Outings and excursions · Purmamarca
Purmamarca and the Hill of Seven Colours
Photos: Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
At the gateway to the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a World Heritage Site, an adobe village at the foot of a hill of impossible colours.
In Jujuy, at the foot of the Hill of Seven Colours, the village of Purmamarca forms one of the best-known landscapes in Argentina. The hill owes its red, green and violet hues to millions of years of marine, lake and river sediments uplifted by movements of the earth's crust.
The Quebrada de Humahuaca
Purmamarca lies in a branch of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, declared a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape in 2003: villages, churches and routes with thousands of years of history.
What to do
- Walk the Paseo de los Colorados, a circuit of about 3 km among red hills.
- Browse the craft market on the square.
- Continue up the valley to Tilcara and Humahuaca.
Getting there from Chile
From San Pedro de Atacama, cross via the Jama Pass: the road descends to Purmamarca past the Salinas Grandes salt flats.
Tips
- The best light on the hill is early in the morning.
- Take care with the altitude if you come over the pass.
