Cuzco to Maras Salt Mines & Morey Terraces Day Tour
Recommended by 94% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Cusco, Peru
- 5 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Explore the legacy of the Inca and Peru’s indigenous culture during this day trip to Maras, Moray, and the Salinera’ from Cusco. Walk the streets of Maras and sample some *chicha* (corn drink), then learn about Inca engineering and agricultural practices at the Moray archaeological site. You’ll also get to see the Salineras salt mines. An optional private trip upgrade is also available.
- Explore Moray, Maras, and the famous Salineras on this day trip from Cusco
- Marvel at the Inca engineering skills of Moray
- Drink *chicha* (corn beverage) while visiting Maras
- Admire the visual sight of the Salineras, an Inca-era collection of 3,000 salt-collection pools
- Optional trip upgrade to a private tour
- Includes roundtrip hotel transport from Cusco
What's Included
- Hotel pick up and drop off
- Transport
- English speaking guide
- Small group tour (between 4 to 8 people as maximun)
- Bottled water
- Lunch
- Admission Fee - Salinas de MarasPEN20.00 per person
- Admission Fee - Archaeological site Moray - ChicnheroPEN70.00 per person
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
We offer the pick up from most of Cusco hotels including Airbnb
Arranged start time
Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.
Select your preferred tour option to see hours.
View tour option
Itinerary
Receive a morning pickup from your hotel in Cusco, after which you’ll travel into the Peruvian countryside, passing through the typical town of Chinchero en route.
Make your first stop in the small town of Maras, offering you the chance to catch a glimpse of daily life in one of the region’s small towns. Wander the streets of this typical village and sample some *chicha*, a Peruvian-style corn beverage.
Leaving Maras behind, you’ll drive to Moray, an Inca-era archaeological site. Learn about the design and purpose of this circular style terrace system, a complex that was built by the ancient civilization as a testing ground for various micro-climates and different types of agricultural crops.
After your Maras visit, make a stop at the Salineras, a collection of salt mines used since the Inca period to extract salt. The pattern formed by the area’s range of more than 3,000 small salt pools makes for a visually-arresting view for visitors. After your visit to the Salineras, you’ll receive a ride back to your Cusco hotel.
Make your first stop in the small town of Maras, offering you the chance to catch a glimpse of daily life in one of the region’s small towns. Wander the streets of this typical village and sample some *chicha*, a Peruvian-style corn beverage.
Leaving Maras behind, you’ll drive to Moray, an Inca-era archaeological site. Learn about the design and purpose of this circular style terrace system, a complex that was built by the ancient civilization as a testing ground for various micro-climates and different types of agricultural crops.
After your Maras visit, make a stop at the Salineras, a collection of salt mines used since the Inca period to extract salt. The pattern formed by the area’s range of more than 3,000 small salt pools makes for a visually-arresting view for visitors. After your visit to the Salineras, you’ll receive a ride back to your Cusco hotel.
1
Salinas de Maras
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
2
Maras Moray Tours
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
3
Complejo Arqueologico Chinchero
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required (for goup tours)
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 111 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
This was an amazing experience! The private tour was guided by Louis who is very knowledgeable and shared insights on the history and culture. His driver, (also named Louis) was courteous and professional. We were able to see how fabric was made, purchase chocolate and souvenirs; however, the highlight of the trip was Moray! I highly recommend this experience.
We had excellent weather for our trip. We first stopped in Chinchero for a demonstration of alpaca wool making and although our guide said no pressure to buy anything, it was hard to say no to the women! So we bought two beautiful sweaters and a blanket. Then we went to Moras, which is probably nicer to see during dry season when they are harvesting the salt, but it will still an impressive site. Then our last stop was at Moray, which was the real highlight. Gary provided us with a ton of great information about the history and the making of the terraces, and also explained their calculator system, which was fascinating. Don't forget your sunscreen!
Great experience, thanks to our guide Fabrizio. We could see a lot of interesting things and Fabrizio pointed out aspects of the places that we didn't know.
We had a wonderful tour that turned out to be private! Alexis did an awesome job taking us to all the sites including the textile demonstration. He knew just where to stand to get the best views and even recommended a great family restaurant to have lunch when we returned to Cusco. Highly recommend this tour!
Alexis was an amazing guide who is very knowledgeable about Incan history and knew all the best spots to view Moray and Maras. He arrived 5 minutes early and the tour lasted the length advertised. He showed me the clothing market as well as the chocolate and salt shop , but made clear immediately that there was no pressure to buy anything. I ended up getting some souvenirs, but there was never any uncomfortable pressure to do so. The driver also did a great job. Highly recommended!
Fun day trip to Maras/Moray! We enjoyed the beautiful sights with our tour guides! My parents weren’t feeling well, but they were very accommodating and offered to pick them up to go hang out with the llamas at the end of the tour. Enjoyed!
We enjoyed every minute of the trip. Efraim was kind and vey knowledgable. I loved the Chinchero ladies, and we splurged a bit by buying a beautiful alpacca shawl. No regrets whatsoevr!
