Quebrada de Humahuaca and Purmamarca
Badge of Excellence
Salta, Argentina
- 12 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Discover the unusual landscape of Quebrada de Humahuaca on this full-day excursion from Salta. Travel along an ancient Incan route through multicolored canyons to this gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Stop at small indigenous villages like Humahuaca, Purmamarca and Tilcara to view historical adobe churches and ruins. Visit San Salvador de Jujuy, a small city situated among the wooded lowlands, before returning to Salta on Route 9.
- Full-day tour of the Quebrada de Humahuaca
- Visit Purmamarca, Tilcara and Humahuaca, and learn about indigenous cultures
- See the Cathedral of San Salvador de Jujuy and Flag’s Hall
- Round-trip transport from most Salta hotels included
What's Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Professional guide
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- Food and drinks
- Gratuities
- Entrance fee to Tilcara Ruins
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Operating hours.7:00 am
Itinerary
After pickup at your hotel in Salta, board your comfortable coach for the scenic drive to the 95-mile-long (155-km) valley of Quebrada de Humahuaca. Through your guide's commentary, learn about how the Incas once used this gorge as a caravan road and later as a commercial route during the colonial period.
Arrive in Purmamarca to see Cerro de los Siete Colores (Seven Colors Hill,) a large natural formation looming over the town. Stroll through the streets of the small village, visiting the cacti-covered church and perusing handicrafts at the local market.
Continue toward Tilcara, where you will visit the archaeological museum and the town square. First, stop at a scenic viewpoint on the way into town to see some pre-Incan ruins. Pass through Huacalera, admire the colorful La Pollera de la Coya, and see paintings dating from the 1600s in Uquía.
Stop in Humahuaca, the most densely populated city in the area, for a stroll midday. See the Monument of Independence, the local cathedral, and admire paintings from the Cuzco School. Enjoy lunch at your own expense.
Heading back toward Salta, you'll pass La Paleta del Pintor (Painter's Palette) and stop in San Salvador de Jujuy. Visit the town's cathedral and the French Baroque–style Flag's Hall before moving on to the Government House.
Continue south on winding Route 9, which provides stunning views of local vegetation, the Santa Laura Pass, Campo Alegre and Vaqueros. Arrive back in Salta after your day-long adventure for hotel drop-off.
Arrive in Purmamarca to see Cerro de los Siete Colores (Seven Colors Hill,) a large natural formation looming over the town. Stroll through the streets of the small village, visiting the cacti-covered church and perusing handicrafts at the local market.
Continue toward Tilcara, where you will visit the archaeological museum and the town square. First, stop at a scenic viewpoint on the way into town to see some pre-Incan ruins. Pass through Huacalera, admire the colorful La Pollera de la Coya, and see paintings dating from the 1600s in Uquía.
Stop in Humahuaca, the most densely populated city in the area, for a stroll midday. See the Monument of Independence, the local cathedral, and admire paintings from the Cuzco School. Enjoy lunch at your own expense.
Heading back toward Salta, you'll pass La Paleta del Pintor (Painter's Palette) and stop in San Salvador de Jujuy. Visit the town's cathedral and the French Baroque–style Flag's Hall before moving on to the Government House.
Continue south on winding Route 9, which provides stunning views of local vegetation, the Santa Laura Pass, Campo Alegre and Vaqueros. Arrive back in Salta after your day-long adventure for hotel drop-off.
Salta (Pass By)
1
Quebrada de Humahuaca
2 hours • Admission Ticket Free
2
Purmamarca
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
3
Cerro de los Siete Colores
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Pucara de Tilcara
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
5
Huacalera
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Tropic of Capricorn - Sundial (Pass By)
6
Cerro Pollera de la Coya
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
7
Uquia
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
8
Humahuaca
2 hours • Admission Ticket Free
9
Paleta Del Pintor
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
Dique La Cienaga (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- It is recommended that you wear comfortable clothes and shoes and bring a jacket/sweater and sunscreen
- You may bring your own food and drinks
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 30 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Raluca_M
I wanted to visit the provinces of Salta and Jujuy for a long time, and it turned out to be an absolutely fabulous trip! The tour on February 3rd was exceptionally organized by our guide, Abel, and our driver, Antonio. Having travelled the world and participated in hundreds of excursions across more than 60 countries, I can confidently say that Abel is by far the best guide I have ever encountered! Throughout the journey from Salta to Humahuaca, which took about 2.5 hours, Abel continuously shared fascinating insights about northern Argentina. The group comprised travellers from various countries, including many locals, and the atmosphere was incredibly friendly, thanks to Abel's unique approach and the kindness of the Argentinians. We also visited extraordinary places, such as the multi-colored mountains in Purmamarca and the Serranías del Hornocal and nothing about this excursion was ordinary. Additionally, we stopped at a traditional restaurant in Humahuaca where the atmosphere was again great. I highly recommend this tour, and kudos to Abel and Antonio for their kindness and professionalism!
