Full-day Tour To Humahuaca, Purmamarca And Tilcara

Above expectation , mainly due to Hornacal

It was very cold in the bus and now my nose is full.

Beautiful, Samuel the guide was awesome and took time to explain everything in both English and Spanish, the drivers were careful and polite. Recommended!!!!

Great tour, the Guide Leonard is amazing, informative, helpful and kind. It was planned very well, and the Driver's Eric and Leo did a great job. Highly recommend the tour.

So the guide Angie ( hope that’s her name ) was amazing and great help. But bus broke down, very long day

Whilst our guide was extremely enthusiastic, and I don’t feel good being negative about this trip, it was a small catalogue of minor disappointments. Initial communication was confused; having been advised that pickup times would be 0700-0745 we got a message the night before advising that it was going to be 0640. We specified that we required English, and whilst we had no issue listening to commentary delivery in Spanish first, it was increasingly annoying that the English translation was 1 minute’s worth for every 3 in Spanish. I didn’t feel that we were really getting the full story. The stop in Humahuaca was the longest, allowing us to find something to eat and relax in the local setting. In fact we got 2 hours rather than one since the local guide only spoke Spanish. On the positive side, we enjoyed our lunch of llama stew at one of the only outside tables overlooking the fake goods traders in the square. Purmamarca was mostly a shopping expedition since the viewing point was a little bit anticlimactic, and only took 10 minutes to enjoy. Tilcara was an enjoyable stop of around 45 minutes, where the quality of restaurants and goods in the shops was significantly better than at the other towns. Overall, if I had known that we’d be covering over 500km in order to see 3 towns with commentary largely in Spanish, I don’t think I’d have signed up.

The tour was disappointing. Despite the lead photo showing the Seven Color Hills, most of the day was spent stopping at shops. After 7 hours, we had a single 10 minute stop on the side of a highway to view the hills, obstructed by buildings and street lamps. One more shopping stop, then back home. Not what I expected. The bus was nice, however.

We took this tour that lasted the whole day. We felt it was worth it as we had the opportunity to visit several villages along the way. They are villages surrounded by mountains and when you arrive you will notice that many have establishments specifically to sell souvenirs and gifts to tourists. On the one hand it was good because we stopped at several places and when we arrived at them they gave us the freedom to wander around a little. But on the other hand, because there were so many short stops (about 30 minutes), it meant that we didn't have time to do almost anything and we didn't really know what to do because we were afraid of going too far and being late getting back to the transport. Another positive point is the tour guide who told stories along the way. At the lunch stop, they took us to a specific restaurant along with the whole group. I paid around 12 thousand pesos for a dish with starter, main course and dessert. I purchased the tour on their website.

Had a lovely day visiting to the north of Salta with absolutely incredible views. The colored mountains were breathtaking. We enjoyed visiting the small towns that had such amazing culture. Language barrier is very difficult if you only speak English but everyone is so kind and willing to help. It’s a very long day but well worth it!

Was a great day out, seen lovely towns. The only downside was that we were put on the Spanish speaking bus so we had to rely on another passenger to tell us information, times, length of time we had in each location.

The views were excellent, the tour bus was clean, and the stops were engaging. You don't get to spend a lot of time at each stop, but considering the distance that this tour takes you on, it makes sense - it was definitely a very full day. However, please note that this tour is NOT an "English" tour. The tour guide spoke Spanish, to a mostly Spanish-speaking tour group. She tried her best to describe what was going on / what we were seeing / explain what she shared with the group with us in English. This would have been **perfectly acceptable** had it been advertised as an English/Spanish tour - myself and my group were completely happy on other tours when this happened, as we had booked a Spanish/English tour. This tour was listed / marketed only as English, which it definitely was not.

Very good trip with Angie as our leader. She had excellent English and really made the trip interesting. The bus was very comfortable and we saw everything we were meant to see. Would thoroughly recommend this particular trip.

