Salinas Grandes and Purmamarca Full-Day Tour from Salta

Purmamarca

Purmamarca is a small village of adobe houses and cobbled lanes at about 2,300 metres in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, the long valley in Jujuy province that UNESCO lists as a World Heritage Site for its landscapes and Andean culture. The village sits at the foot of the Hill of Seven Colours, and its main square is ringed by stalls selling woven textiles, ponchos, ceramics and carved cactus wood. The seventeenth-century church beside the square has a ceiling of cactus timber and an ancient carob tree in front of it.

The tour stops in Purmamarca twice: in the morning for the square, the market and the viewpoints over the hill, and again in the afternoon for the lunch break at one of the traditional restaurants, where regional dishes such as empanadas, humita and llama stew are typical. Many travellers ask whether Purmamarca is worth visiting, and it is the highlight of the Jujuy day trip from Salta for most of them: compact, colourful and unlike anywhere else in Argentina.

The Hill of Seven Colours

The Hill of Seven Colours rises directly behind Purmamarca, a hillside striped in pink, red, orange, green, white, violet and brown. The bands are layers of sediment laid down over hundreds of millions of years, some on sea floors, some in lakes and rivers, and later tilted and exposed by the rise of the Andes; the different minerals in each layer give the colours. The best time to see the Hill of Seven Colours is early in the morning, when low sun lights the stripes from the side, which is why the tour reaches Purmamarca first.

The guide takes you to the classic viewpoints at the edge of the village, with time for photographs from the square and the short lane that climbs beside it. The colours look different from each angle, so take a few minutes to walk around. This is the most photographed landscape of the Quebrada de Humahuaca and the image that makes people book a Purmamarca tour in the first place.

Cuesta de Lipán

West of Purmamarca the road to the salt flats climbs the Cuesta de Lipán, a sequence of hairpin bends that gains almost two thousand metres of altitude in a short distance, from the cactus-covered valley floor to the Abra de Potrerillos pass at about 4,170 metres. The views back over the Quebrada widen with every bend, and the vegetation thins to grass and stone as you rise onto the high plateau of the Puna. Vicuñas, the wild relatives of the llama, are often seen grazing beside the road near the top.

The guide stops at the pass for photographs and to let everyone adjust to the altitude; walk slowly, drink water and eat lightly beforehand. The drive over the Cuesta de Lipán is a highlight in its own right, with the landscape changing more in forty minutes than it does in most whole countries. Anyone wondering how to get to the Salinas Grandes from Salta should know this winding mountain road is the only way.

Salinas Grandes

The Salinas Grandes are a vast salt flat on the high plateau at about 3,450 metres, stretching white to the horizon on the border of Jujuy and Salta provinces and ranked among the natural wonders of Argentina. The crust is thick, hard and cracked into polygons, and in places the salt cooperative cuts rectangular pools that fill with bright turquoise brine. The light is intense, the sky usually a deep clear blue, and the flatness plays tricks with scale, hence the perspective photos that make people look tiny or giant.

You have free time to walk out onto the crust, visit the pools and browse the small stalls where local families sell salt carvings. Sunglasses, sunscreen and a hat are essential; the glare from the salt is stronger than at the beach. A Salinas Grandes day trip from Salta is a long day because of the distance, but the sight of the white plain opening out below the pass makes every hour of the drive worthwhile.

The road north from Salta through Volcán and Tumbaya

The drive from Salta to Purmamarca is about 190 kilometres and takes roughly three hours, leaving the green valley of Salta and crossing into Jujuy province before entering the Quebrada de Humahuaca at Volcán, a village named after the landslides that once poured down the mountainside. The road then follows the Río Grande past Tumbaya, with its small white colonial church, as the valley walls rise and the first coloured rock appears. The early start is what makes it possible to see Purmamarca in the morning light and still reach the salt flats.

Our guide uses the drive to explain the history of the Quebrada as a trade route between the Andes and the lowlands and to point out the landmarks on the way. The vehicle is air-conditioned, and the return in the evening follows the same road, with drop-off at your hotel in central Salta about thirteen hours after departure.