Quinoa cooking class, Sacred Valley

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

Learn how to prepare and cook this traditional Peruvian highland dish with local experts. With bellies and culinary imagininations full, explore local markets and Inca ruins on this wonderful culture-infused trip.

Sacred Valley cooking class 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 your hotel at 8:30 am. 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.

Visit Chinchero

First, we visit the Temple of the Rainbow, one of the largest Inca temples, to learn why the Inca 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-renowned 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 souvenirs, including Inca-style purses, colorful tablecloths, wall hangings, and many other exquisitely patterned artisanal goods.

Quinoa cooking class 

A cooking lesson follows the first tour. Local 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 authentic flavors of Peru.

After sharing lunch with the ladies, we can dress in traditional Chinchero clothing and hats 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 thought to have formed an Inca agricultural laboratory. Some of the terraced circular depressions are 30m/98ft deep, creating a wide variety of temperatures within them.

We walk farther into this archaeological site to see some ruins that may have served as one of the Incas' main amphitheaters. 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 used since pre-Inca times.

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

The intense Andean sun evaporates the water, leaving 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 by the Incas as a natural refrigerator. The cold wind kept temperatures low, ideal for 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, and more.

What’s included?

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

What’s 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.