- Where
- Jujuy Province
north-western Argentina - Coordinates
- 23.73° S
65.48° W (Purmamarca) - Length
- About 155 km, north–south
- Altitude
- About 1,600 to 4,500 m
- World Heritage
- 2 July 2003
- Getting there
- National Route 9 north from
San Salvador de Jujuy - Best visited
- May to September (the dry winter)
- Advisory
- Argentina Level 1
A cold, bright morning, thin air, and a village of mud-brick houses under a hill striped like a dropped bolt of cloth: rose, cream, plum and a strange green. In the square, women were laying out woven blankets on the ground. I bought nothing and was forgiven. Then I perched on an adobe wall and watched the stripes change as the sun climbed.
The short answer
The Quebrada de Humahuaca is a narrow mountain valley in Jujuy Province, in north-western Argentina, about 155 km long from south to north and 1,649 km north of Buenos Aires, Wikipedia records. It is bordered by the Altiplano to the west and north, and its floor climbs from about 1,600 to 4,500 metres, by Spanish Wikipedia’s figures. The Río Grande, which carved it, is dry in winter and runs full in summer. The valley takes its name from the town of Humahuaca. It has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years and was a caravan road of the Inca, then a link between the viceroyalties of Peru and the Río de la Plata. It became a protected landscape in 2000 and a UNESCO World Heritage site on 2 July 2003. Its best-known sight is the Cerro de los Siete Colores, the Hill of Seven Colours, above the village of Purmamarca.
Why it's worth knowing
A road for 10,000 years. The first hunter-gatherers left substantial remains here, and stone-walled farming terraces thought to be more than 1,500 years old are still in use, linked to a chain of fortified hill towns called pucarás, Wikipedia records. The Inca used the valley as a caravan road in the fifteenth century; under Spain it carried trade between Peru and the River Plate, and in the wars of independence it was fought over again and again. UNESCO listed it as a cultural landscape for that long history of people moving through it.
Why the hills are striped. The colours of the Hill of Seven Colours come from sediments laid down in seas, lakes and rivers and then lifted and tilted by the movement of the Andes, Wikipedia records; fossils in the rock show that history. Spanish Wikipedia names the minerals behind the bands: red clays rich in iron, white limestone, green slates with copper oxide, mustard-yellow sandstones with sulphur. Further north, 25 km from Humahuaca, the Serranía de Hornocal reaches 4,761 metres and shows the Yacoraite limestone formation in folded zigzags of colour.
Living villages. Most of the valley’s people today are Quechua, Spanish Wikipedia records, and keep beliefs, rites, festivals, music and farming that UNESCO counted as part of what it protects. Purmamarca’s church, built in 1648 and a national historic monument since 1941, has adobe walls and a roof of wood from the cardón cactus; its feast of Saint Rose of Lima on 30 August brings sikuris, panpipe bands, and processions, Wikipedia records. The cardón is now a protected species.
The field notes
The hill fort of Tilcara
Above the town of Tilcara, a fifteen-minute walk out, the Pucará de Tilcara is a pre-Inca hill town built by the Omaguaca people, who settled here around the twelfth century; at its height it covered about 15 acres and housed more than 2,000 people in small square stone houses with low doors and no windows. The Inca took it in the late fifteenth century. Rediscovered in 1908 by Juan Bautista Ambrosetti and Salvador Debenedetti, it has been partly rebuilt, was declared a national monument in 2000, and is the only archaeological site in the valley open to the public, Wikipedia records.
What the name means
Spanish Wikipedia gives several readings of “Humahuaca”. The most accepted ties it to the Omaguaca, the people who lived here; others read it from Quechua as “head” and “treasure”, or “head” and “weep”, though the sense of huaca as treasure came only after the Spanish. Purmamarca may join the Aymara words purma, desert or untouched land, and marca, town, English Wikipedia records. A monolith near Huacalera marks where the Tropic of Capricorn crosses the valley.
A hill in a video game
A football pitch, home of the Santa Rosa de Purmamarca club, sits at the foot of the hill, and in 2024 Argentina’s foreign ministry worked with a game studio to build a copy of the Hill of Seven Colours inside Fortnite, Wikipedia records.
The Serranía de Hornocal near Humahuaca, its folded layers in many colours.
Purmamarca's vineyards below the coloured hills.
The skeleton of a cardón cactus beside the path at the Pucará de Tilcara.
The valley near Tilcara in winter light.
Photograph: Ezarate · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
- Sleep in the village the night before, and be out to see the hill as the sun comes up.
