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Maras Salt Ponds – Amazing Terraced Pans Inherited From The Incas, Peru

In the heart of the Sacred Valley of the Incas, between Urubamba and Ollantaytambo, lies the small village of Maras. It’s a typical, sleepy Andean village with worn white paint on the adobe or stone walls, and narrow cobbled streets.

Despite appearances, this is not yet another village. It is blessed with a geological wonder that men have exploited for centuries. It is on the slopes of the Qaqawiñay mountain, 7 or 8 km north of the village, that it all happens.

A spring of highly salted water is miraculously flowing out of the rocks, 3380 m above sea level. It had already caught the eye of the Chanapata People (a pre-Inca civilization) and was then developed by the Incas who started to build the terraced evaporation ponds to harvest the salt.

So here I was, on a small road in the middle of the Andes, marveling at this mountainous scenery from the car. My guesthouse in Ollantaytambo just had a call to make to arrange this little trip, with a driver who knows his way around the most lost roads you can imagine.

At the end of a sharp turn, the driver suddenly stopped and advised us to take a closer look down the valley. Hundreds and hundreds of white ponds were covering the mountain, which left me awe-struck.

For sure, the Maras salt ponds are one of the most surprising places you can see in the region. We may be accustomed to seeing salt pans along the seashore, but on a mountain high in the Andes? I don’t know about you, but I had never seen that before!

Quick Info

Address: 8 km (5 mi) north of Maras, Peru.

GPS: 13°18’14.41″S, 72° 9’14.50″W

Best way to go: With a car and driver from Ollantaytambo.

Entrance fee: 10 soles (about 3 USD)

Duration of visit: 45 mins – 1 hour

Best season: April to October

Salineras de Maras

How Does It All Work?

The salted water comes from an underground stream that emerges from the mountain in a natural spring. That’s where Human genius comes into play.

The water is channeled into the network of ponds, build only with muscle power since the Inca times. The ponds are terraced on the slope of the mountain, and the water is guided from pond to pond, filling all of them. That’s where the process takes place.

The shallow ponds are left in the dry air and full sun of the Andes. Salt concentration keeps increasing as the water evaporates, and deposits. It is then ready to be harvested.

Over the centuries, the salt pans have been extended and upgraded. Nowadays, they are shared among the inhabitants of Maras. There are around 3000 or 4000 ponds, and each family exploits a few.

Maras Salt Ponds Video

My experience at the Maras salt pans in one minute!

Visiting Maras

This visit felt a little like revenge. It was my third trip to Peru, and the third time I was roaming the Sacred Valley. Twice before, I had well noticed this intriguing white mountain slope, without having enough time to take a closer look. Blame packed itineraries. This time, I made a point to go.

When you get to the entrance, you are greeted with the usual souvenir stalls featuring all the colorful local handicrafts, plus baggies of salt, of course. Was it already too late? Had mass tourism taken over this place and turned it into an Andean Disneyland, making more money from tourism than from salt?

It’s true that the Maras salt mines have caught the attention of more and more travelers in the past years.

It is indeed very easy to visit the salt mines from Ollantaytambo or Urubamba, either with an organized tour or with a private car and driver that any hostel in the area can find for you for an affordable fee. The most common is to arrange a tour covering the Maras salt pans and the Inca ruins of Moray, which are nearby.

Many visitors also choose to cover Maras, Moray, and often the village of Pisac (famous for its traditional market) as a day trip to the Sacred Valley of the Incas from Cusco.

VIRTUAL TOUR – Maras Salt Mines

Explore the surprising salt ponds (4 panoramas).

The virtual tour opens in a lightbox. Use your mouse to move around the 360° panoramas.

With so many easy ways to visit Maras, I certainly had good reasons to be afraid of finding a whole crowd there! This lost little village is not really lost anymore.

As I crossed the last stall to enter the mine, my fears vanished. As soon as you arrive, you can’t help but be blown away by this seemingly endless patchwork of ponds. Their color range from bright white to brown and sometimes almost orange, with all the hues in between.

Maras Salt Ponds

The atmosphere is quite special. There were very few tourists, and locals working hard fixing their pond with their shovels. It’s a little like being thrown back in time, witnessing scenes that have taken place here for centuries.

If you walk a little further from the most obvious path, walking on the edge of the ponds, you will find yourself totally alone in this surreal place.

It may not be the first site you think of visiting in the Sacred Valley, and you might be tempted to skip it and keep it for next time like I did twice. Don’t.

You can see many Inca ruins, beautiful mountains, and colorful markets in the region, but the Salineras de Maras is truly unique and you should definitely give it the attention it deserves.

