Salines de Salies-de-Béarn
Salt works of Salies-de-Béarn: museum route with audioguide, observation terrace over the basins and tasting of ham salted with local salt.
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About the museum
Salies-de-Béarn developed around a salt spring known since antiquity. For centuries, salt water was distributed through the town by a spiral network centered on the Place du Bayaà. In 1840 a law required salt producers to make at least 500,000 kg a year, which concentrated production on a single site: this is how the Salines de Salies-de-Béarn began.
According to the salt works' website, it is today the only one still using the open-air salt pan technique. The salt comes from a spring and is harvested in large basins.
Visitors see production from a free observation point, with explanatory panels (for example on skimming the fleur de sel). A museum route with audioguide in French, English and Spanish, lasting about one hour, covers the development of the town and the legend of the wild boar. The visit ends with a tasting of Jambon de Bayonne salted with the spring's salt. A shop at the reception desk sells salt and salted products.
Highlights
- Open-air salt works with an observation point over the basins
- Museum route with audioguide (French, English, Spanish)
- Legend of the wild boar and history of the salt town
- Tasting of Jambon de Bayonne salted with Salies salt
- Shop with salt and salted products
Permanent exhibition
- Espace muséographique des Salines – Route on the use of the salt spring, the legend of the wild boar and the development of the town, with an observation point over the production basins.
- Founded
- 2013
- Operated by
- Société d’exploitation des Salines de Salies-de-Béarn
Admission & discounts
| Visitors with disabilities | –Preferential rate for visitors with disabilities. |
|---|
Accessibility
- Wheelchair accessible
- Elevator: no information
- Accessible restroom: no information
- Accessible parking
- Service dogs welcome: no information
- Tactile models & exhibits: no information
- Sign language tours: no information
- Easy-to-read materials: no information
- Audio description: no information
Step-free route; parking for about 15 cars, including 2 spaces for visitors with reduced mobility. Floor guidance markings outside and inside, seats along the route (including in the video room), induction loop, written visit aid on request.
Kids & families
| Time needed | approx. 60 min |
|---|
Getting there & parking
By car
Parking available
Parking for about 15 cars, including 2 spaces for visitors with reduced mobility.
- Accessible parking
Amenities & dining
- Museum shop
Shop at the reception desk (salt and salted products), accessible without taking the visit.
Events & venue rental
The museum hasn’t published any information on this.
Plan your visit
| Audio guide | yes (FR, EN, ES) |
|---|---|
| Good to know | Museum route with audioguide, observation point with explanatory panels on the basins, and tasting of Jambon de Bayonne at the end of the visit. |
