they purify the air are not supported by scientific evidence, and the same is true of most claims made for salt-lined spa rooms. Too much salt of any kind raises blood pressure, and the NHS recommends that adults eat no more than 6 grams of salt a day, whatever its colour.
Khewra compares with Wieliczka in Poland and Kilroot in County Antrim
Khewra, the largest of the Himalayan salt mines, makes a useful comparison with two other salt mines that travellers from Ireland and Britain are more likely to know: Wieliczka near Kraków, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Kilroot near Carrickfergus, the only salt mine in Ireland. Our guide to the salt mines of Poland and Bolivia covers Wieliczka and Kilroot in more depth.
| Mine | Location | Age of the salt | Status and output | Visitor access | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khewra | Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan | Ediacaran to early Cambrian, more than 500 million years | Working mine, roughly 325,000 to 400,000 tonnes a year | Open daily, with a railway and salt mosque | Visit as a day trip from Islamabad, allowing half a day |
| Wieliczka | Near Kraków, southern Poland | Miocene | Commercial extraction ended in 1996; UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978 | Guided routes all year | Combine with a city break in Kraków |
| Kilroot | Near Carrickfergus, County Antrim | Triassic, about 220 million years | Working mine, around 500,000 tonnes of de-icing salt a year | Closed to the public | Visit Carrickfergus town and castle instead |
Wieliczka is the obvious European counterpart, with chapels carved from salt and a visitor route that dates back to the early 19th century. If you are planning a trip to southern Poland, our list of places to visit in Poland puts the mine in context with Kraków and the rest of the country.
Kilroot sits 3 miles north-east of Carrickfergus on the northern shore of Belfast Lough and produces around 500,000 tonnes of de-icing rock salt a year, which is at least as much as Khewra’s reported annual output. It is a working industrial mine and is not open to visitors, but the ConnollyCove team has filmed the town above it, and our guide to exploring the town of Carrickfergus covers the harbour, the museum and the walk along the lough.
The Norman castle on the harbour is the town’s best-known sight. Our guide to Carrickfergus Castle covers its history from its foundation by John de Courcy in 1177.
Across the lough at Cultra, near Holywood, the Ulster Folk Museum shows how people in rural Ulster lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It makes a good second stop for anyone spending a day on the shores of Belfast Lough.
Frequently asked questions about the Himalayan salt mines
These are the questions people most often search for about the Himalayan salt mines, from where they are to what a visit costs. Each answer starts with the short version and then adds the detail.
Where are the Himalayan salt mines?
The Himalayan salt mines are in the Salt Range of Punjab province, Pakistan, between the Jhelum and Indus rivers. The largest is the Khewra Salt Mine in Jhelum District, about 160 kilometres from Islamabad, which is the world’s second largest salt mine. Several smaller mines, including Warcha and Kalabagh, also work the same range, but Khewra produces most of the salt sold abroad and is the only one regularly open to visitors.
Does Himalayan salt really come from the Himalayas?
No, Himalayan salt comes from the Salt Range in Pakistan rather than the high Himalayan peaks. The Salt Range sits along the southern edge of the wider Himalayan mountain system, which is where the name comes from. The salt itself is far older than the mountains: it formed from an evaporated sea more than 500 million years ago and was pushed towards the surface when India collided with Asia.
Are there Himalayan salt mines in India?
No, the salt sold as Himalayan salt is mined in Pakistan, not India. India was one of the largest buyers of pink salt from Khewra, where it is sold as Lahori namak, until India banned imports from Pakistan in 2025 and the cross-border trade stopped. Al Jazeera reported that importers who had traded the salt for decades lost their supply overnight. If you are travelling in north-west India, our guide to the Thar Desert covers the caravan towns on the Indian side of the border.
How is Himalayan pink salt mined?
Himalayan pink salt is mined using the room and pillar method, in which miners cut chambers into the salt and leave pillars of solid rock to support the roof. At Khewra, roughly half of the salt is left in place for this reason. Sources disagree on whether the salt is now cut entirely by hand or loosened with explosives, and both methods have been reported. The blocks are then taken to the surface for crushing, packing or carving into lamps and tiles.
Can you visit the Khewra Salt Mine?
Yes, the Khewra Salt Mine is open to visitors every day, and up to 250,000 people visit each year. The tourist route follows the main tunnel and includes a small mosque built from salt bricks, brine ponds, the Assembly Hall and a narrow gauge railway. Most visitors spend half a day at the mine, often combining it with the Katas Raj temples nearby. Check FCDO or Irish Department of Foreign Affairs travel advice before you book.
How much does it cost to visit the Khewra Salt Mine?
Entry costs Rs 800 for adults and Rs 500 for students, with a separate rate of 20 US dollars for foreign visitors, according to the Pakistani tour operator Nature Adventure Club. Prices change, so confirm them at the ticket office or with a local operator. If you book a guided day trip from Islamabad or Lahore, check whether the mine ticket is included, since many packages list it as an extra.
What is the best time of year to visit Khewra?
The best time to visit Khewra is between October and March, when temperatures on the Punjab plains are more comfortable for the drive. May and June are very hot, and the monsoon brings heavy rain from July to September. The temperature inside the mine stays at about 18 to 20°C all year, so the season matters more for the journey than for the visit itself. A weekday morning avoids the largest school groups.
Why is Khewra called the Mayo Salt Mine?
Khewra is also called the Mayo Salt Mine in honour of Lord Mayo, who visited it while he was Viceroy of India. Lord Mayo was Richard Southwell Bourke, the 6th Earl of Mayo, an Irish peer born in Dublin in 1822. He served as Viceroy from 1869 until his assassination in 1872, the same year that the British began rebuilding Khewra with a new main tunnel and the room and pillar system.
Explore more salt heritage with ConnollyCove
The Himalayan salt mines tell a story that starts with an evaporated sea, passes through Mughal trade and a Dublin-born viceroy, and ends with a railway ride into a hill in Punjab. If you plan a trip, give Khewra half a day, travel between October and March and check the travel advice before you book.
ConnollyCove, the Ireland-based travel and culture platform founded by Ciaran Connolly, produces travel guides and cultural stories from Ireland to destinations worldwide, and our salt heritage coverage runs from Pakistan’s Salt Range to Poland, Egypt and County Antrim. For video guides to heritage sites from Belfast Lough to Cairo, watch the ConnollyCove YouTube channel.
