Maras Salt Mines, Moray Terraces & Chinchero Cultural Day Trip

Your guide and driver collect you directly from your Cusco hotel lobby at 8:00 AM for the scenic drive north toward the Sacred Valley plateau. As the vehicle climbs out of the city, expansive mountain views open up across the Andes, reaching the high town of Chinchero at 3,762 meters (12,342 feet) by 9:15 AM. Here, step into a local artisan workshop where Quechua women demonstrate the century old art of spinning alpaca wool and extracting natural pigments from plants, tree bark, and crushed cochineal insects.

At 10:45 AM, continue across the high plateau to the Maras Salt Mines, arriving around 11:15 AM. Standing at the rim of the Qoripujio canyon, view over 3,000 terraced evaporation ponds fed by a warm, hypersaline subterranean spring. Local families have harvested mineral rich pink salt here using traditional sluice gates and natural evaporation since pre Inca times.

By 12:15 PM, board your private transport for the 20 minute drive to the archaeological site of Moray, arriving at 12:35 PM. Explore the extraordinary circular terraced depressions carved deep into the limestone earth. Your guide explains how these concentric rings created microclimates with temperature variations of up to 15 degrees Celsius, allowing Inca agronomists to hybridize wild crops like potatoes and maize.

At 1:30 PM, arrive at the native farming village of Misminay for a freshly prepared lunch featuring traditional Andean ingredients such as native potatoes, quinoas, and roasted vegetables, hosted directly by local residents. Following lunch, begin the return journey toward Cusco at 3:00 PM, stopping at 3:30 PM along the shore of Huaypo Lagoon to take in the clear water reflections of the surrounding Vilcanota mountain range. Your driver drops you off back at your hotel door in Cusco by 4:30 PM.