Inca Trail, Machu Picchu Tours, Peru Tours

Maras: Maras is a district in the Urubamba province, it's possible to reach there through a paved road from km. 50 on the road Cusco-Chinchero-Urubamba. It is located west of Cusco at an altitude of 3,300m (10,824ft); over a plain that in prehistoric times was a huge plateau, from which it is possible to see the Urubamba range, including the snowcapped mountains of Waqay Willka (today "Veronica" at 5,682m/18,641ft) and Chikon (5,530m./18,143ft).

Moray: About 7 km. (4,3 ml) away southwest from Maras is Moray, a very unique archaeological site in the region. It is possible to reach it by car through a dusty road and a path departing from the town. Those are enormous natural depressions or hollows in the ground surface that the Inkas used for constructing irrigated farming terraces around them. What is surprising is that the difference of average annual temperature between the top and the bottom reaches even about 15°C (59°F) in the main depression that is about 30m (100ft) deeper.

Towards the northwest of Maras are the famous Salt Works, which are possible to reach walking by the trail or by car through a dusty road that is almost useless in the rainy season. The Maras salt works to which some people call salt mines are constituted by about 3,000 small pools with an average area of 5m² (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 when water evaporates the salt contained in it will slowly solidify.

Maras-Moray Biking itinerary:

We leave at 9:00 in the morning and get back at 4:00 in the afternoon. We get to Chinchero by bus, which takes 30 minutes. This is a big climb by bike, and the bus leaves us fresh for roaming the tablelands. We visit Lake Huaypo, Maras-Moray, Las Salineras, and finally enjoy a downhill to Urubamba in the Sacred Valley.

Maras is an Inca settlement, and the Salineras are extensive salt mines that have been terraced, controled, and used since before Inca days. We have moderate ascents, easy descents, and finally technical descents.

- English-speaking guide for the archaeological sites.

- Gloves, helmet, bike, box lunch, round-trip transportation.

IT'S NOT INCLUDED: Not included, the ticket entrance for the archaeological sites.

DEPARTURES: Every day from 9:00AM untill 5:00PM.