I am afraid the experience was really disappointing. We had booked this trip from the UK. On the day of the trip, no one arrived to pick us up from the hotel, even though I had confirmations. Trying to reach Trip advisor or Viator on the phone was very difficult and when I did get through there was no explanation. The trip was rebooked for the following day without any consultation with us and we had to react and change plans to accommodate. When the coach turned up it was really old, the microphone the guide was using didn’t work. Although the guide did speak English, 95% of the tour was conducted in Spanish. The tour was to see the coloured mountains but the trip we had been given didn’t include that element. We had to work really hard and pay extra to actually see the mountains, which was the purpose of the trip. Considering the price difference of booking a similar trip locally and the poor quality of our trip and poor service received from trip adviser and Viator, I would not recommend this to anyone. Really upset and disappointed.

Canceled the day before when it was too late to book with another company and refused to speak to me about the alternatives they were offering. Costumer service could do with a lot of improvement.

The tour is a nice way to see the villages and the Hill of Seven Colours. Note that although this tour goes very close to it, it does not include a visit to the 14-coloured mountain! I was informed a day before the tour that it will be in Spanish only, even though I booked it in English (with the option to re-schedule).

The towns we visited were awesome, but when the tour began, we were never informed that the pucara of Tilcara was closed on Mondays so we couldn't visit this place. Anyway, the worst part of the tour was the poorly-informed guide (he said his name was Corleone), who had his own version of history. Let me cite some of his phrases: 1) "Pizarro arrived to Peru in 1535" - Actually, he arrived in 1532. 2) "The Inca has only one wife" - Actually he had one legal wife, the coya, whose sons were preferred when choosing the successor, and several concubines who came from the pallas (real family women). 3) "The Incas lived in peace when the Spanish arrived" - Actually, when Pizarro arrived, the empire was in the middle of a civil war because of the throne succession. Huascar, a coya's son, was the legal successor chosen by the his father Huayna Capac and the orejones council. However, Atahualpa, a palla's son, decided to claim the throne. 4) "The population at the Inca Empire reached 70 million people when the Spaniards arrived" - Actually, the population of the empire is estimated in 10-12 million people at that time. 5) "The Incas invented the vaccines, the anesthesia, and the antibiotics" - Actually, there's no account from chroniclers or historians about this. Coca leaves and San Pedro cactus' extract were used as anesthetic, although they have nothing to do with what we know nowadays as anesthesia. 6) "Manco Capac founded the first university in Cusco where many physicians, engineers, and astronomers studied" - Actually, the university concept was brought by the Europeans and the first university in the continent was St. Mark University founded on May 12, 1551 in Lima. 7) "Manco Capac inherited a big empire from his father" - Actually, nobody knows who was his father. According to mythology, Manco Capac and his wife Mama Ocllo emerged from Titicaca lake foam to found this new civilization, that was transformed into an empire by Pachacutec, continuing its expansion with his co-regent and successor Tupac Yupanqui in the XV century. 8) "The quipus were colorful 50cm strings used by the Incas" - Actually, quipus have several dimensions and its main feature are the knots in each string. They were not exclusive to the Incas, they were used since the first civilizations in Peruvian territory, e.g., Caral-Supe, the most ancient civilization in America. 9) Referring to European religions, "The Queen invented Anglicanism because the Vatican did not help her" - Actually, Anglicanism was founded by Henry VIII in 1534 because the Roman Pope did not want to approve his divorce from Catalina de Aragon, that he needed in order to marry Anne Boleyn. The Vatican did not exist in those times, it was founded in 1929. So those who want to take the tour, I still recommend it, but pay attention who is going to be the guide. If you want to learn about the Incas, don't go with Mr. Corleone as guide.

I booked & paid this English speaking tour about 8 days before. First heard from them the afternoon before telling me it was not possible to have English speaking guide. I refused this, then they said they could. Turns out the guide did her best, but spoke mostly in Spanish, basic in English so we learnt very little. Then the tour went on it’s own journey - to 5 craft markets. No ruins of Tilcara even though our ticket included entry. We saw the 7 colors hill from a distance and only saw the church of Uquia because we complained. Nordic Travel have ignored my messages to discuss. The trip was delayed because of extra craft markets. It took over 14 hours and was hell!