All the best!
Brilliant tour. Our tour guides Gary and Louise were great, sharing lots of information and knowledge with us. Gary really went above and beyond our expectations, being an Inca descendent he had lots of inside culture to share. Would 100% recommend this tour.
This was the perfect length tour for us. We only had half a day and wanted to visit Sacred Valley, but didn’t have time to do a full tour. We booked relatively last minute but our guide Fredi was ready and waiting for us first thing in the morning. We had perfect timing with all of our stops, our guide got us good picture spots without lots of crowds. Chinchero, Moray, and the Salt Mines were all beautiful and our guide explained the significance and history of the places. We stopped at a textile mill and the demonstration was interesting, though the women there were..persistent. I had read about them in other reviews, so I was prepared and expecting that. Everything else during the day was great! Our driver got us everywhere safely and timely. I would recommend if you only have a limited amount of and are wanting to visit some of Sacred Valley!
Very good guide and service . Pickip was on time and our guide Erfian was amazing and well knowledged.
The guide provided an experience exceeding expectations. The places we visited were perfectly described and the tour was conducted as expected.
Francisco really brought our trip to life. He has a passion to share his country with visitors. He had some really good info and was very pleasant. The tour was well planned and very enjoyable! Will definitely recommend to others!
For starters, the sites are beautiful and well worth the trip. My guide Efrain and the accompanying driver were on time, knowledgeable about the sites, and completely professional. As a solo female traveler, I was nervous but they took great care of me and had me back to Cusco in good time. The only reason I knock down a star is because (as others have mentioned) at the end of the Chinchcero visit, you stop by a local market where they demo how alpaca/wool products are made. The entire experience is to get you to buy something and they make it really uncomfortable if you don’t. It’s sours the experience but often the name of the game with these types of tours.
This is the first time we book a tour guide through Viator and it provided us with far below average expected service.
My wife and I booked a private tour because we wanted a fuller experience with less pressure to move along with a group but what we get is lesser experience.
Our tour guide was Gary and we read some positive review of Gary that left us wondering if we are talking about the same Gary? Our tour guide Gary has another name Garcia on his badge and he has a tiny mole on his right chin.
First and foremost Gary was late arriving at the meeting point, our driver Raul waited with us for Gary to arrive, when Gary arrived about 10-15 minutes later, there was no apology or explanation, he only says hello and go on and tell us where we are going next.
The drive to Sacred Valley from Cusco is about 1.5 hrs each way, Gary was very quiet on the drive to Sacred Valley, my wife and I tried to break the silence by asking Gary a few questions about the what we saw along the way, Gary's answers were always short and unclear, we get a feeling that Gary is not interested in talking at all.
During the tour of the Maras and Moray, Gary only do the minimum expected and are always walking far ahead of us, at one point we were unable to see Gary at all.
The only times Gary took the initiative to talk to us in the van were when he was trying to persuade us to make the 2 shopping stops. We travel very distance to get there and we barely have a few minutes to stand still and take in the marvelous sceneries because Gary is always ahead of us, not with us.
The drive back to Cusco is another long silent drive, we could see Gary sleeping in the front seat.
In the end we still tip Gary 40 soles, not because he deserves it but because we have a soft spot for all working class as we are.
I have to say Raul did a good job of driving us both ways.
We had a wonderful tour guide at Machu Picchu and we were so glad that Gary was NOT our guide then.
Response from Host, Oct 2023
Dear Glenda,
Thank you for taking your time on share your review, the full name of our tour guide is Gary Garcia and is thesame that has many * reviews about the work he does while visiting all places in Cusco inlcuding Machupicchu. He was your tour guide that date as we never change person manes.
During your specific experience, our driver was on time before 8:am to depart and Gary due to trafic unfortunatelly arrived 4 minutes late which actually is NOT the normal procedure of our team as most of reviews talks about Gary and the kind of professional he is.
Gary was and is very informative diring the tours. when you mention the stop at chinchero as Gary said he infrom about the chinchero women and their work and ask if is possible to stop which was less than 20 minutes according your permission, then visit salt mines and moray was around one hour in each place. In this route the little shops are small markets like in the salt mines where you can purchase salt and this is on the way to same slat mines impossible to skip as we walk across.
We understand one point that you dint like that day, we spent too much time. Unfortunatelly that day the Maras town was on festivity so they didnt allow us to pass instead we drived you for another route in addition the locals were fixing the road.
on the way back Gary fall sleep for few seconds, so Gary is very sorry about. but he didnt sleep the entire journey.
when you mention about tipping, I think is offensive. If you find the service is not good, I think does not make a sence to provide a tip.
We spoke with Gary and he feels bad that you dint find a possitive performance during your travel experience.
Our team including guides are always ready to address in case we fail. Actually that is why most our reviews tal about.
We already tslk with oiur team to avoid such a this comments as our guides usally ahs the best ratings about their performance when guiding.
