Sacred Valley ATV Thrills: Moray, Maras & Salt Flats from Cusco

Fantastic service from check in to check out.. A special mention to Phil and his team in the Restaurant amazing attention to detail.. going above and beyond.

We had a really great time on this trip! Our guide Joel was awesome! It was cool to get off the beaten path a bit, the views are amazing everywhere you look. All the equipment was well maintained. It was wet and cold when we went and we got a bit dirty, but we were prepared for that and it was almost part the fun. They also took some really great pictures for us.

We had a good time and spent a lot of time on the ATVs. It was a dry day so we came back a bit dusty. The ATVs were in good condition as well. Layer up as it may be chilly once you get going. Great site seeing of native areas and a way to support locals.

The HWY 550 starts in Albuquerque NM and goes to Durango and continues from there. This first is an interesting drive through high dessert areas to Durango. Durango is a great town, lots of hotels are there too, a great walk along the river, rafting, several micro-breweries, an original French bakery with the best baguette for 100 miles and much more. The steam engine railway, which was rated the best in the USA, starts there. The trip to Silverton by train takes you through untouched areas of the Weminuche Wilderness, where is no street goes. The first part from Durango is not that breathtaking but it becomes breathtaking! The drive by car from Durango to Silverton and especially the last part to Ouray is truly breathtaking too. The miner's Monument at the hillside in Silverton is really worth to walk there. It has such a nice blessing energy. Otherwise Silverton is a special old miner's town with several good restaurants and outdoors. The HWY 550 becomes sometimes very narrow and was blasted out of the steep hillsides. No guardrails block the view. Each year some avalanches happen and cars are swiped down during the winter. If this was too much for you, you can go back to Durango via the HWY 145 which brings you down the beautiful Dolores Valley to Dolores and Cortez and from there via HWY 160 back to Durango. From Silverton to Ouray is the best part. First you drive through meadows and might see a moose. Plenty of camping options. Then it becomes narrow and steep. Great! Ouray itself has several natural Hot Springs, Hotels with them and a big public one at the exit of town towards Ridgeway and Montrose. Ridgeway has the Orvis Hot Springs (I wrote about it too) and in Ridgeway you can go left towards Telluride and then from there to Lizard Head pass, Dolores and Cortez and back to Ouray. Montrose is not nice and only makes sense if you want to go through to Grand Junction or you need building materials. Telluride and it's Mountain Village (connected with a free gondola) are surely worth a stop too. From Telluride to Lizard Head pass also is a nice drive. Be aware, that in the national forests you can do camping for free and stay at a spot for 2 weeks. Many places for that are at rivers for Fly-fishing. In Silverton and Ouray they rent out Jeeps for exploring the old mountain-roads. Another adventure. Oh- so much more. I live here, but still have not explored all of it.

Amazingly fun time on a budget compared to other tours. I do recommend that everyone in the group gets to drive their own ATV, but doubling up is an option as well.

We waited 45 minutes after the prescribed pick up time and only after 3 calls to the provider we got collected by taxi. This meant we missed the main group and had to do a tour ourselves. The original tour was a monument then the salt mines, but instead we had to do a tour of a Laguna and the salt mines, whilst we were offered the original it felt like everyone was guiding us to do an abridged tour, maybe due to the late collection. We had training on the ATV’s then set off for the Laguna which was great fun, the Laguna was beautiful and set in a stunning location. We then went to the salt mines which again was amazing to see. So once we got on the tour it was fun and interesting. Beware though, there is no insurance included for the ATV’s which concerned us. Ronnie was our tour guide and he was great. The taxi took us right back to our hotel, which was an unexpected bonus. So in summary, the tour was great, hence the 4 stars, but the delayed pickup was very irritating- there was a festival on in Cusco which didn’t help but the tour company should have known this

Absolutely amazing ruins and the salt mines were out of this world. For the price it’s a fantastic excursion!

Great experience but some folks needed more instruction on how to ride the ATV's as they were a danger to others. Overall very fun and interesting

I really enjoyed the ATV tour. When we arrived, Alex, our guide, thoroughly showed us how the ATVs worked and we had driving practice round a dirt track. We had around 2 hours of ATV driving to and from Moray archeological park. We then took the minibus to the Salt Flat, which was a remarkable place and well worth a visit due to its uniqueness. Alex was very easy to understand and answered all our questions about Moray and the Salt Flats.

Salt Mines : Amazing trip and views .. the tour guide was so nice and knowledgeable with awesome picture skills . It’s a must if you want a short trip to the salt mines with a view of the town .