The tour was in Spanish and sadly I only speak English. The scenery was lovely, the towns interesting but it seemed to be around getting us to buy things at the market. I finally wandered away from the speaker since I couldn’t understand him and explored on my own.

Nordic Tours was great. The guide was perfect with excellent English, the tour was well-planned no glitches. They also made some personal changes on the fly to accommodate some of my requests. Really attentive drives that adjust the temperature in the bus when asked. It is highly recommended. P.S. I made a point not to go with Tangol Agency and their local subsidiaries (especially Whiphalla, which treats clients really badly). My advice would be to stay away from them.

The tour was great. The guides were great. The bus not so great. Twice we were hit in the knees by a part in the front of the bus falling off and hitting us. Toward the end of the journey the air conditioning started leaking and my husband’s pants were completely wet by the end. Although we mentioned what was happening nobody did anything to stop it or change our seat. It was frustrating.

Excellent tour, with great English explanations from Martin, our tour guide. It was disappointing we didn't find out until on the bus that the archaeological site in Tilcara is closed on Mondays, so we didn't get to visit, but we still enjoyed our tour of the valley.

This was a good tour and hit the highlights. It was a typical tour where you’re dropped off and have to walk past all of the little shops or are dumped in front of a particular restaurant. We walked away from everyone and found much more interesting things. Our guide did not have very good English nor did she describe many of our surroundings on the long drive there. We did see what we’d come to see though and Viator made it easy.

This was meant to be an English speaking tour ... the translator did her best but the Spanish speaking guide was a bully and intimidated everyone. She was not helpful ... did not point out toilets or that it was a requirement to pay for some facilities... she completely ignored the English speaking guests....and insulted them by calling them children .... we were required to pay for 350 per person for Tilcara when our paperwork states the entrance fee is included. Where did this money go ? She talked non stop and and was overwhelming ... very disappointing trip .... not to mention the condition of the bus .... it was so uncomfortable, swayed and bounced heavily all over the road ...First driver was very poor ... 2nd driver was much better but the bus was very poor... air conditioning was freezing with guests very cold ... mentioned to guide but she did not care. She could speak English but preferred not to understand ... as I said Bus trip from hell... BEWARE

Had booked with them after a recommendation, excellent service, checked and compared with multiple agencies and this one stands apart. overall very satisfied and happy.

It is a beautiful tour, you will see different landscape on your way, and William the guide is very kind and helpful.

It was a reasonably long tour. We started at the tour office at 6.30am and returned to Salta at 8.30pm. We were the only English speaking customers (the rest speaking Spanish), but Martin our tour guide positioned ourselves at the front next to where he sat so that he could talk directly to us, whilst he used a microphone to give the equivalent information in Spanish to the rest of the bus. His English was very good and he gave lots of useful information. The trip took a while to get going, but once out of Jujuy the scenery became much more interesting as we climbed in altitude and into the more arid areas. Purmamarca was a lovely town backed by the multi coloured mountain behind. We only spent 45 minutes here and wished it had been longer. (In fact the tour could spend longer here and reduce time at some later stops) Tilcara is home to a museum with Inca ruins. This cost an additional 300 pesos per person (for non nationals) and we did not go in (having seen a number of other Inca and pre Inca sights elsewhere), so Martin directed us on a short local walk which gave some nice views. We then stopped at a local pottery, and (for us) we would have preferred to have cut the time down here (from 45 minutes to 15 minutes ... or even missed it out completely) and spent the extra time at Purmamarca - it's mostly just a shop. We then drove onto Humahuaca where we stopped for 2 hours and had lunch and a wander. We stopped outside a large and busy tourist restaurant that had been 'pre-booked', but we were free to go elsewhere - which we did - to a nice quiet restaurant. We found Humahuaca to be quaint but rather touristy, and we would rather have spent a little less time here (and more at Purmamarca). We then returned to Jujuy and Salta with a couple of short stops on the way. We enjoyed the tour and we thought our guide (Martin) and our driver (Antonio) were very good. The bus was mid-sized with bigger windows and more comfortable seating than a minibuse - we suggest that you check what the transport is before you go.