Best regards
Great tour, booking it I was under the impression that there would be a couple other ppl with us but I was just me and my girlfriend so we wound up with a private tour, our driver nacho was great, and our guide flora was awesome, she was very knowledgeable, very friendly, funny and personable, she gave us a nice handful of recommendations, every one so far was a home run
Michael was an amazing guide. He was the reason it was so good. While the places were very nice to view, he completely brought it to life!
Bernando was great! He was very informative, knowledgeable, passionate and proud of Peru’s history. We were a group of 6 and he made us all feel very welcomed. Definitely an unforgettable experience! Would highly recommend
Amazing tour! We loved every minute of it. The guide spoke great English and was extremely knowledgeable.
Everything was great. Lots of information and a wonderful day all together. I would highly recommend this to somebody else.
Had an amazing day to marks and moray - everything was smooth and well coordinated. The tour company was very communicative beforehand with questions I had. Would recommend!
The tour is a very great cultural experience! The guide was great and we learnt a lot in a short time.
My friend and I ended up having a private tour with our driver and tour guide who were both knowledgeable and kind. They stopped while driving for us to take photos as we were driving, answered all my questions and the tour guide's English was great. All 3 stops were interesting and the drive was beautiful!
The tour started in time as promised but what followed was only commercial. They stopped at a village called Chinchero which was not part of the tour where the women demostrated how they make the fabric out of lama wool. This place also had shops where they sell all sorts of clothes. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM HERE. IT IS 3 to 4 TIMES expensive than what you can get in Cusco. For ex, I bought a scarf for 35 soles here which was only 8 soles in San Pedro market, Cusco. I guess the tour company has some sort of commission with these people as the tour guide and drive were offered with free meals. We spent more than an hour at this village which was not part of the tour. Then at the rest of the places which were actually part of tour, the guide just rushed in everything and didn't give us enough time to explore and take some pictures.
Response from Host, May 2019
Dear Mr. Srikant,
Thank you for your time and sending your feedback.
I already spoke with our guide about this specific situation so we can avoide any mistakes in the future.
Chinchero certainly is not an official stop nad our guided always kindly ask our value guest for an alternative stop in order to learn about the weaving and textiles here as Chinchero is famous about this traditions. To shop here or anywhere is not mandatory.
I am sorry, but our company does not stop here to make any commissions and all our customers are always happy with our tour as we always provide small group tour and that day we were only 4 people including yourself.
We usually end this tour in Cusco by 1:00pm but that day we finish in Cusco at 3:30pm and according to our guide comments we spend more than 30 minutes in each palce so we can not rush our customers at the time of visit. By the way the other 2 couple was requesting to finsh early and we spend more time as you were very happy during the tour and even spending more time in each please than the other couple.
Again thank your your feedback and definitely recommend all our guides to make sure and always ask for any additional stops so we can avoide any desappointing experiences and make sure to spend more than 30 minutes in each programmed stops to guaranty a great travel experience as our groups average size are 4 people.
I booked this tour with my husband when we visited Peru for our honeymoon in March! It was great- we ended up being the only two in the tour so we were both picked up and dropped off at our hotel- very convenient! Our tour guide spoke English and Spanish very well and was very knowledgeable. We were very happy with our trip. The cost does not include entry fees into either site- together they cost 70 sol a person (about $20)-but we still felt the knowledge and travel was worth the cost of this tour.
The tour was well organised, and we had a very nice, friendly and knowladgeble guide.
The salt flats are amazing and definitely worth visiting.
Punctual, friendly, and helpful staff. Tour is private, and takes you to the Maras Terraces and Moray Salt Flats. We also stopped at a coop in Chicheron to see traditional wool dying processes. Price is a little steep considering the local market economy, but it was worth having an English speaking guide all to ourselves.
The sites are worth seeing, this tour however isn't as advertised. We were in a 20 person group on a bus. Half the group were Spanish speakers, the other English speaking. The guide would have to explain everything in both languages, wasting time and drawing out the tour. The textile shop we stopped at in Chincheros was dirty and not worth the stop, there are better ones in town to visit. The tour guide was lackluster and didn't go out of his way to be personable and you don't really have much time at any of the stops. Finally, it says hotel pick up and drop off - that was a joke. We were greeted in our hotel lobby and then walked 6 blocks to a street where the bus just stopped and forced us to hustle in quickly and at the end they just left us in San Francisco Square in Cusco and pointed that our hotel was that direction... Good thing we had our map with us!
Sorprendente!!! Cada lugar que visitamos es único, y contamos con el conocimiento de nuestra guía. Y el profesionalismo de sus conductores
El guía resolvió todas mis dudas!! Muy muy atento!! Los paisajes increíbles !! Una experiencia súper recomendada
Muito bom, o guia passou explicações bem completas sobre os lugares visitados (uso histórico pelos incas e pré-incaicos, uso atual das salineras) e o passeio foi feito com toda a segurança por paisagens incríveis
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