Reviews
4.3
based on 75 reviews
Raluca_M, Feb 2025
I wanted to visit the provinces of Salta and Jujuy for a long time, and it turned out to be an absolutely fabulous trip! The tour on February 3rd was exceptionally organized by our guide, Abel, and our driver, Antonio. Having travelled the world and participated in hundreds of excursions across more than 60 countries, I can confidently say that Abel is by far the best guide I have ever encountered! Throughout the journey from Salta to Humahuaca, which took about 2.5 hours, Abel continuously shared fascinating insights about northern Argentina. The group comprised travellers from various countries, including many locals, and the atmosphere was incredibly friendly, thanks to Abel's unique approach and the kindness of the Argentinians. We also visited extraordinary places, such as the multi-colored mountains in Purmamarca and the Serranías del Hornocal and nothing about this excursion was ordinary. Additionally, we stopped at a traditional restaurant in Humahuaca where the atmosphere was again great. I highly recommend this tour, and kudos to Abel and Antonio for their kindness and professionalism!
Sharon_V, Dec 2024
the scenery was spectacular. Pamela, our guide was excellent. Small group and very enjoyable. The tour company was very professional. A tour worth taking!
William_K, Sep 2024
The whole trip was amazing!! The places we went to were fantastic!!👍👍👍👍 The tour guide Gaucho Mike and the driver were both great - fun - and full of great information!!
WAS A GREAT DAY!!!
Thanks! Dean (William) and Dora Klemme
Hayfa_A, Mar 2024
Brilliant landscape and scenery, good guide but could explain more in English. The guide and driver were friendly and helpful
Wilson_F, Mar 2023
The guide has done a very good job and the driver was considerate. I was the only English speaker in the tour and the guide arranged me to sit next to her for easy communication. During lunch, she came to assist me in ordering food. She also stop at a location for me to take a few photos upon my request. Overall it was a good service.
Gustavo_M, Feb 2023
This tour runs 3 different tours in one coach. Most unfortunately, the Viator tour is the shorter of the three, so you simply have to wait until the other two tours are finished. Over four hours wait in Humahuaca while part of the group visits other sites, or, of couse, if you do want to be left waiting you way an extra USD23 to join the others! The tour also went twice into the town of Purmamarca to collect and/or deliver other passengers but the scheduled visit never happened. Briefly if you buy this tour you are getting a pig in a poke.
Anne_H, Jan 2023
This tour os a great way to explore the magic of Quebrada de Humahuaca and Purmamarca! Our tour guide. who spoke both Spanish and Eng;ish, was friendly and shared a wealth of information about the history of the towns and landscape. The small van was comfortable.
Fabian_L, Oct 2022
Van broke down and we waited over 2 hours for a replacement. Company provided not real time of replacement arrival. Very bad communication. Would had like to spend more time in Purmamarca and no time in the others.
Viator charged me in USD and Arg taxes applied 70% extra in taxes even though we paid deposit in ARS with ARS debit card. No response from company they washed their hands. Do not use Viator and look for local provider.
Elena_A, Feb 2020
We took 4 tours from Salta and this one was the most boring (and expensive!). No stops at view points, no photo-stops except of towns, very poor and lazy translation into English (like 20% of all the info that guide told in Spanish).
Response from Host, Jul 2020
Dear Elena Avrutina, We are very sorry that the excursion did not meet all your expectations. For the regular tours we have specific areas where the bus stop and guides explains the most important and relevant points. The guide who made the excursion is graduated and has received intensive training in our tours.However, we take this feedback and forward it to the guide as an opportunity to improve our services. We hope you enjoyed the beautiful landscapes of Salta and Jujuy. We hope to have you back so that you can enjoy the quality of our services and thus reverse your opinion. We appreciate your comments as they help us to improve our services. Kind regards.
kate, Feb 2020
There was one important point which made the trip not that appealing: it is lack of organization while picking up the guests from the hotels. We were informed to be ready outside the hotel at 7:00 a.m. (not from... to..., but exactly at that time) as the bus will come to pick us up. We ended-up waiting 45 minutes for the bus. We thought something happened, started even calling the main agency in Buenos Aires. Others said they wasted 1.5 hour waiting for the bus to come, althought it was not that early in the morning. It is very easy to estimate the pickup time and just update the guests, so they do not need to wait so long.
