Salt Mine of Maras
Terraced hillside of thousands of hand-worked salt pools fed by an ancient mineral spring.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Salt Mine of Maras, outside Cusco, follows the salty spring that has poured from this hillside since before the Inca, and the Wari farmers who first channeled it into basins over a thousand years ago. You will hear how families from the villages of Maras and Pichingoto still own and work those pools today, flooding and scraping them by hand under a strict local custom about who may ever inherit one. It traces the rhythm of dry season and wet season that decides whether a harvest is worth taking. Look closely at how the color shifts from the top of the slope to the bottom.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Laguna de Huacarpay
High-altitude wetland of reed beds and open water ringed by Wari and Inca terraces.
Zona Arqueologica Moray
Nested circular terraces once believed to be an Inca crop laboratory, ringed by dramatic elevation drops.
Arqueológico de Chinchero Park
Terraced royal estate whose excavated stone channels and heat-storing walls reveal Inca farming engineering.
Tipón Archaeological Park
Terraced royal retreat where engineered fountains and aqueducts still channel spring water past ceremonial baths.
Baños Termales de Lares
Mineral-rich thermal pools fed by natural volcanic springs high in the Andean mountains.
Barrio san blas
Hillside artisan quarter of steep cobbled lanes, once prized for a salt spring and sweeping valley views.