Tour To Chinchero, Moray And Salt Mines Half Day

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 lays on top of an Inca temple or palace. Inca Ruler Tupac Yupanqui possibly used Chinchero as some sort of personal resort for vacations.

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

Over 1000 small pools make the Salineras. They cascade down a hillside valley like uneven steps. Locally known as Salineras de Maras. These mines date long before the Incas.

There isn’t a record of the ponds creation. Traditions tells they are passed down generationally and expanded by a small number of owners over hundreds of years.

Salt comes 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.

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

Then, we will be 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.

Pre-Inca peoples carved these terraces 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 created specific sub-climates, with their own techniques and knowledge.

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