One of our most exciting and authentic Sacred Valley days tour; learn how to make quinoa with our cooking class.

Learn how to prepare and cook this traditional Peruvian highland dish.

Highlights include:

• Quinoa cooking class

• Weavers of Chinchero

• Inca amphitheater in Moray

• The salt mines of Maras

• Inca ruins at Machu Colca.

Quinoa Cooking Class and Sacred Valley Tour

You are picked up at 8:30 am at your hotel. From Cusco or the Sacred Valley, there is a 45-minute drive in our private vehicle through beautiful mountains and farmlands to the town of Chinchero.

Our visit to Chinchero consists of three parts.

Chinchero

First, we visit the Temple of the Rainbow, one of the biggest Inca temples, to learn why they worshipped the rainbow.

Next, we visit a church with beautiful murals depicting the Cusqueñan style of painting. This style of art combines traditional Inca imagery with Christian motifs.

We then walk through the beautiful village in Chinchero, ending at the women's weaving cooperative. We watch a demonstration of local weavers. They use traditional Inca techniques for dyeing fabric and for weaving traditional patterns. The local community has used its internationally-renown weaving skills to regenerate the village. 

There is time to browse in the shop, where the items you’ve seen being made are sold. This is a great place to get a souvenir, from Inca-style purses, colorful tablecloths, wall hangings, and many more exquisitely patterned artisanal goods.

Quinoa cooking class 

This is followed by a cooking lesson. The ladies teach us how to make quinoa soup, a staple of the local diet. Take notes! The recipe is delicious and one you will surely want to make once you are back home, taking home the true flavors of Peru.

After sharing lunch with the ladies, we can dress up in the traditional clothing and hat of Chinchero, and take some photos with our new friends.

Moray ruins

Next on our itinerary is a visit to Moray (3,500m/11,500ft). This is an unusual and spectacular set of ruins; concentric circles that are thought to have made up an Inca agricultural laboratory. Some of the terraced circular depressions are 30m/98ft deep, creating a wide variety of temperatures within them.

We walk further down into this archaeological site to see some ruins that may have served as one of the main amphitheaters for the Incas. Rituals and ceremonies may have been performed here.

Maras Salt Mines

We hop back in the car and drive to the spectacular Maras site, a collection of salt mines that have been used since pre-Inca times.

Workers channel an underground stream into various salt ponds. There are around 5,000 separate salt ponds, albeit not all of them are in working use at the same time. The local community has to work hard and cooperatively to maintain the balance between salt and sweet water, evaporation, and keeping the pond walls in good order.

The strong Andean sun evaporates the water to leave the highly-prized salt. Some salt is white, some red and some brown and you can find Maras salt for sale in the area.

Machu Colca

On the way back to your hotel, we stop at a rarely visited Inca site called Machu Colca. This was once one of the biggest storehouses in the area. This area is at a high altitude (3,850m/12.631ft) and was used as a natural refrigerator by the Incas. The cold wind kept temperatures cool, perfect for the long-term storage of crops such as quinoa and potatoes.

Private transfer back to your hotel in Cusco or the Sacred Valley.

Don’t forget to read our FAQs, covering altitude, money, COVID, and more.

Prices

Minimum 2 people

1 DAY

Groups of 2: $165 per person 

Groups of 3 or 4: $95 per person 

Groups of 5 or more: $79 per person 

-INCLUDED-

Private transport, lunch, entrance to weaving cooperative & Machu Colca

-NOT INCLUDED-

Entrance to the temple of the Rainbow, Moray (Boleto turistico: 130 soles-$40 covers entrance to Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero, Moray, multiple museums in Cusco, and Sacsayhuaman or 70 soles--$25 which covers only some of these sites, gratuities, & entrance to Maras $4 per person.