"Pickup was confusing. Guide spoke too rapidly and was quite difficult to understand , also there was no personal contact with him. Moray was very expensive so we didn’t go in. Salt mines were excellent . So, on the whole , the total experience for the price was very very good and I would go again."
From Cusco · Chinchero · Moray · Maras Salt Mines · Half Day
Moray and Maras Tour from Cusco
The plateau half of the Sacred Valley in one morning: a weaving demonstration in Chinchero, the circular Inca terraces of Moray and the terraced salt pans of Maras, with hotel pick-up in Cusco and back by mid-afternoon.
From
$15
per person
current promotion, usually $16
Free cancellation
- 4.8 / 5 3180+ Reviews
- 6.5 - 7 hours Duration
- 3 Stops Chinchero, Moray, Maras
- Back by 3 pm In Cusco
- Free Cancellation
The Experience
What the Moray and Maras Half Day Covers
Three stops on the high plateau between Cusco and the Urubamba valley, about 40 minutes at each.
Highlights
- Look out over thousands of terraced salt pools at the Maras salt mines
- Walk the rim of Moray's circular Inca terraces, an agricultural experimentation site
- See the Andes and the Sacred Valley from the high plateau
- Visit a Chinchero weaving workshop where the Quechua tradition carries on
- Hotel pick-up in Cusco and back by mid-afternoon
What's Included
- Pickup from your hotel
- Bilingual tour guide
- Transportation
- Private tour (if option selected)
Good to know: You can bring a carry on luggage per person · the tour start around 8:30 am and finish at 15:00 pm · This tour will take place rain or shine · Entrances are pay with cash and soles only · Not Included: Entrance to the Archeological site Moray (70 soles), Salt Mines (20 soles), Hotel drop-off, Tips
How a Moray and Maras Tour Works
A morning pick-up, three stops on the plateau, and Cusco again in time for a late lunch.
Pick-up in Cusco
The guide collects you from your hotel in the historic centre in the morning; the listing gives a start around 8:30 and a finish around 15:00. Bring soles in cash for the two gate fees.
Chinchero's Weavers
About an hour out of Cusco at 3,750 m, a weaving family shows how alpaca wool is cleaned, spun and dyed with plants. There is no fee and no obligation to buy.
Moray's Circular Terraces
The concentric Inca terraces that Peru's Ministry of Culture describes as an agricultural experimentation centre, at about 3,480 m. Entry is on the tourist ticket: S/70 for the partial Circuit III (COSITUC, October 2026).
The Maras Salt Mines, Then Cusco
Thousands of salt pans on a hillside, fed by a salty spring and worked by families from Maras and Pichingoto. The gate fee is S/20 in cash. Back in Cusco by about 3 pm.
Photo Gallery
Moray and the Maras Salt Mines
Photos from the listing: the circles of Moray, the salt pans of Maras and the weavers of Chinchero.
Book Your Experience
Check Availability & Prices
Select your preferred date and time. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.
Moray and Maras: Three Ways to Go
By van in a morning, by quad bike, or as the start of a full day that ends at the Machu Picchu train. Prices and ratings from GetYourGuide, checked October 2026.
| Feature | BEST VALUE Half Day by Van with Chinchero Weavers | Quad Bike to Moray and the Salt Mines | Full Day Ending in Ollantaytambo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | From $15/per person in current promotion (usually $16) | From $27/per person | From $26/per person in current promotion (usually $37) |
| Stops | Chinchero weavers, Moray, Maras salt mines | Moray and the Maras salt mines, riding an ATV across the plateau | Chinchero, Moray, Maras salt mines, lunch in Urubamba, Ollantaytambo |
| Time | 6.5 to 7 hours, back in Cusco about 3 pm | About 6 hours, morning or afternoon departures | 8 to 9.5 hours, ends in Ollantaytambo about 3:30 pm |
| Lunch | Not included | Not included; water and a poncho in the rainy season | Buffet in Urubamba, included |
| Paid on the Day | S/70 tourist ticket + S/20 salt mines, cash | S/70 tourist ticket + S/20 salt mines, cash | S/70 tourist ticket + S/20 salt mines, cash |
| Best For | A free morning, or after the valley floor | Riders who want the plateau under their own wheels | Heading to Machu Picchu by train the same evening |
| Check Availability | See the Quad Bike Tour | See the One-Way Day |
Other Ways to Moray and Maras
More Moray and Maras Tours
By quad bike, as a short budget run, from Ollantaytambo, or as the morning of a full day that ends at the train.
