Essential Humahuaca
Trip Highlights
Street corner in Purmamarca
Llama trekking in Los Colorados, Purmamarca
Humahuaca Street Mural
Description
Combine the highlights of the colourful Quebrada de Humahuaca with the other-wordly Salinas Grandes salt flats in the Argentina Altiplano.
Rich in indigenous culture and colonial history, the old trade route from Buenos Aires to Lima features the Seven Coloured Hill of Purmamarca, and Hornocal's lesser known sierra of Fourteen Colours.
A side-trip to appreciate the immensity of the Salinas Grandes salt flats makes this one of the most diverse two day trips available from Salta or San Salvador de Jujuy.
Click here to view map route.
Tour info
We can pick you up direct from Salta airport or from your chosen hotel in the city.
Open in Google MapsWhy take this tour?
We take the old mountain road north from Salta city, a taste of the verdant sub-tropical Yungas forest to the east of the Andes, into the neighbouring province of Jujuy. From the capital of San Salvador de Jujuy, we climb in altitude above 2,000m into the colourful canyon of the Quebrada de Humahuaca.
Celebrated for the Seven Coloured Hill in Purmamarca, our first stop, beyond the Quebrada de Humahuaca rising to 4,350m altitude is the lesser known Fourteen Coloured hill at the Serrania de Hornocal, a spectacular limestone depression formed hundreds of millions of years ago. We’ll arrive to see it in the perfect late afternoon light.
The Quebrada de Humahuaca is along the old Spanish colonial trade route from Buenos Aires to Lima, so it’s packed with history: there are old colonial churches with adobe walls and cactus wood roofs, (including one at Uquia with a rare cuzqueño art collection), a Spanish fort now converted into a museum dedicated to the War of Independence, and there are pre-Inca ruins at Tilcara.
On day 2, we will head across the Eastern range of the Andes to the Salinas Grandes salt flats before returning to Salta via the tobacco and sugar fields.
With an extra day, this is also excellent territory for hiking, horseriding, mountain biking, or even walking with llama! Jujuy is also becoming known for its emerging boutique wineries. As ever, we’re here to tailor the tour to your request, so just let us know what you’d like to do.
Included
Bilingual tour guide
Private tailor-made tour
Vehicle and guide costs
Excluded
Food
Accommodation
Things to know
Accommodation & Food
Double rooms at the privately owned B&Bs and small hotels we work with start from US$50 per night. You can eat well in some of the simple rustic places we use where you will be rubbing shoulders with the locals for less than US$15 per person. And splashing out on a three-course meal with wine in ...
Double rooms at the privately owned B&Bs and small hotels we work with start from US$50 per night. You can eat well in some of the simple rustic places we use where you will be rubbing shoulders with the locals for less than US$15 per person. And splashing out on a three-course meal with wine in a smart restaurant is unlikely to set you back more than US$40 per person.
Pricing
Headline price based on four people travelling together in one of our 4x4s with an English-speaking driver/guide.
Below are our DAILY rates PER PERSON excluding food and accommodation: valid to end 2024.
One person - US$350
Two people - US$200
Three people- US$150
Four people (one vehicle) - US$125
Four people (two vehicles) - US$200
Headline price based on four people travelling together in one of our 4x4s with an English-speaking driver/guide.
Below are our DAILY rates PER PERSON excluding food and accommodation: valid to end 2024.
One person - US$350
Two people - US$200
Three people- US$150
Four people (one vehicle) - US$125
Four people (two vehicles) - US$200
Group Size
We operate with comfortable 4x4s which can accommodate up to four people, but if you’re travelling with a larger group, please contact us and we will do our best to accommodate.
We operate with comfortable 4x4s which can accommodate up to four people, but if you’re travelling with a larger group, please contact us and we will do our best to accommodate.
7 Reviews
Verified
Jo Ellen C
23rd June 2023
laustinnc
16th May 2023
Denise Pistarino
6th May 2022
MmlArgentina
16th April 2022
Trevor T
2nd May 2021
apocalypsenow66
25th August 2018
BARBARA
6th September 2017
More Experiences
Footsteps of the Conquistadores
A high altitude 4x4 adventure along the old colonial mining route: this Altiplano tour brings you into close contact with the mountain plateau wildlife of vicuña, flamingoes, and rhea.
This excursion combines the must-see highlights of the UNESCO-protected Quebrada de Humahuaca with little-explored sections of the Argentine mountain plateau.
Far from artificial light, enjoy the breathtaking night sky in remote hamlets places like Yavi and Santa Catalina, close to the border with Bolivia.
Click here to view map route.
Fourteen Colours & Cloud Forest
Hike Argentina’s Inca trail, linking two completely different eco-systems, the dry canyon of Humahuaca and the Cloud Forest of Calilegua.
We take a narrow mountain road which was only finally completed in October 2019, tracing the footsteps of Inca explorers of northwest Argentina from the 15th century.
This trip can be extended to include a visit to the gorgeous mountain town of Iruya and the historic settlement of Yavi on the Bolivian frontier.
Available April to November.
Click here to view map route.
Mountains to Cloud Forest trekking
This is one of our most challenging north west Argentina hiking trips, recommended only for experienced trekkers: covering 58km over four days, we climb to an altitude of 4,200m, gradually descending to 1,325m, following the contours of mountain tracks along the way.
This hike offers a complete change in eco-system during four days: starting in the mountains which enfold the Quebrada de Humahuaca, we descend into the Yungas Cloud Forest of the east, following the trail of indigenous traders who travelled between the salt flats and the sub-tropical jungle.
There is an extraordinary range of landscape in these four days, and a warm welcome for modern hikers from the families in the refuges where we sleep overnight.
Available April to November.