Argentina Canyon World Heritage
Quebrada de Humahuaca
911 m of rock, cut by the Grande River.
Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0
The cut
911 metres, to scale.
A slice through Quebrada de Humahuaca where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Eiffel Tower · 330 m · Burj Khalifa · 828 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is. On one side the ground was still rising 12 km out: the true rim is further away and the canyon deeper.
911m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
24.0km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
28°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
2,912m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
6 °C warmer at the bottom.
In November the afternoon reaches 26 °C on the floor, against 19 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are from February to April and from August to September. The rim freezes at night from April to October. The wettest months are from December to March.
- 24°17°Jan
- 23°16°Feb
- 23°16°Mar
- 22°15°Apr
- 18°12°May
- 17°10°Jun
- 17°10°Jul
- 19°13°Aug
- 22°16°Sep
- 24°18°Oct
- 26°19°Nov
- 25°19°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Valley in Argentina
Quebrada de Humahuaca is a canyon in Argentina, cut by the Grande River. The relief model measures 911 m from the floor to the lower rim. Rim to rim it is 24 km wide where the cut was taken. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- Humahuacanearest town · 0.7 km in a straight line
- Parking 2,260 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 2.5 km from the floor
- Gobernador Horacio Guzman International Airport (JUJ)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 135 km in a straight lineCar hire at JUJ airport (San Salvador de Jujuy)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From February to April and from August to Septemberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The river
The Grande River runs highest from January to March.
The Grande River carries about 2.5 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from January to March. It is lowest from May to November.
- 7.0 m³/sJan
- 8.1 m³/sFeb
- 6.9 m³/sMar
- 3.7 m³/sApr
- 1.4 m³/sMay
- 0.5 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.4 m³/sAug
- 0.4 m³/sSep
- 1.1 m³/sOct
- 1.9 m³/sNov
- 5.1 m³/sDec
From about 0.36 m³/s in the lowest month to 8.1 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,715 km².
The Grande River from source to mouth on Riveryas — coming soon
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
6 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 24 × 24 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 2viewpoints within 5 km
- 1car parks within 3 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 6bus stops within 2 km
- 6campsites within 8 kmBella Vista, Rincón del Olvido, Peña Blanca and 3 more
- 49hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmEl Sol Hostel, Hostal Azul, Hostal Humahuaca and 46 more
- 36restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- marked hiking routes within 4 km
- via ferrata routes within 4 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- caves within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Humahuaca0.7 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Quebrada de Humahuaca.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Riveryas2 rivers in the canyon
Peakyas5 mountains within 15 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 24 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 25 |
| Afternoon · rim | 17 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 |
| Night · rim | 2 | 1 | 1 | -2 | -6 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -5 | -2 | 0 | 1 |
| Rain (mm) | 134 | 132 | 100 | 39 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 37 | 55 | 124 |
| Rainy days | 20 | 18 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 17 |
| Sun hours/day | 9.5 | 9.4 | 10.3 | 11.0 | 10.9 | 10.6 | 10.7 | 11.2 | 11.9 | 12.0 | 11.9 | 10.5 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 24 | 17 | 2 | 134 | 9.5 |
| Feb | 23 | 16 | 1 | 132 | 9.4 |
| Mar | 23 | 16 | 1 | 100 | 10.3 |
| Apr | 22 | 15 | -2 | 39 | 11.0 |
| May | 18 | 12 | -6 | 10 | 10.9 |
| Jun | 17 | 10 | -7 | 4 | 10.6 |
| Jul | 17 | 10 | -7 | 3 | 10.7 |
| Aug | 19 | 13 | -7 | 3 | 11.2 |
| Sep | 22 | 16 | -5 | 8 | 11.9 |
| Oct | 24 | 18 | -2 | 37 | 12.0 |
| Nov | 26 | 19 | 0 | 55 | 11.9 |
| Dec | 25 | 19 | 1 | 124 | 10.5 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (2,912 m) and the rim (3,908 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 106% | 124% | 48% | 83% | 19% | — | — | — | 88% | 69% | 77% | 45% |
| 2021 | 138% | 92% | 146% | 73% | 140% | — | — | — | 136% | 11% | 74% | 113% |
| 2022 | 119% | 56% | 165% | 353% | 25% | — | — | — | 92% | 8% | 20% | 58% |
| 2023 | 68% | 65% | 86% | 158% | 22% | — | — | — | 36% | 514% | 96% | 117% |
| 2024 | 50% | 102% | 84% | 121% | 36% | — | — | — | 32% | 152% | 241% | 24% |
| 2025 | 89% | 68% | 112% | 69% | 140% | — | — | — | 164% | 69% | 101% | 96% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Quebrada de Humahuaca
Argentina
- 911 mDepth
- 24 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 28°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q28061) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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