Mines and caves in the Thuringian Forest13 underground places to visit

Merkers offers the longest mine tour available to tourists in Germany: a 90-second cable ride in a mine cage down to a depth of 500 metres, followed by a round trip of around 21 kilometres in open crew wagons through the disused potash mine. Stops along the route include the ‘Gold Room’, where the US Army discovered the Reichsbank’s gold reserves on 8 April 1945, an underground museum covering 1,500 square metres, the 250-metre-long ‘Großbunker’ housing the world’s largest bucket-wheel excavator ever used underground, and finally the Crystal Grotto at a depth of 800 metres.

Duration

180 min

Depth

800 m

Adults

€31.00 (Interactive tour, adults aged 18 and over)

Guided tours run all year round, Tuesday to Saturday only, at 9.30 am and 1.30 pm – there are no tours on Mondays or Sundays. There are no summer or winter timetables, nor any additional tours during the holidays: these are the only two starting times. erlebnisbergwerk.de/de-de

Not a natural cave, but an 18th-century gypsum mine that stumbled upon a crystal grotto: gypsum crystals up to 90 centimetres long, with a cave lake beneath them. The adit is 110 metres long, and guided tours run every hour.

Route

110 m

Adults

€12.00

1 April to 31 October: daily 10 am–5 pm; 1 November to 31 March: Tue–Sun 10 am–4 pm; guided tours every hour on the hour, with the last tour taking place one hour before closing time. marienglashoehle-friedrichroda.de

A 3,600-square-metre intelligence and command bunker belonging to the East German Stasi, concealed beneath a forest hotel on the Rennsteig. Visits are by guided tour only, lasting around 70 minutes; tickets are available from the hotel reception.

Duration

70 min

Adults

€15.00

April to November: daily 9.30 am–5.30 pm; winter: 9.30 am–4.30 pm; reduced opening hours in the off-season; guided tours on the hour; booking recommended. bunkermuseum-frauenwald.de

Thuringia’s oldest show cave, developed from 1802 onwards in the Romantic style as an underground landscape garden, featuring a cave dome, a stream and a cave lake. Of its total length of around two kilometres, 280 metres are open to the public.

Temperature

8 °C

Duration

90 min

Route

280 m

Adults

€15.00

Guided tours take place from Tuesday to Sunday at 12.30, 14 and 15.30; tickets are available online only or from the Bad Liebenstein Tourist Information Centre; late entry is not permitted. bad-liebenstein.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/al…

Not a eroded karst cave, but a fissure: the Dietrichsberg is slowly sliding down towards the Werra, creating chasms up to 50 metres high in the process. The path winds its way through four parallel crevices across three levels.

Temperature

8 °C

Duration

50 min

Route

420 m

Adults

€9.00

Guided tours: Thursday and Friday at 4 pm and 5 pm; Saturday and Sunday at 11 am, 12.30 pm, 2 pm and 3.30 pm; tickets available only at the venue, no advance sales; other times available on request. goetzhoehle.com

Discovered in 1888 during barite mining; a tourist cave since 1896. The entrance is via the old adit; there are 188 steps between the entrance and the stalactites.

Temperature

11 °C

Duration

45 min

Steps

188

Adults

€9.00

1 April to 31 October, Thu–Sun 10.45 am–5 pm, guided tours every hour on the hour, last tour at 4 pm; closed in winter as bats hibernate there. ruhla.de/tourismus/tropfsteinhoehle.html

An iron and manganese ore mine around 1900. Under UV light, the minerals in the tunnels glow – which is why the short guided tour is well worth a visit, even for children.

Duration

35 min

1 April to 31 October, Wed–Sun 10 am–5 pm; guided tours start on the hour, with the last one at 4 pm; during the winter months, by prior arrangement only. museumwilhelmsburg.de/museen/besucherberg…

Open-top mine railway wagons take visitors some 360 metres into the ‘Volle Rose’ adit, where fluorspar was mined until 1991. Above ground, on the same site, a historic narrow-gauge railway runs through the Schortetal valley – both attractions can be booked separately or as a combined ticket.

Temperature

10 °C

Duration

30 min

Route

360 m

Adults

€11.00

April to October: daily 10 am–6 pm, last entry at 5.30 pm; tours depart every half hour and on the hour, with a maximum of 16 places; booking recommended. schorte.com/schaubergwerk-volle-rose

A former alum and vitriol mine containing coloured secondary minerals, situated in the same mountain as the St Barbara Healing Tunnel. The visitor route is largely accessible – which is unusual for a mine.

Temperature

7 °C

Duration

60 min

Depth

62 m

Adults

€14.00

April to October: daily, guided tours at 10.30 am, 12 noon, 1.15 pm and 2.30 pm; November to March: Tuesday to Sunday, with three guided tours. morassina.de

The Saalfelder Fairy Grottoes are not a natural cave, but a disused alum shale mine: Between 1544 and 1850, slate was quarried here for the production of alum and vitriol; afterwards, seepage water containing iron and minerals coated the empty chambers with coloured sinter formations. Since 1993, the mine has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records as ‘the most colourful show caves in the world’.

Temperature

9 °C

Duration

60 min

Steps

120

Depth

26 m

Route

550 m

The exhibition mine and the Grottoneum are open almost all year round, with opening hours varying across five seasonal periods: 28 March to 14 June 2026, daily 10 am–5 pm (last guided tour at 4 pm), 15 June to 30 August: daily 10 am–6 pm (last guided tour at 5 pm), 31 August to 20 September: daily 10 am–5.30 pm (last guided tour at 4.30 pm), 21 September to 1 November, daily 10 am–5 pm (last guided tour at 4 pm), 2 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, Tuesday to Sunday only, 11 am–4 pm (last guided tour at 3 pm). During the Thuringian school holidays, as well as on public holidays and long weekends, the museum is also open on Mondays. feengrotten.de

A small exhibition mine with an adjoining mineral museum; admission is free. The guided tour lasts just under three-quarters of an hour.

Duration

45 min

Adults

€5.00

January and February: winter closure; March: Sat and Sun 10 am–6 pm; April to December: Tue–Fri 1.30 pm–10 pm and Sat/Sun 10 am–10 pm; closed on Mondays; last guided tour at around 5 pm. bad-liebenstein.de/schaubergwerk

The most recent mine on this list: barite and fluorspar were mined here right up until 1990. The mine railway takes visitors 250 metres into the mine, and there is also a mineral collection comprising over 500 specimens.

Duration

60 min

Adults

€8.00

April to October: guided tours at 10.30 am, 1 pm, 2.30 pm and 4 pm; maximum of 25 people; closed on Thursdays or Thursdays and Fridays, depending on the season. Closed from November to January. brotterode-trusetal.de/sehenswert/besuche…

Not a natural cave, but a sand quarry: since the 18th century, families from Walldorf have been extracting scouring sand from the hill, leaving behind a network of tunnels covering 65,000 square metres with around 2,500 supporting pillars still standing. Today, one section of it features scenes from fairy tales.

Adults

€8.00

April to October from 10.00, last guided tour at 16.00; daily during the school holidays; otherwise closed on Mondays, except on public holidays. sandsteinhoehle.de