BY QUAD BIKEFrom Cusco: Quad bike tour to Moray and Salt Mines
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SHORTESTFrom Cusco: Chinchero Weavers, Moray, Maras Salt Mines Tour
Your tour will start with your group pick-up. From there you will drive for about an hour to Chinchero, making a short stop in this town to visit one of the last …
ENDS AT THE TRAINCusco: Chinchero, Moray & Salt Mines end in Ollantaytambo
We will pick you up from your hotel and travel to Chinchero, a small rustic town with a long tradition of textile weaving. See various textiles woven with …
PRIVATE FROM OLLANTAYTAMBOFrom Ollantaytambo: Private tour to Maras and Moray half-day
The tour starts with the pick-up from the hotel at 8:00 a.m., located in Ollantaytambo. We will visit the agricultural laboratory of "Moray" where we will find …
CHINCHERO TEXTILESAuthentic Andean Experience: Moray, Maras Salt Mines, and Chinchero Textiles
Discover the richness of the Sacred Valley of the Incas on this half-day tour of Moray, the Maras Salt Mines, and Chinchero Textile. With a licensed local guide, …
The Guide
Moray and the Salt Mines: What You See and What It Costs
Two of the strangest landscapes the Incas left, half an hour apart on the plateau above Urubamba.
Moray and the Maras salt mines sit close together on the plateau between Cusco and the Urubamba valley, and nearly every tour pairs them, usually with a stop at Chinchero’s weavers on the way out. As a half day from Cusco it is cheap, short and easy on the legs: the tour at the top of this page costs from $15 in current promotion (usually $16), rated 4.8 from 3,180 reviews (checked October 2026), and takes about seven hours door to door. The two gate fees are on top, S/70 and S/20, both in cash.
Check dates for Moray and Maras
Moray: the circles
Moray is a set of concentric terraces built into natural hollows in the ground, the largest of them a deep bowl of rings stepping down like an amphitheatre. Peru’s Ministry of Culture calls it an agricultural experimentation centre: the terraces sit at different depths and catch different sun and wind, and the leading explanation is that the Incas used them to adapt crops to the conditions of different altitudes. The name is usually explained from the Quechua muyu, round. The site averages 3,480 m and is open from 07:00 to 17:00.
You see Moray from paths around the rim and down along the edges of the terraces. The Ministry’s site rules forbid climbing on the terrace walls; follow the guards and stay on the marked paths. Entry is on the Boleto Turístico: the partial Circuit III ticket at S/70 covers Moray, Chinchero, Ollantaytambo and Pisac for two days, so if your valley day comes later, keep the ticket (COSITUC, checked October 2026).
The Maras salt mines
About 14 km from Moray by the road through Maras village, a salty spring runs down a steep side valley into thousands of small terraced pans. The water evaporates in the sun and families scrape the salt by hand, as they have since before the Incas. The pans belong to families of the Maras and Pichingoto communities, and the visit is managed by their company, MaraSal, which charges S/20 at the gate for foreign visitors, in cash (October 2026). It is not part of the tourist ticket.
Since 2019 visitors keep to the path and the viewpoints above the pans rather than walking along the pan walls, to keep the salt clean. The path still gives you the view everyone comes for, and the shop at the entrance sells the salt itself, pink and white, by the bag. The pans lie at about 3,300 to 3,380 m.
Half day, full day, or by quad bike?
The half day is the right answer if you have only a morning, or if you have already seen Pisac and Ollantaytambo. It skips the valley floor and the long drive along it, and you are back in Cusco by about 3 pm with the afternoon free.
If this is your only Sacred Valley trip, the full Sacred Valley day visits the same three stops in the morning and adds lunch in Urubamba, Ollantaytambo and Pisac for not much more money. If Machu Picchu is next, the day that ends in Ollantaytambo also starts with Chinchero, Moray and Maras.
Want to ride rather than sit in a van? The quad bike tour to Moray and the salt mines drives you to a base on the plateau and puts you on a Honda ATV for the stretch to Moray and the salt mines, about six hours in all, from $27. Staying in the valley? The private half day from Ollantaytambo picks you up at 8:00 and is back by about 2 pm.
What to bring
- Soles in cash: S/70 for the tourist ticket (unless you already have one) and S/20 for the salt mines. The tours do not sell them for you.
- Sun protection and a layer: the plateau is above 3,300 m, the sun is strong and the wind is cold.
- A little money for salt or weaving, if you want to buy; nobody has to.
- Time to acclimatise: this tour stays high the whole morning, between 3,300 and 3,750 m. If you have just flown in, see the altitude guide and the salt-mine fee guide before you go.
