Strataca - Kansas Underground Salt Museum

Strataca is an underground salt mine museum in Hutchinson. Did you know: Strataca is one of only 15 salt mines in the United States, and it's the only salt mine that accessible to tourists? Very neat. This is definitely a unique experience! To visit the museum, you need to put on a helmet (required) and you go 650 feet beneath the Earth's surface on an elevator. Once you're down there, you get a guided tour of the salt mine. The tour also includes a ride on a tram through an area that was mined in the 1940s, and you get to pick out your very own piece of salt to take home. The typical tour takes about 2 hours, and it's appropriate for all ages.I don't enjoy tight spaces or places without windows, but surprisingly, I didn't feel claustrophobic at all here. There is lots of air pumped into the museum, and the space is open and feels cool.People who love movies will love to see all of the film memorabilia that's stored here. Apparently, this is a storage place for films and tv shows, because the mine is fireproof and at a cool and dry temperature.

It was just ok! What's sad is that they came up with info saying salt canyons were developed 265 millions of years ago! ‍ Sorry don't believe in Darwinism. Sound like someone pulled that number out of thin air. The person we took our dark tour with had a speech impediment. So we understood 1/3 of what he was saying. I understand diverse hiring however hiring someone who needs to speak for their Job really should not have a speech impediment. A person isn't gonna tip, especially when they don't understand what you're saying!

This is an amazing experience and educational opportunity! The Dark Ride to see more into the mines was very cool. Staff was great!

Great place to go enjoyed it a lotI would really love to go back sometime I learned a lot

We had a blast! This place was dynamite! Wish I could buy this place and make it mine.All the puns fully intended. The kids and family all had fun down here. Traveling the country and figured we'd go 650 down into the Earth. Pretty cool (yep, 68 degree pun). Actually our only complaint is the awesome tour guide on our Dark Tour ride didn't make enough mine puns. She set so many up and then didn't knock them down. Hit many, missed many more.This place is pretty neat, but not for the claustrophobic! The ride down takes about 90 seconds and you're in a elevator completely dark with 10 people. It's definitely kid-friendly and highly recommended!

THIS. WAS. ONE. OF. THE. BEST. THINGS. I'VE. EVER. DONE. If you get the opportunity, spend the money and come check out this salt mine. I mean, it's even still a working salt mine. You don't actually get to see the working part of the mine but TBH the old section we do get to see is probably more interesting because it's like a time capsule, literally. The salt preserves everything that isn't metal down there. And you do get to interact with miners. They have shift change at 3PM, meaning you can't have access to the hoist to leave until they're done about 45-60 min later. Warning though, they take the "be there 15 min before your scheduled time," VERY seriously. In fact, I think the person who checked us in punished us for being 5 minutes over the scheduled time. We were supposed to be there at noon, meaning 1145AM. We got there at 1205. Now, this isn't me. I'm normally early to everything but stuff kept happening and we ended up being late. Because of this, the extra tour we bought, Salt Safari, had to be rescheduled to 230PM from 1PM! I couldn't understand why but they guy would not budge, so I gave up. Other Safari people were getting off their tram at 1245 and were being told they could now visit the rest of the museum and take their other tours, which pissed me off because that could have been us at 1PM. BS! I watched the 1PM people load, we could have gone with them. But, because we had such a long wait we immersed ourselves in every exhibit and every video to watch and we only had maybe 15 minutes of down boring time. Luckily, they have WiFi. But 4 hours here is a bit much and kind of ruined the rest of our day.I'd highly recommend the Salt Safari if you want to see the really cool stuff. It was a bit repetitive because the Dark Tour has some of the same info but the Safari really takes you inside and you can see walls that haven't been touched since 1956. Seeing the artifacts, how mining has changed over the years and understanding the Earth's layers was just fun. Everyone who works here is super informative and they pay attention to you. The supervisor walked right up to us and was like "you guys are ready for the hoist" points at another couple and is like "your train ride is ready" and I'm how the heck did she know that??? They're watching you. TL;DR This mine is a fun way to spend the afternoon. You'll learn a lot and see a lot of cool things that you wouldn't normally in real life.

We had a great time. We paid extra for the safari and it was worth it. Charlie was the highlight of our overall experience. He took us on the dark tour. He answered all of our questions confidently and had a fun sense of humor. Thanks Charlie and the rest of the crew!

Unbelievable museum and tours. The entertainment and educational value far exceeded the price of admission as well as our expectations. We went with our 9 and 11 year old kids, along with their grandparents and were all were amazed with the quality of the experience. It's worth spending the extra few dollars for the salt safari and additional add-ons. All the tours really brought the importance of the mines both past and present into perspective - especially the people who worked there long ago and continue today.

Went on the tour for the second time recently. We found Strataca by accident a year ago as we drove by on our way to a gas station. We had time to come back and enjoy the Salt Blast tour with family this week. It's interesting to adults with enough different things going on (train ride, dark tour, gift shop) that even our six year old grandson was engaged the entire time. In fact, he told us this was more enjoyable than the nearby Cosmosphere (which the adults loved the day before). Both attractions are worth the stop in Hutchison!

A real gem Kansas has here. Very thankful for the people who continue to make this happen. It's a great way to educate people about how our early settlers helped to improve life for all who benefit from this industry.