Maras Salt Mines and Moray: What You See and How to Visit

Short answer: The Maras salt mines (Salineras de Maras) are about 3,000 shallow pools in use on a hillside above the Sacred Valley, fed by a salty spring and harvested by families from the two local communities. Moray, about 20 minutes away by road, is a set of concentric Inca terraces sunk into natural bowls, the largest about 100 ft (30 m) deep. Both sit on the plateau about 1 hour 20 minutes from Cusco. Moray is on the Boleto Turístico del Cusco. Maras charges its own entry in cash. Since 2019 you look at the pools from the paths above instead of walking among them. Half a day covers both.

The Maras salt mines

Nothing is mined at Maras. A spring of salty water comes out of the mountain above the village and the Incas, and the people before them, channeled it into terraces of shallow pools. Each family owns pools, lets them fill, waits for the sun to evaporate the water, and scrapes up the salt. The pools step down the hillside in the thousands, white in the dry months and muddy brown after rain, and from the viewpoint at the top they look like a cracked mirror.

How the salt is made

The spring water runs through a network of small channels, and a family opens and closes its channel with a stone or a lump of clay. A pool takes a few days to fill a hand deep, then dries over the following weeks. The first scrape is the whitest salt, sold as table salt. The lower layers are pink from the clay and go to animals and industry. The pools belong to the community: an owner has to be a member, and unused pools go to families willing to learn the work. The salt sells at the entrance in small bags, including pink salt and salt mixed with herbs. Buy it there, in cash, from the people who scraped it.

Can you walk into the salt pans?

No. Since September 2019 the two communities that run the cooperative have kept visitors on the paths and viewpoints at the top, after finding paper, plastic and hair in the salt. Tours still go, and the view from above is the photograph people wanted anyway. Wear sunglasses: the glare off the pools at midday is hard on the eyes.

Tickets and the driest months

Maras is not on the Boleto Turístico. The community charges its own entry at the gate, in cash, and it is not included in most tour prices, including our van tours. Ask for the current amount when you book. The pools are whitest from May to September, when it does not rain. From December to March the harvest slows, the pools go brown and the paths get slick. Late afternoon light is softer than noon, which is why the ATV tour we prefer goes in the morning and reaches Maras before the midday glare.

Moray

Moray is the strangest Inca site near Cusco. Three sets of concentric stone terraces step down into natural sinkholes in the plateau, like amphitheaters with no stage, and the largest bowl is about 100 ft (30 m) deep. You walk the rim with a guide in about 45 minutes. Going down is not allowed on most days to protect the walls. The site is on the Boleto Turístico del Cusco: the Circuit III partial ticket costs S/70 for foreign adults and is valid two days for Moray, Chinchero, Pisac and Ollantaytambo, and the full ticket costs S/130 for 10 days (as of August 2026, per COSITUC).

The purpose of Moray

Nobody knows for certain. The most repeated theory is that it was an agricultural laboratory. The bowls face the sun and sit out of the wind, and the temperature difference between the top ring and the bottom reaches as much as 27°F (15°C), so each ring behaves like a different altitude. The idea is that the Incas tested which crops grew at which level and carried the results to their terraces across the empire. Another theory says the bowls began as pits dug for stone or clay and were terraced afterward to stop the walls collapsing. Your guide will tell you the first version with confidence. Listen, and remember it is a hypothesis.

What you can see for yourself is the engineering: walls tilted slightly inward, drainage that keeps the bottom dry in the rains, and stone steps set into the walls to connect the rings. Moray sits at about 11,500 ft (3,500 m), a little above Cusco, so the climb back from the lower viewpoint is slower than it looks.

Getting there: van, ATV or bike

Maras and Moray are about 31 mi (50 km) northwest of Cusco on the plateau above the Sacred Valley, roughly 1 hour 20 minutes by road, and 4 mi (6 km) apart. The salt pans are below the village of Maras, down a dirt road, with a walking path that continues down to the valley floor. There are three ways to see them, and each suits a different traveler.

By van, with Chinchero and Ollantaytambo

The full-day plateau tour starts at 6:20 a.m., takes Chinchero first, then Moray and Maras, drops to Urubamba for a buffet lunch, climbs the Ollantaytambo fortress and ends with a late stop at Pisac. Six stops in about 12 hours. It is the right choice if you have one valley day and want the salt pans and the big Inca sites together. Our Moray, Maras and Chinchero day tour runs that loop for US$127 with the Boleto Turístico and lunch included, and the Maras entry paid at the gate.

By ATV, a half-day ride

The ATV version is the one we prefer for Maras and Moray on their own. A van takes you to a base at Cruz Pata on the plateau, an instructor gives a 15-minute lesson, and you ride dirt farm tracks between potato and quinoa fields to Moray, then back to the base and down by van to the salt pans. Two people can share one machine, so a nervous driver can ride behind. Morning departures at 7 a.m. have less dust and softer light than the 1 p.m. slot. Our Maras and Moray by ATV costs US$167 with both entries, the helmet and the instructor, and you are back in Cusco by early afternoon.

By bike or on foot

The plateau is flat enough for a mountain bike, and the descent from Maras village past the salt pans to the valley floor is a favorite of local bike guides. On foot, the path from the salt pans down to the road at Pichingoto takes about an hour. Do either after a night or two in Cusco, because the plateau sits above the city and the sun at 11,500 ft (3,500 m) is strong. Our Cusco altitude guide explains how to pace the first days.

For how Maras and Moray fit with Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero in a day or two, read our Sacred Valley guide.

Sources

• Maras, Peru, Wikipedia (spring, cooperative ownership, 2019 access rule, distance from Cusco)
• Moray (Inca ruin), Wikipedia (depth, altitude, temperature difference, theories)
• COSITUC, Boleto Turístico del Cusco, tarifario (Circuit III price, updated August 1, 2026)
• Fertur Travel blog, tourist entry to the Maras salt pans limited (2019)