Once you have finished everything something special on the menu prepared for you: festivals, concerts, exhibitions, monuments, museums, history, old and new architecture, nightlife, day life, student life... you have toured the whole city, go and exploring what’s left and cannot missed – the surroundings!

Program: pick-up from your accomodation, trip to Turda Gorge, then visit Turda Salt Mine, and in the evening dinner and winetasting at Salina Winery. Drop-off at your accomodation.

Fun & adrenaline one day trip to Turda Gorge

A place of rare natural beauty a mere 50km away from Cluj-Napoca, the Turda Gorge is excellent hiking grounds for explorers of any fitness level, an ideal destination for those who like to hike in the middle of the nature, where human intervention is kept to a minimum. Either you’re a soft trekker or an enthusiast of the extreme sports, there’s always something here that suits your needs: trekking in the gorge, free climbing, paraglider, bike racing, via ferrata, or zip line.

The area is a natural sanctuary with an amazing landscape: steep cliffs, vertical walls, wild vegetation and caves. The path leading between the cliffs is easily accessible and very well maintained. Don't forget to admire the beauties that stand 80 meters above your head and the small waterfalls that have coiled up there. Persevere all the way to the end of the gorge – which shouldn't take more than an hour, and enjoy some incredible, sweeping views of the green surroundings.

There are quite a few restaurants and food trucks that will satisfy the food needs with some traditional grills and sweet pastries; among the last you should try the cheese pies and the famous Szekely’s (Hungarian speaking minority) “kürtőskalács” - pastry shells made from sweet yeast dough that is rolled in granulated sugar, basted in melted butter, and spit-roasted over charcoal and then topped with additional ingredients such as ground walnuts or powdered cinnamon.

The underground world of Turda Salt Mine

 Imagine yourself about some 100 meters underneath the earth’s surface, in a world that seems out of a crepuscular sci-fi movie; you’ll find here different huge chambers, shaped under different forms: one has a deep lake and a salt island sits in the center, where people can hire a boat and row in a dark atmosphere…another chamber has the ceiling adorned with stalactites, and the bottom accommodates a theme park: pool tables, table tennis, a bowling alley, mini golf courses, a small amphitheater and to top it all off, a Ferris wheel entertain the people. A panoramic elevator offers tourists an overview of this chamber. One room with conical form and no communication with the rest of the complex has a powerful echo, thus the “Echoes room”. Another octagonal room hosts a winch (“crivac”), rudimentary machinery from 1881, used to lift salt rocks on the surface - it is the only machine of its kind, in all the salt mines in Romania and probably in Europe, that remains in its original location.

This is Turda Salt Mine, included in the Business Insider magazine at the top of their list of the “ten coolest underground places in the world” and also listed in the “25 hidden gems around the world that are worth the trek”. Using the benefit of the natural aerosols, people with breathing ailments use the interior of the mine for curative purposes. It's considered that the salty environment is beneficial to health thanks to the specific micro climate and clean air condition, so some areas are used as spa treatment rooms as well as for halotherapy.

We reserve 2hrs to visit the mine, then we set for the winetasting and dinner at La Salina Winery.

As the name of the winery suggests (La Salina – The Salt Mine), the vineyard is located in the immediate vicinity of Turda Salt Mine, an area with a secular tradition in viticulture, dating back from the Roman Empire period. At the base of the vineyards, ʺSarea-n bucateʺ Restaurant awaits its guests. The inviting aromas of patiently cooked dishes, following traditional recipes, blend harmoniously with ISSA wines.

Return to Cluj-Napoca in the evening.