Find your way around the province
- Guaranda
- Salinas de Guaranda
What to discover
Combine Guaranda with Salinas de Guaranda, distinct from coastal Salinas. The Chimborazo area can extend the route.
Heritage and traditions
Cheese and other products in Salinas introduce community enterprise. Guaranda’s carnival creates a very different atmosphere from a stay outside festival time.
A suggested stay
Spend a day in Guaranda and another meeting Salinas producers. Ask which workshops welcome visitors.
Plan this stop
If you want quiet, check the festival calendar. Workshops are not necessarily tourist attractions open at all hours.
Places, celebrations and crafts
Salinas de Guaranda, cheese and community history
In Salinas de Guaranda, cheese tells more than a story of local flavour: milk processing and sales form part of a network of producers and community organisations. Compare the textures of fresh and matured cheeses and learn about the stages of production. Tasting becomes an introduction to the village’s economic history.
Exploring the skills of Salinas
The Salinas story also includes yarn spinning and hand-knitted clothing. These activities introduce the connections between craft, collective organisation and village life. Ask the local tourism team which workshops welcome visitors; a shop and a production site do not necessarily offer the same experience.
Festival and seasonal calendar →
Practical information
When to go
June to September is generally drier in the Andes. Nights remain cool and mountain weather can change quickly. Outside this period, keep mountain outings flexible.
What to book or arrange
Arrange producer visits in Salinas de Guaranda. Around Carnival, secure accommodation and transport early.
Local food to try
Chigüiles are maize-dough parcels with cheese, wrapped in maize leaves and steamed. In Salinas de Guaranda, local cheeses offer another introduction to the work of producers.