As a method of preserving food including herbs, the drying process limits the development of microorganisms and the course of biochemical reactions in the raw material, but, at the same time, it affects the change in its sensory characteristics and chemical composition. A thyme herb (Thymus vulgaris L.) was dried using four methods: natural, convective (at a temperature of 40, 50, and 60˚C), with the use of microwave, and freeze-drying. A sensory analysis was applied to evaluate the intensity of odour and its four descriptors (fresh, herbaceous, spicy, balsamic) and colour (green, yellowish green, yellowish olive, brownish olive). The content and composition of essential oil were determined in the fresh and dried thyme (by a GC-MS method). It was found that the freeze- and microwave dried thyme was characterized by the most favourable sensory characteristics; this herb had a high odour intensity and a favourable colour. The flavour and colour of the thyme dried convectively at higher temperatures (50 and 60 °C) were rated the lowest. The highest content of essential oil was found in the fresh thyme herb (3.04 ml·100g^-1 of dry mass). The drying caused the content of essential oil to decrease in the range between 8 % and 50.9 %. The largest losses of essential oil were recorded in the material that was dried convectively at a temperature (60 °C) and in the freeze-dried herb, whereas the naturally dried herb and that convectively dried at a temperature of 40° C had the highest amounts of essential oil. Additionally, the drying process caused the content of aromatic compounds in the essential oil to decrease. The highest loss of those compounds occurred in the hot-air dried and freeze-dried thyme. The drying methods caused the composition of essential oil to become different. The essential oil in the naturally dried thyme was characterized by the lowest amount of the main component, i.e. of thymol, (50.8%) and the essential oil in the freeze-dried and microwave-dried thyme – by the highest amount of thymol (59.1 % and 58.3%, respectively). Also, the drying process caused the E caryophyllene and linalool contents to decrease and the contents of p-cymene and carvacrol to decrease.