We will pick you up from your hotel at 8:00am or 1:00pm (your choice) in our private van and begin our trip to the small town of Chinchero. Here we will see an colonial church made from adobe, dating from the early seventeenth century.

This church was built upon the foundations of an Inca temple or palace. Inca Ruler Tupac Yupanqui possibly used Chinchero as some sort of personal resort for vacations.

Our next stop is the small town of Maras, where we will see buildings made of thin stone with carvings on them. We then move on to Salineras, the salt mines that made this town famous.

The Salineras consists of over 1,000 small ponds cascading down a hillside valley like uneven steps, the Salineras de Maras (as they are known locally) were first created long before the Incas.

While there is no transcribed record of the ponds’ creation, they seem to have been passed down and expanded by a small number of owners over hundreds of years.

Salt is harvested from the patchwork of shallow pools via a process of evaporation. A natural spring feeds a salt-rich stream that flows down into the pools, which are then opened and closed individually as needed.

Once the pools are filled, the water is allowed to evaporate, and then the salt crystals are gathered off the ground with traditional tools and ancient techniques.

Then, we are on our way to Moray, located at (3,450m/11,318ft), which was an experimental farming site built in the form of an amphitheater with different temperatures on each level to grow different types of crops.

These levels of terraces were carved before the Incas took control of the Sacred Valley and then subsequently used by the Incas.

These terraces served as a natural greenhouse to grow an extraordinary variety of crops (over 250 types) at an altitude not normally conducive for the crops. The Incas were very advanced in the knowledge of creating specific sub-climates.

At the conclusion of your tour, we return to your hotel in Cusco.