Chinchero, Maras & Moray Private Tour

Chinchero, Moray and the Maras Salt Mines lie on the same plateau, between Cusco and the Sacred Valley, half an hour from each other. This private tour brings them together in about seven hours: the weavers’ village, the Incas’ farming laboratory and the more than three thousand salt pools the families of Maras still work. It is the way to see the valley’s three most unusual landscapes without doing the full day.

The three stops

• Chinchero, at 3,762 metres. The colonial church built on an Inca’s palace, the terraces and a weaving centre where weavers show how wool is washed, spun and dyed with plants and insects. Chinchero guide.
• Moray. Circular terraces dug into natural hollows. Each ring has a different temperature, and the Incas used them to test crops at different altitudes.
• Maras Salt Mines. More than three thousand pools stepped down the hillside, fed by a salty spring. It is the valley’s most photographed landscape. Maras and Moray guide.

What the day looks like

We pick you up at your hotel at 8:30 and head to Chinchero, the highest stop, first thing. Then we go down across the plateau to Moray and the Maras Salt Mines, stopping at the viewpoints. We are back in Cusco mid-afternoon, about seven hours after pickup. Since the rest of the day is downhill, it also works well for those who have only been in Cusco a few days.

This tour or the Sacred Valley VIP

The three stops on this tour are also the first three of the Sacred Valley VIP, which also goes down to Urubamba for lunch and ends in Ollantaytambo. Choose this tour if you want a shorter day or already know Ollantaytambo; choose the VIP if you want the full valley or are taking the train to Machu Picchu. We compare them with the classic route in Classic or VIP.

Price and guide

The price from 75 USD covers private transport with hotel pickup and drop-off, and goes down per person the more of you travel. When booking you choose the bilingual guide, professional guide or guide-driver, and you can add a drone photo and video service.

Tickets

Chinchero and Moray are visited with the Cusco Tourist Ticket, full or partial Sacred Valley. The Maras Salt Mines charge a separate community fee of about 10 soles. Neither is included; bring cash in soles. We explain which ticket suits you in the Tourist Ticket guide.

When to go

All year. If Maras is the photo you want, go between May and November, when the pools are white and the salt is harvested; in the middle of the rainy season they lose much of their colour. Moray, on the other hand, is greener in the rains. We cover it in the Sacred Valley weather month by month.