So we were picked-up the last and then we were dropped to the hotel also last. In consequence we spend 1.5 hour in total for extra pick-up / drop-off time. Very unefficiently organized.
Response from Host, Jul 2020
Dear Kate!
We're sorry to hear that the pick up/drop off took so long. As it is a regular transfer, there are other passengers who are taking the same vehicle. For this reason, passengers must wait at the hotel reception. In case you need a specific pick-up time, we have private transfer services. Our first voucher indicates an estimated pick up time, but then we send through the web site an approximate schedule. We apologize if it wasn't clear enough. Despite your disappointment, we hope you enjoyed the experience.
Thank you for taking the time to write a review, it helps us to improve our services.
Kind regards!
Allan_P, Nov 2019
A long day but well worth it. We booked with viator and the travel company was Uma travel. Our guide Maria made all the difference. She was so much fun and made sure English speaking guests were involved as much as spanish. Good driver. Highly recommended for colourful hills and markets.
katieesims, Nov 2019
Really enjoyed the tour guide! However there were too many rushed visits. Also the food at the restaurant was not great, if you book this tour then eat somewhere else than the recommended restaurant.
Response from Host, Jul 2020
Dear Katie
We are pleased to know that you enjoyed the knowledge of our guide. About the food, we recommend places where you can have a quality lunch during the tour, we regret that it did not meet your expectations, and we will send your comments to improve the services and recommendations. We really appreciate your time to write this review!
Will be a pleasure to assist you in your next visit!
Kind regards!
robertQ508BR, Oct 2019
This tour booked by me from Canada through Viator that was operated by Tangol tours out of Salta was terrible. Our guide only spoke Spanish which meant we had no way of understanding any relevant information provided to the wholly Spanish speaking tourists with whom we were joined up. The restaurant that we were herded into in Humahmarca was horrible. The food was terrible and I was served uncooked chicken. Lunch was not included in the tour price and we had to pay for the horrible meal. We would have done better finding our own restaurant of which there were many. Our tour returned to Salta 2 and 1/2 hours late due to a health issue with one passenger. If we had spoken Spanish there may have been some value to the tour.Overall a terrible experience. I wont be using Viator or Tangol in the future.
Response from Host, Jun 2020
Dear Robert Kallird,
We are very sorry to hear about your disappointment.
We would like to apologise for what happened. Our reservation team in Salta did a mistake when they were confirming the language guide. We sincerely understand your position. Unfortunately, we had not been notified of the mistake so we could change the vehicle and guide immediatly. We hope that you will have the opportunity to visit us at another time so that you can reverse your opinion of our company.
We appreciate your comments as it helps us to improve the quality of our services.
Kind regards,
Tangol Travel Agency
James_A, Aug 2019
Overall an enjoyable tour, there are lots of varied stops packed in and they are organised so you stop at the areas one one side of the valley out and the other side on the return to get the best from the sunshine. The tour was billed as in English but was mainly Spanish speakers. It felt like most was translated reasonably faithfully. Time on the minibus was worth it overall even though the return leg felt quite long.
mark_l, Apr 2018
We really enjoyed this tour : it was well organised and rythemed with many stops which was important considering it was a full 12 hour tour ! Only qualm really was the last leg of the drive back where we lost a lot of time in traffic dropping off people in San Salvador de Jujuy
Beautiful landscapes : strongly recommended!
Darryl S, Jul 2017
The tour was to some really good locations and the town markets were good and cheap compared with Salta and BA. The day was well timed for most of the day but we missed some of the places that were advertised in the afternoon returning to Salta. We booked to be with an English speaking tour but were on a bus full of Spanish people. The guide spoke really good English but by the time she told all about things in Spanish we were past some things before she got to the English translation. The highlight of the day for me was the rock formations and the people but my family it was the markets. We speak a little Spanish so we had a great day.
