The trip starts at Chinchero, a small town best known for its marketplace. Chinchero’s marketplace hosts a multitude of vendors selling textiles that are woven using traditional Andean methods. Spread out over the plaza, the fabrics look especially colorful next to the white walls of the church on one side of the town square. This is a popular place for visitors to purchase souvenirs and practice their bartering skills.

From Chinchero, you’ll descend to the small town of Maras. Maras has a number of churches from the colonial era, and a few other colonial buildings. Here you’ll get to see the famous salt mines of Maras. Hundreds of years ago locals used stones to section off pools of salt water along the side of the mountain. Once the water evaporates, it leaves behind a glistening patchwork of salt.

Next you’ll visit Moray. Moray is best known for its terraced pits. Archeologists believe that rain formed these large indentations in the soft soil. Using stones, the Inca divided the depressions into distinct levels, each concentric circle growing smaller toward the bottom. The largest of the pits is 118 feet (36 m) deep.

Historians have deduced that these terraced pits aided the Inca’s experimentation with crops. The temperature gradually dips toward the bottom of the pit, protecting plants that need less heat. Stones that make up the border of the terrace absorb heat during the day, gradually releasing warmth into the soil overnight, preventing plants from getting too cold before the sun returns. Using these different elevations, the Inca could experiment to figure out what conditions worked best for which crop.

Textiles and beautifully engineered agriculture give some insight into the Andean aesthetic. On this tour of Chinchero, Maras, and Moray, you’ll get to see firsthand the creativity and ingenuity that this rugged terrain inspired.

To take this tour, travelers are required to have a Cusco Tourist Ticket. You have the option of getting either a Full Cusco Tourist Ticket or a Sacred Valley Partial Tourist Ticket. We'll help you get the ticket, but to do so we'll need your passport number, birthdate, and nationality.

These tickets allow you to visit a number of attractions in the area. Some of these attractions are visited during the course of this tour, while others are not. You can use the ticket after the tour is over to visit the attractions that are not covered in the tour. Below are the places that each ticket allows you to visit, as well as the length of time that each ticket is valid. Think about how long you'll be in Cusco and what you want to see before you decide on a ticket. We can help you with this, too.

Full Cusco Tourist Ticket: The Cathedral, Santo Domingo Convent (Qoricancha), Saqsayhuamán, Qénqo, Pukapukara, Tambomachay, Tipón, Pikillacta, Pisac, Moray, Chinchero, Ollantaytambo, Qoricancha Site Museum, Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Regional Historical Museum, Folk Art Museum, and the Qosqo Native Art Center. This ticket is valid for 10 days.

Sacred Valley Partial Tourist Ticket: Pisac, Moray, Chinchero, Ollantaytambo. This ticket is valid for 1 day.