We took this trip with the guide Guillermo, who gave us an infinite amount of information about the villages we were visiting and the nature around us. We stopped in many interesting places along the way, to take pictures or to get in touch with natives selling souvenirs. Anyway, not all of the places were worthy visiting ( for example the Pukarà of Tilcara). At the same time, the tour does not include the astonishing mountain Hornocal, which I really advice to visit. After this tour, we decided not to go back to Salta and to spend the night in Purmamarca, and Nordic Travel was so kind to pick us up in Purmamarca and continue the tour to the Salinas Grandes the day after (in this way we avoided approximately 8 hours in the bus)

Luis was an outstanding guide who took us (my spouse and myself) on 3 memorable full-day tours to these locations. He not only showed us the key sites, but in addition gave us a fist class tour d´horizon of the region, of the main cultural sites. of the region´s history, as well as its economic base. His profound knowledge of all these aspects is a real asset, which we greatly benefitted from. Not to forget his fine sense of humour which made our tours not only highly interesting but also most pleasant. A pleasure to recommend Luis and Kalanchi

Our guide, Jeremy, was very personable and made a point of explaining everything to us in English. The scenery is spectacular, and we had interesting stops along the way, with time to do things on our own. One word of caution: Bring water with you. We were told when we booked that there was no need because there would be water on the bus. There was only one big bottle for refills for the whole bus of 20-some people. So be prepared.

Truth be told, I am not a person who enjoys organized tours. So if you ARE, ignore my review. Here’s the deal for anyone else who doesn’t want to spend 12 hours mostly in a vehicle, eating a mediocre lunch, and being shown at every stop Andean themed gifts probably made in Bolivia. If you’re in Salta, definitely go to Purmamarca to check out the Hill of 7 Colors (Cerro de los 7 Colores). On your way back, check out Jujuy. These are wonderful places. Worth the trip. Unless you really want to fill your day, skip the trip north to Humahuaca. There are lovely painted hills along the way, but you would have already seen the best. Humahuaca has a nice monument to indigenous people (props for that because they still are not fully respected). There is a small central plaza where one can buy Andean themed gifts (although you’re not in the Andes). Most tours have you eat at the bus station which serves mediocre food (break away to a smaller nearby restaurant...maybe similar food but better atmosphere). It didn’t help that the day I visited there were public sewage issues along the street from the bus station to the main square. Not so delightful walk back to the bus. Some may enjoy other planned stops, which all seem rather standard regardless of the tour organizer and well described by Tripadvisor. But nothing compares to what you could have done had you ventured no farther north than Purmamarca. Use your spare time to enjoy Salta. Or take a nap so that you can stay up late at one of many exciting peñas. Disfrute Salta!

We did a 2-day combo with Nordic Tours with this tour as our second (and much preferred - to Cafayate). We were the only non-Spanish speakers on the bus, however the guide relayed all the information to us in English, and he spoke it well. All the sites we visited were awesome, and unlike anywhere we’d been on our travels so far! It was a shame we could only have had 45mins in Purmamarca as this was probably the nicest place. 2hrs at Humahuaca was more than enough, though we found a great place here for lunch. It’s was a long day, with lots of driving as it takes almost 3hrs to get to the first place; pickup at 7am and drop off at 9pm (it was meant to be 7pm). If you’ve only got time for 1 day tour from Salta, make sure it’s to these places.

My first contacts with Nordic Travel were via email and they replied it all with politeness and kindness. When in Salta, the staff at the agency seemed to be also very kind. The tour to Quebrada de Humahuaca started with no delay and our guide - extremely solicitous - seemed to know about everything around that place. He explained every detail about the geological formation as well as the local culture and customs. No regrets all at to hire them!

