Natural attractionJujuy / SaltaPuna
Salinas Grandes
A vast white salt flat on the Puna plateau, straddling Jujuy and Salta, reached over the 4,000-metre Cuesta de Lipán.
Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0
Salinas Grandes is a natural salt flat, not a town: there is nowhere to stay on the flat itself. It lies on the Puna, the high Andean plateau, at around 3,450 metres, and covers more than 200 square kilometres across the provinces of Jujuy and Salta.
Visiting
Route 52 crosses the flat, and the main visitor area sits beside the road. Local communities manage access to parts of the flat and offer short guided walks to the salt-extraction pools, rectangular channels cut into the crust where salt is still harvested.
The altitude
The road from Purmamarca climbs above 4,000 metres on the Cuesta de Lipán before descending to the flat. Spend a night in the Quebrada first, drink plenty of water, and keep exertion light. The sun is intense and reflected by the salt: sunglasses and sunscreen are essential.
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