Glen P, Jun 2017
The tour guide was an amazing character, the locations were fantastic and, despite being all crammed into one long day it was an emotional experience of local culture that I am never going to forget. Totally recommended! Picked up and dropped off at your hotel, all you need to do is pay and be available on the day and bring a little spending money for food.
Martin V, Feb 2017
The several pictouresque and historical places covered by this tour are so great Tilcara, Uquia, Paleta de los Pintores, as well as Purmamarca and Humahuaca and the tour guide NOEMI of UMA TRAVEL made a remarkable task being so kind. However, weak points in this your are that entrance fee for the Pucara de Tilcara botanical garden is not included in the tour fare and the fact that the lunch featuring local Jujuy food is not included either. To become outstanding this tour should cover both things: the entrance fee to Pucara de Tilcara botanical garden as well the lunch in El Fortin restaurant in Humahuaca.
Response from Host, Nov 2020
Dear Martin
Thank you for sharing your experience with us
The north of our country is one of those hidden treasures of South America. The colors, the climate, and the landscape are the memories that the traveler brings with him when he visits this part of the country.
We are pleased to know that you enjoyed the knowledge of our guide. Your words make us very happy. Thank you for leaving us your comments about the food and the entrance to the botanical garden. Your suggestion helps us to get closer to the preferences of our customers.
We look forward to hosting you on a future visit.
MARIE E, Nov 2016
Excellent guide
Amazing scenery in this UNESCO world heritage site
Valerie G, Sep 2016
We loved the tour - so many beautiful sights to see! Eva was a fantastic tour guide.
Evangelos K, Mar 2016
Great tour, knowledgeable guide. Would've preferred to have spent a bit more time in the two main towns we visited but would certainly recommend this tour.
Sharit L D, Mar 2016
Good tour, but I was bored. There could have been more commentary on landscape, history and culture.
Response from Host, Jan 2021
Dear Sharit
Thank you for your comments,
The most attractive part of this tour are the landscapes of northern Argentina, our guides give space for passengers to enjoy the scenery. However, we appreciate that you have taken the time to write this review, we send your comments to the guides, so they can improve their services and the customer has a complete experience.
We hope you have beautiful memories of your trip and allow us to assist you on your next visit.
Christian H, Nov 2015
Guide very friendly, good english explanations and a lot of information about the places and the history of the area
John C. T, Jun 2015
Our guide Freddy was knowledgeable, friendly, energetic, and enthusiastic to share the sights with us. The driver Fernando was excellent, the coach was clean and comfortable, and our general comfort throughout the day was attended to. It was a great day of sightseeing and learning.
David H, Apr 2015
Very interesting tour. About the right amount of sights - all of them were worth stopping at, and there was enough to not feel like the whole day was one long bus journey.
The guide spoke good English, although we were the only English people on the tour, so we naturally got the more abridged version of all of his commentary.
Lunch was not included as stated, although we were taken to a specific restaurant. The food was as you would expect: pretty cheap and cheerful. It was fine.
Overall, we had a really good day and were very glad we got out of the city -- there's a lot to see around Salta -- definitely worth the excursion!
Cynthia B, Jan 2015
The trip was amazing! Hasan, our guide was very knowledgeable. The sights are breathtaking. Lunch in Humahuaca was a good introduction to the local cuisine. We were a small group of 7 people which it more intimate.
Vincent_M, Oct 2023
Belle excursion enrichissante! Très agréable de visiter les 3 villes riches en culture. Le paysage tout au long de la route est magnifique. Notre guide Jessie avait un très bon niveau d'anglais et a pris le temps de vérifier si tout allait bien. Le seul hic est le dernier arrêt devant la coline des 7 couleurs car on s'arrête au milieu de l'autoroute. Il aurait éte intéressant d'aller à un belvédère ou une coline en face. Ceci dit aucune idée si c'est poasible
Simone_B, Apr 2023
Bellissimi paesaggi ma troppo incentrato sull’acquisto di prodotti locali.
Capisco sostenere l’economia turistica, ma così è troppo.
Anne_R, Mar 2022
Guide au top ! Paysages extraordinaires ! Arrêts bien programmés ! On a adoré !la route est peut-être longue mais elle en vaut la peine tout est beau !
GRACIELA_E, Jan 2020
La excursión fue muy placentera, Los paisajes estupendos y la atención correcta.
Es muy aconsejable.
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per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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