<p>Great tour. I also did the Cachi tour the day before, so had the same guide. He spoke good English and I sat at the front so he could provide the commentary to me in English after he had done it in Spanish. It would have been better if the admission to Picard de Tilcara was included in the price of the tour. The lunch spot where we stopped in Humahuaca was not great, but the guide did make a point of saying it was optional to eat there. The scenery is fantastic and the towns really provide the essential sense of history and culture. </p> <p><br/> really are amazing cult</p>

The experience was average. The guide Martín was good. The shuttle was in acceptable condition. We spent very little time in Purmamarca, 45 min, a stop was made in Tilcara, and then we went to Humahuaca, they took us to a restaurant by force (without saying it was optional, where they rushed you with the food, they charged us an extra 5% at the end after having consumed without notifying us beforehand, and if you paid with a card it was 15%) with horrible food. The bathrooms at the stops during the trip had bathrooms that were disastrous (in cleanliness and condition) and on top of that they made you pay. The people who went agreed with all of this.

aside from saying that the places are wonderful, I want to highlight Martin's good vibes and José Luis's super responsibility behind the wheel! thank you very much and I hope to be able to return

Just one detail..the minibus did not have air conditioning..car No. 7

The excursion in good, the guide very friendly and attentive. The points are amazing and you greatly enjoy the possibilities of walking in each of the points, being able to enjoy the places and contact with so much beauty. It is important to remember to carry cash, for miscellaneous expenses.

I hired this excursion only to visit Pucara de Tilcara. The itinerary says that the visit is 40 minutes and the entrance is included, this service is not provided by any agency. When we arrive in Tilcara the guide mentions that you cannot visit. They offer and charge for a service they have not provided since 2020. The rest was very good. Guides and drivers are very helpful.

We traveled as a family in August 2025. Very good tour. The guides (Carlos, and Javier as local guide) 10 points! Thank you so much!!

Beautiful places, don't miss this excursion. Excellent agency Nordic, Martin and Guillermo very friendly, a few kingpins. Cheers.

I already knew that the ride was long and tiring, but the script is completely made for shopping. First, the guide made no question of speaking Spanish slowly for us to understand, did not bring any valid and interesting information, did not stop talking useless things. Purmamarca is a small town, as a large crafts fair, the 7-coloured cerro is beautiful, but just that. Arriving in Tilcara, they take you to a shop for a "tasting", which was not envisaged in the description of the tour. I wanted to see the Pucará, as it was described, but they don't take you there, worse, they don't let you go because "there would be no time", and there comes another guide, who takes you to the central square and stays talking and talking for minutes, I didn't understand anything he said and then he asks for slices. Humahuaca has a third guide, but we did not follow them and we managed to make better use of the city. Do not pass in Uquía in the church as described. Tour to SHOPPING, zero CULTURE and history. Oh, bad!

We came from Uruguay we made 2 excursions to Cafayate and Humahuaca, the guides were Angie, Martin and Mauricio.. the truth excellent..highly recommended..

Tilcara is a small town nestled at 2480 meters above sea level in the quebrada de la humahuaca Superb hikes offer you as you climb to the garganta del diablo The landscapes are spectacular with fantastic views of the quebrada at more than 3000 meters To do and I recommend this not very difficult trek of an hour and a half Swiss Stephane

The operator of this tour proved to be very professional, meeting schedules, sites to visit and offering all the additional information that one could request. Point apart, the guide that touched us ANGIE, very sympathetically and friendly told us all the history, past and present of each site we visited. We particularly knew many of those places but we did it a couple of years ago in our own vehicle, ANGIE enriched our knowledge of the places we visited.

Excellent trip, guide Javier a charm and attentive. The driver drove a little fast. That made us nervous in some moments.

Passeio por lugares lindos e com povoados históricos. Viagem longa e um pouco cansativa, mas valeu a pena! O local de almoço em Humahuaca poderia ser melhor.

Excellent service, Angie a genius!! We hiked to Humahuaca and met a lot and especially the story told x her 🙌

Angie (the guide) is the most, very funny and interesting, 10 points. The chauffeur and companion tmbn. The trip itself very well. Excellent

Very nice experience! Excellent everything that shows and teaches the guide! Well organized to make the most of it