- Go slowly uphill and drink more than you want to. The air up here is thin and the sun is fierce.
- Keep the camera down in the market unless somebody nods. It is their work, and their face.
- Make your way up to the old stone town on the hill above the next village, and sit where its people sat to watch the road.
- Count the colours on the hill. (The hill’s own name gives one answer. I arrived at several others before a cloud went over and spoiled the arithmetic.)
The Hill of Seven Colours. The Cerro de los Siete Colores rises directly behind the village of Purmamarca, its slopes banded and folded in rose, white, plum, brown, green and mustard yellow: layers of sediment from old seas, lakes and rivers, each coloured by its own minerals, lifted and tipped on edge by the rising Andes. The colours shift with the light through the day, and the village’s adobe houses sit at its foot.
Tally, in the marginLayer on layer, each a different age of mud, laid down, lifted and tipped up on its end for show. I have never been so politely shown the inside of anything.
Getting there
How to get there. By road on National Route 9, which runs north up the valley from San Salvador de Jujuy, the provincial capital. Purmamarca lies 4 km west of Route 9 on the road to the Jama pass into Chile, 65 km from San Salvador de Jujuy and 22 km from Tilcara; the Hornocal is 25 km from Humahuaca (Wikipedia).
When to go. The cool, dry winter is the best season, Spanish Wikipedia says; summer brings afternoon rain, and days of fierce sun give way to frosty nights. The hill above Purmamarca is best seen at sunrise. Spanish Wikipedia calls Purmamarca a place to live the northern carnivals to the full; expect crowds then.
What to arrange ahead. Nights in Purmamarca, Tilcara or Humahuaca, to see the colours early and late. A car, or a seat on a tour, for the Hornocal. Time to adjust to the altitude before going higher.
Safety. The State Department has Argentina at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level; it notes petty crime in popular tourist places and a CDC Level 1 notice for Andes hantavirus, which it calls an extremely low risk for most travellers (advisory dated 10 July 2026 in its feed, read 7 October 2026). The valley is high, so climb slowly and drink plenty. In June to August 2023, protests against a reform of Jujuy’s provincial constitution blocked Route 9 at Purmamarca and elsewhere for weeks; no blockade was found reported for 2026 when this entry was checked, but check the roads before travelling.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is the Quebrada de Humahuaca?
The Quebrada de Humahuaca is a mountain valley about 155 km long in Jujuy Province, north-western Argentina, 1,649 km north of Buenos Aires. National Route 9 runs up it from San Salvador de Jujuy, the provincial capital.
Why is the Hill of Seven Colours striped?
The Cerro de los Siete Colores above Purmamarca, Argentina, is made of sediments laid down in seas, lakes and rivers and later lifted and tilted by the Andes. The bands come from different minerals: iron-rich red clays, white limestone, green slates with copper oxide and yellow sandstones with sulphur.
When did the Quebrada de Humahuaca become a World Heritage site?
UNESCO inscribed the Quebrada de Humahuaca, in Jujuy, Argentina, as a World Heritage site on 2 July 2003, for its long history as a route of trade and culture over 10,000 years. Argentina had made it a protected landscape in 2000.
When is the best time to visit the Quebrada de Humahuaca?
The cool, dry winter is the best season in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, by Spanish Wikipedia’s account; summer brings afternoon rain. The Hill of Seven Colours above Purmamarca is best seen at sunrise.
How high is the Quebrada de Humahuaca?
The floor of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, in Jujuy, Argentina, rises from about 1,600 metres in the south to about 4,500 metres, by Spanish Wikipedia’s figures, and the Serranía de Hornocal near Humahuaca reaches 4,761 metres.
What is the Pucará de Tilcara?
The Pucará de Tilcara is a pre-Inca hill town above Tilcara in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, built by the Omaguaca people from around the twelfth century and later taken by the Inca. Partly rebuilt, it is a national monument and the only archaeological site in the valley open to the public.
How far is Purmamarca from San Salvador de Jujuy?
Purmamarca is 65 km from San Salvador de Jujuy, the capital of Jujuy Province, Argentina, 4 km west of National Route 9 and 22 km from Tilcara. The Hill of Seven Colours rises directly behind the village.
Were there road blockades in the Quebrada de Humahuaca?
Yes, in 2023. From June to August 2023, protests against a reform of Jujuy Province’s constitution blocked National Route 9 at Purmamarca and elsewhere in the Quebrada de Humahuaca for weeks. No blockade was found reported for 2026 as of 7 October 2026.