Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »
Countries
  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan
Cities
  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
St. Patrick's Church
St. Patrick’s Church
The Invisible Lamplighter
John J. McGraw Monument, Truxton, New York.
John J. McGraw Monument
Tin Lizzy Ice Cream Man
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
The Bundesbüdchen sits outside Bonn's UN Campus and many of the Bonn Republic's converted government buildings.
Bundesbüdchen
Food window and entrance of center.
Indian Arts Center
Steaming Tender Restaurant
Tiptree Jam Museum entrance.
Tiptree Jam Museum
The Reading Room blends the intimacy of an inviting bar with the inviting solace of a good bookstore.
The Reading Room
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Check Out the Playlist for Our New Book
To Andrew Phung, Calgary is simultaneously a big city and a small town—in all the right ways.
Andrew Phung’s Favorite Calgary Spots
One of the gargoyles that adorns Oxford’s Magdalen College.
8 Gargoyles and Grotesques Hiding in Plain Sight
Only-in-Anchorage Winter Traditions

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All Mexico Abandoned Salt Mine

Abandoned Salt Mine

This rural island is home to the ghost town of what used to be the world’s biggest salt mine.

Isla del Carmen, Mexico

Yualdashi profile photo
Added By
Brian
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
Salt Lake   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Remains of Pier   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Salt Lake   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Shore   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Pier   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Ruins & Pier   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Salt-Corroded Machinery   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Historic Restored Church   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Crumbling Lighthouse   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Ship's Hull   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Abandoned Millstone   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Rusting Forklift with Cactus   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Shallow Pink Salt Lake   Yualdashi / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

This Place Is a Stub

Help improve this place with additional information or photos.

Make an Edit

About

Located on an uninhabited desert island in the Gulf of California and only accessible by a two-hour boat ride from Loreto, this is the site of what used to be a massive salt mine and pink salt lake. Along the seashore are the dilapidated remains of a pier, a partially submerged ship's hull, a crumbling stone lighthouse, standing ruins of a bank, offices, a silo,  a schoolhouse, and a small restored church.

The buildings contain some of the original items used when the mine was in operation. All the buildings are constructed using coral as their base. Further inland in the Bahia Salinas area is a pink salt lake surrounded by rusting tractors and bulldozers. 

Places

Discover your next amazing Atlas Place.

Get more unusual and extraordinary places each week with the Atlas Obscura Places newsletter.

Your newsletter subscriptions with us are subject to Atlas Obscura's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Know Before You Go

This is a two-hour boat ride from Loreto. 

Community Contributors

Yualdashi profile photo

Added By

Yualdashi

Published

December 19, 2023

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • https://tendenciaelartedeviajar.com/en/2015/10/history/isla-del-carmen/

Related Tags

Ghost Towns Wonders Of Salt Abandoned Salt
Abandoned Salt Mine
Loreto Municipality
Isla del Carmen
Mexico
26.000116, -111.105919
Get Directions

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Mexico

Mexico

North America

Places 652
Stories 62

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Mexico

Mexico

North America

Places 652
Stories 62

Related Places

  • Saltdale

    Cantil, California

    Saltdale

    Salt is slowly eating away this abandoned saltworks town in the desert.

  • Old Sagiada

    Greece

    Old Sagiada

    Abandoned and overgrown town with views of the Mediterranean Sea.

  • Geneva Bank Vault

    Geneva, Florida

    Geneva Bank Vault

    From an earlier era, a small community was established and was prosperous but drifted away, leaving only the bank vault behind.

  • Mock houses

    Schleiden, Germany

    Wollseifen Village

    An eerie ghost village hidden in the forests of the Eifel, frozen in a strange postwar limbo.

  • So Lo Pun

    Hong Kong

    So Lo Pun

    One of the Hakka "ghost villages" of Plover Cove famed for its haunted locked compass legend.

  • Broken and leaning headstones at Pere Cheney Cemetery surrounded by pine needles and offerings left by visitors to honor the forgotten dead.

    Pere Cheney, Michigan

    Pere Cheney Cemetery

    All that remains of a vanished Michigan lumber town, remembered for tragedy, plague, and a witch’s curse.

  • Hardware Store

    Scenic, South Dakota

    Scenic Ghost Town

    The empty town of Scenic, South Dakota, is owned by a church in the Philippines.

  • Singular Building

    Gebo, Wyoming

    Gebo Ghost Town

    Remnants of a town from a bygone era.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2026 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.