How these facts were checked
Moray’s description, altitude, hours and rules are from the Ministry of Culture’s Cusco office (culturacusco.gob.pe), read 26 October 2026. The tourist-ticket prices and the Circuit III site list are from COSITUC (cosituccusco.pe). The salt-mine fee is the price charged at the gate in 2026, as published by several Cusco guides and operators; MaraSal does not publish a tariff online. The 2019 restriction on walking among the pans was reported by Peru’s state news agency Andina. Tour prices, ratings and itineraries are from GetYourGuide, checked October 2026.
Guest Reviews
What Moray and Maras Guests Say
4.8/5
from 3180 verified guests
"John was an incredible guide and spoke exceptional English. Amazing value for money, would recommend."
"It was a good and very interesting trip. The guide was very knowledgeable. Bring snacks, it is a long day. The only complaint is we spent 1.5 hour driving around Cusco picking up everyone."
"Our guide Vincente was very friendly, helpful and funny. The information he gave us was fascinating and useful since the salt mines and Moray for example don’t have any published information boards. The views from the minibus were stunning too. The pacing was great and we were back in Cusco main square by 3pm. A really good half day tour."
"really enjoyed this tour. Everything went smoothly. The guide was great and so knowledgeable."
"I had a wonderful experience on the Moray and Maras Salt Mines tour with Ricardo! Everything was very well organized, and the guidance throughout the trip was excellent. Ricardo was knowledgeable, helpful, and made the experience even more enjoyable. The places we visited were beautiful, and the entire trip went smoothly from beginning to end. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Cusco!"
Read all 3,180 verified reviews
See All ReviewsMoray, Maras and Chinchero in a Morning
Apu Ausangate Trek's half day picks you up in Cusco, visits the Chinchero weavers, Moray and the Maras salt mines with a bilingual guide, and has you back in the city by mid-afternoon. Rated 4.8 by more than 3,000 guests on GetYourGuide (checked October 2026). The two gate fees are paid in cash on the day. Starting from $15 per person in current promotion (usually $16).
Check Dates for Moray and MarasOther Days Around Cusco
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Moray and Maras Tour FAQ
Fees, timing and what you can do at the terraces and the salt pans.
S/70 for Moray and S/20 for the salt mines, both paid in cash in soles (October 2026). Moray is on the Boleto Turístico: the partial Circuit III ticket at S/70 for a foreign adult also covers Chinchero, Ollantaytambo and Pisac for two days, and the S/130 integral ticket covers it too (COSITUC, cosituccusco.pe). The salt mines are not on the tourist ticket; MaraSal, the company of the Maras and Pichingoto communities, charges its own S/20 at the gate.
About 6.5 to 7 hours from Cusco, starting around 8:30 and back around 3 pm. That includes about an hour's drive each way, a weaving demonstration in Chinchero and about 40 minutes each at Moray and the salt mines. Lunch is not included; most people eat back in Cusco.
Yes: a hillside of thousands of white and ochre salt pans is one of the most unusual sights around Cusco, and it is about half an hour by road from Moray. Since 2019 you see them from the path and viewpoints rather than walking among the pans, so the visit is a view rather than a walk. Half an hour to forty minutes is enough.
You walk the paths around and along the terraces, not on the terrace walls. The Ministry of Culture's rules for Moray forbid climbing on the archaeological walls, and the guards direct visitors along the marked paths. The site is open from 07:00 to 17:00 and averages 3,480 m.
Both exist. The half day from Cusco does Chinchero, Moray and the salt mines and is back by mid-afternoon. The full Sacred Valley days visit the same three in the morning and continue to Urubamba for lunch, Ollantaytambo and Pisac. Pick the half day if you have only a morning or have seen the valley floor already.
Yes. Several tours drive you to a base on the plateau and put you on an ATV for the ride to Moray and the salt mines, about six hours in all from Cusco. The gate fees are extra, as on the van tours. Read the listing's conditions on age and passengers before you book.
Moray averages 3,480 m and the salt pans lie at about 3,300 to 3,380 m; Chinchero, the usual first stop, is about 3,750 m. All three are as high as Cusco (3,399 m) or higher, so this tour is better after a day or two of acclimatisation. Figures from the Ministry of Culture and INEI.
Yes, with a taxi or a hired driver from Cusco or Urubamba. You pay the same gate fees, and Urubamba, down in the valley below the salt mines, is the closer starting point. A seat on a group tour from Cusco starts from about the price of a meal, which is why most visitors take one.
Still have questions? Email us at info@sacred-valley-tour.com