Tour Maras Moray Salineras Full day

DAY 01: MARAS MORAY SALINERAS.

This beautiful bicycle tour will allow you to discover the Sacred Valley of the Incas in a whole new way. This tour combines magnificent views of the Sacred Valley while surrounded by the impressive snow-capped mountains. Further, we will be able to explore the archaeological sites in a new way and appreciate the fresh air from your mountain bike.

Here are a list of the magnificent places we will visit during our adventure.

MARAS: Maras is a district of the Urubamba province, which can be reached by a paved road. The town is located at kilometer 50 on the road Cusco – Chinchero – Urubamba. It has at an altitude of 3300 mts. (10824 feet), on a plain that in prehistoric times was a huge plateau, from which it is possible to observe the range of mountains of Urubamba including the snow capped mountains of Weqey Willka (today “La Veronica”, 5682 mts., 18641 ft.) and ” Chikon” (5530 mts., 18143 ft.).

Moray: About 7 kms. (4.3 miles) southwest of Maras. Moray is a very unique archaeological site in the region. It is possible to reach it by car over a dusty road/path departing from the town. There are enormous natural depressions or hollows in the ground surface that the Incas used for constructing irrigated farming terraces inside. What is surprising is that the difference of the average annual temperature between the top and the bottom (about 30 mts/100 feet deep) reaches about 15°C (59°F). Towards the northwest of the Maras village are the famous “Salt Mines”. The Maras “salt mines” are made up of about 3000 small pools with an average area of 5 m² (53.8 ft²), constructed in a slope of the “Qaqawiñay” mountain. People fill up or “irrigate” the pools during the dry season every 3 days with salty water emanating from a natural spring located on the top of the complex so that as the water evaporates, the salt solidifies.

BIKE-ROUTE:

We leave Cusco by bus at 9:00 a.m., with the direction to Chinchero (30 minutes to get here), a small village that retains the layout of the streets of the Inca edge and also several buildings dating from this time. From here we go by bike in the direction of the Lake Huaypo. We will first stop in the agricultural site of Moray and then continue to the Maras colonial village, and then visit the salt mines. In the Salineras we will learn how the salt and precious minerals were collected from the flats during the Inca and colonial period. Finally, we will complete our circuit with a beautiful descent into the village of Urubamba at the bottom of the Valley of the sacred river Vilcanota. We will return to Cusco by car around 5:00 pm.

The biking is not too challenging and is about 35 km in total with little uphill.  Don’t miss out on this incredible adventure.

• English speaking guide for the archaeological sites
• Gloves, helmet, bike, lunch box, round trip transportation
• The entrance  ticket for the archaeological site Moray (included on the Tourist Ticket)
• The entrance ticket for the Salt mines

• Tips for guides