The salt honeycomb
White squares on the slope.
Draceane — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ed88 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · PsamatheM — CC BY-SA 4.0 · PsamatheM — CC BY-SA 4.0
Hundreds of small stepped pools on the side of a narrow valley, fed by a very salty mountain spring, whose water evaporates in the sun to leave white salt. They are among the largest ancient salt works in the Cusco region, used before and under the Incas and still working today. The salt water flows from a spring at the head of the valley through small channels into the pools one after another, and each pool belongs to a village family who work it the traditional way, gathering the salt by hand once it crystallises. The scene shifts between white, pink and brown with the season and the amount of water. The view from the road above is one of the finest sights of the Sacred Valley: thousands of white squares packed on the slope like a honeycomb. Visitors walk a set path beside the pools; walking among them is no longer allowed. At the entrance, stalls sell pink salt, bath salts and salted sweets, light and lovely gifts. Entry is a separate ticket, not covered by the Cusco tourist ticket.
White squares on the slope.
Village families at work.
Gifts at the gate.
A valley slope near the village of Maras, about an hour by road from Cusco
No: the salt pans are run by the village community and need a small separate ticket at the gate. Nearby Moray is on the tourist ticket.