The Galapagos Islands Itinerary

Where is the Galapagos Islands?

How to get to the Galapagos Islands?

The only way for us adventurers to get to the Galapagos Islands is by air. You also have to know that you can only fly to the islands from mainland Ecuador. The two airports that service these routes are located in Guayaquil, and Quito. I flew in from Quito and it was fairly easy to navigate, although, I had to wait 12 hours for my flight due to delays.

From the mainland, you can fly into one of the two airports in the Galapagos – Seymour Airport, San Cristobal

Seymour Airport, Baltra (Airport Code: GPS)

This airport is located on Baltra Island just minutes of ferry ride away from Santa Cruz Island. Baltra Island pretty much only has this airport and there isn’t much to see around it. I’m pretty sure no one does tours around Baltra as well.

As soon as you get off the plane and join the line for the customs, get your wallet ready. It will cost you $100 cash to enter the Islands. I didn’t have any cash on me so they did have to pull me aside, get me on a computer, and pay with a credit card, which took 15 minutes. So be sure to bring cash. I’ll touch more on cash later on this article, too.

Then it will take another $5 to take the bus to get to the dock to take your ferry to Santa Cruz Island.

$1 to take the ferry.

Then another $5 to take the bus, or $20 to take the taxi. This bus or taxi ride will take about 30 minutes to get you to the ‘downtown’ Puerto Ayora. I say it will take about 30 minutes because sometimes there will be giant tortoises or land iguanas blocking the road causing traffic lol.

San Cristobal Airport (Airport Code: SCY)

San Cristobal Airport is on the San Cristobal Island. Unfortunately, I entered the Galapagos through Baltra, so I don’t have much information here.

How many days do you need to experience the Galapagos?

I’d say 7-10 days is what you want to really have the full experience. But 5 days is also doable if you want to stick to just 2 islands like Santa Cruz, and Isabela.

What is there to do?

You do not need to book anything in advance as some people could say, unless you’re traveling in a big group, or want to get on a cruise.

Here is the complete list of things I did with the price. Most of these things can be done as a day tour.

• Snorkeling tour from Santa Cruz to Daphne Islands, and Pinzon. – $160 (lunch provided) (long wetsuit recommended. I rented it for $10)
  • Wildlife I saw: a bunch of reef sharks, sea lions, sea turtles, schools of fish. Sadly we missed out on Manta Rays.
• Snorkeling tour from Santa Cruz to Isabela. Visit Los Tuneles, and Tintorera – $160 (lunch provided)
  • Wildlife I saw: reef sharks, sea lions, sea turtles, swimming marine iguanas, flamingos, blue-footed boobies, and lots of tropical fishes
• Charles Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz Island – Free. A walking tour with a naturalist is $10. I highly recommend it.
  • Bring your passport to the research center so you can get a stamp!
• Tortuga Bay on Santa Cruz Island – Free
  • It is a lovely hike. The beach is full of reef sharks, turtles, and marine iguanas sunbathing. The Tortuga Bay itself prohibits people from swimming but you can walk 10 more minutes where you can swim.
• Rancho Primicias on Santa Cruz Island – $7.50
  • Here you need to take a taxi or a bus from Puerto Ayora. This will cost you about $5 per person. Once you get to the ranch you can take a stroll on the farm full of Galapagos Giant Tortoises that are easily older than 50 years. They also sell coffee beans, which my friend bought. Apparently, it was quite good!
• Lava Tunnel on Santa Cruz Island – Free
  • Located right next to Rancho Primicias, this 200m-long lava tunnel is a very cool experience. The ground is pretty wet so do not wear your nice shoes. Who wears nice shoes to the Galapagos anyway?
• 5-Day Cruise through Galapagos Blue Sky Tour Agency – $1600
  • This is where I broke my bank. But 100% worth it as you need a naturalist for pretty much every tour, and also you cannot access most parts of the islands without a cruise. Check out the videos on my YouTube channel to see what the experience is like.

Food

I’m not a person who needs very good food on every meal, or who travels to different parts of the world specifically for food. So I saved a lot of money with $5 meals in Puerto Ayora. If you go to Charles Binford Street, there are restaurants offering $5 meals. They come with a soup, a main dish, and a glass of juice. All for $5.

But if you enjoy a nice meal, I recommend Midori on Ave Charles Darwin. The sushi was surprisingly good.

Cash Only

Ecuador uses the US dollars and as the Galapagos Islands are part of Ecuador so do they. Now what you need to know is that their internet system isn’t well developed so a lot of these places can only take cash. Thankfully, there are plenty of ATMs to withdraw money from. I recommend you search for an ATM with the locals queueing up to get their money, as this likely means the fees are lower. Additionally, take plenty of $1 to $10 bills as most of the shops are reluctant on breaking $20 bills. Forget about $100 bills unless you’re paying for your day tours.

Galapagos Videos

Check out my Galapagos videos on the YouTube channel!