Maras Salt Ponds

TRAVEL MAP – Salineras de Maras

Visualize on the map the precise locations of panoramas in the virtual tour and places of interest to help you prepare for your trip to the Maras Salt Mines.

Click Here to View The Map

The map opens in a lightbox. Zoom in to explore!

20 Comments

  • Tamara Elliott
    Posted December 24, 2017 at 7:18 pm

    Your photography is STUNNING and I just love how you put the 360 photo as the feature image!! That is so cool! Is it a plug-in?

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 24, 2017 at 7:52 pm

      Hey Tamara, thank you for your kind words! I actually create and host the virtual tour outside of the wordpress installation, and embed it in the header of my page, between the navigation bar and the post title (and I don’t use any automated featured image function) 🙂

      Reply
  • Debra Schroeder
    Posted December 25, 2017 at 5:10 am

    Your photos of the salt pans are cool. Seeing them in person must have been awesome. That 360 degree feature rocks (pun intended)! 🙂

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 25, 2017 at 5:56 pm

      Haha thanks Debra! Happy you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  • Medha
    Posted December 25, 2017 at 8:18 am

    I actually haven’t heard of these salt mines in Peru so this is interesting and informative for me. You’ve been to Peru thrice? That’s so cool! And I love all your pictures, especially the 360 degree ones!

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 25, 2017 at 5:57 pm

      Thanks a lot Medha, it was indeed my 3rd trip to Peru, and I still have so much left to see there!

      Reply
  • Nisha
    Posted December 26, 2017 at 1:16 pm

    Salt pans on top of mountains! Before I read I thought it would be like Wieliczka in Poland or Cardona in Spain which I have visited. But this is just amazingly different. Your 360 photos does make the reading all the more interesting.

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 27, 2017 at 4:41 pm

      Thank you very much Nisha! I had never heard of the salt mines you mention, the world is full of surprising places!

      Reply
  • Marvi
    Posted December 26, 2017 at 2:26 pm

    Wow.. This is my first time to hear about Salt Pans and it looks incredible! Glad you’ve decided to explore this on your 3rd visit.. Would’ve been quiet a miss if you hadn’t.. Nature and people working together can indeed create amazing things (and structures)! Loved your video btw! 🙂

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 27, 2017 at 4:42 pm

      Yes it would have been a waste to not visit it, glad you liked it Marvi!

      Reply
  • Alli
    Posted December 26, 2017 at 5:27 pm

    These photos are wonderful and capture the remarkable essence of the place! The video is great – inspires me to create some of my own 🙂

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 27, 2017 at 4:45 pm

      Thank you Alli! Happy you liked it 🙂

      Reply
  • Lois Alter Mark
    Posted December 26, 2017 at 7:11 pm

    My goodness, this is remarkable. I am shocked that I’ve never heard of Salineras de Maras before but I’m so glad you’ve shared this gem with us. Will definitely have to take a trip there before it becomes a top tourist destination. Absolutely stunning!

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 27, 2017 at 4:47 pm

      Thank you so much! The salt mines are already getting quite popular, I believe visiting it in late afternoon helps avoiding major crowds.

      Reply
  • Sandy N Vyjay
    Posted December 27, 2017 at 2:27 am

    Maras is indeed a wonder of nature harnessed by the ingenuity of Man. What a sight it must be, looking down at the salt pans from the mountains. It was really good that you did not find too many tourists at the place. That meant you were able to have a really immersive experience of the place.

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 27, 2017 at 5:06 pm

      Hey Sandy, thanks for the comment! Indeed I was lucky to have this wonderful place with only a few people 🙂

      Reply
  • Lauren
    Posted December 27, 2017 at 5:42 am

    I’ve never seen anything quite like this before! These photos are spectacular. I can only imagine what it would look like in person. As per your advice, I certainly won’t skip it when I go to Peru!

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 27, 2017 at 5:09 pm

      Thanks Lauren! Yes, don’t follow my bad example of procrastinating, and do plan some time to visit it 🙂

      Reply
  • Jennifer Melroy
    Posted December 27, 2017 at 6:59 am

    It looks like the rice terraces in Southeast Asia but with salt. Sites like this remind me that the ancients are so much smarter than we give them credit for. They developed some amazing tech without all the modern adventures we have. Did you bring some salt home?

    Reply
    • Post Author
      Julien
      Posted December 27, 2017 at 5:14 pm

      Hey Jennifer thanks for commenting, the Incas were indeed amazing engineers and all of the Inca ruins we can find today are simply amazing. I did buy a little bag of salt from the mines!

      Reply

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