General Information on Land Based Tours and Activities

Galapagos Islands - Ecuador

Combination tours, or land-based tours, are similar to navigable tours in that they combine visits to land and marine sites in the archipelago. The major difference is that combination tours include lodging on land and are limited to sites within a finite radius of the hub town, either Puerto Ayora, Puerto Villamil or Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. These tours are based in certain hotels from which we selected the best.

Packaged tours may offer any combination of trips to local visitor sites. You can book only hotel accommodation or you can book a tour package comprised of a series of day trips, which can include land sites, snorkeling/dive sites, surf sites, or all three.

Land Day Trips
A typical island day trip begins at dawn, with a walk to the dock or a bus trip to the canal, where you meet the boat that will take you to your destination. You spend a short time--two hours maximum in a slow boat to Bartolome--sailing to the pre-determined visitor site. Once there you will spend the majority of the day touring the island with a naturalist guide, eating lunch, and (if available at the island site) swimming and snorkeling from the beach. You return to Puerto Ayora via the same route in the early afternoon.

Day boats can vary in quality and comfort, but since most island sites are close and you spend a relatively longer time on-site, it is probably more important to select your destination for the day trips. Most day trip destinations from Puerto Ayora include visitor sites on the central islands of Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, North Seymour, South Plazas, and Bartolome. Different boats visit different islands on different days.

Dive Day Trips
Day scuba-diving packages include two immersions at one dive site, full equipment (6-mm wet suit, mask and snorkel, hood, gloves, boots and fins, weight belt, regulator, and BCD), snack and hot beverage between dives, and lunch.

Like most day trips, you will probably wake up early, meet at the dive center, and take pre-arranged transportation across the island to the canal, where you will board your boat. The trip lasts all day, since it requires navigation time (30 to 100 minutes to and from the site), immersion time (45 to 60 minutes per tank, depending on individual breathing rates) and surface interval (30 to 60 minutes). Divemasters will often have long secondary regulators, so that individual divers running low on air can buddy-up with the Divemaster and stay underwater longer. You will return to Puerto Ayora in the early afternoon to process your dive, look at your amazing underwater photos, and/or grab a beer with your new diver friends by the early afternoon.

The most common dive sites from Puerto Ayora are Gordon Rocks, Cousin's Rock, North Seymour, Daphne Minor, and Academy Bay.

The option of staying on Santa Cruz Island, Isabella Island or San Cristobal after your cruise (or instead of a cruise) is an excellent option. We offer the best hotels on each island.

Santa Cruz Island:
Santa Cruz is the most tourist-friendly island with close proximity to the main airport at Baltra and the largest resident population. It is also the second-largest island in the Galapagos Islands.

In addition to its easy access and tourist infrastructure, Santa Cruz offers visitors the opportunity to explore lava tunnels and sinkholes, creep next to a giant land tortoise in its natural environment, swim at the beach or in a rocky crag, learn about scientific methodologies being utilized on the islands to confront the conservation threat of introduced species, or dance the night away in Puerto Ayora. The selection of bars and discos in Puerto Ayora is pretty slim. But the lack of options means that the nighttime hotspots are pretty heavily-trafficked by both locals and tourists and open until the wee hours.

Along the main drag, Avenida Charles Darwin, there are a variety of open-air cafes, restaurants, and bars (or sites serving as all three). Seafood and Italian cuisine seem to dominate the food scene, but you can also find sandwiches, salads, amazing coffee and juices, and home-made ice cream. Even if you don't want to dine, stop in any street-side establshments, order a refreshing beverage, and watch the mesmerizing mix of people walk by. Another hot-spot for good eats is the Calle de los Kioskos, a line of outdoor stalls specializing in inexpensive, mouth-watering local dishes.

Shopping in Puerto Ayora includes the typical t-shirts and souvenirs--covering a wide range of booby jokes and references--along with books, postcards, and some finer arts and crafts. A percentage of the proceeds generated from the Charles Darwin Research Station's souvenir stand goes to support conservation projects. Avoid buying any craft items made from derivatives of island fauna, especially black coral or tortoise shell; it is prohibited by the Galapagos National Park.

Other island highlights include:
The Charles Darwin Research Center in Puerto Ayora with the famous Lonesome George, the last of a subspecies of giant Galapagos tortoise to survive introduced predators.

The beaches around Puerto Ayora offer excellent surfing, swimming and sun soaking. One popular Puerto Ayora visitor site is Tortuga Bay, located at the end of a paved 3-km trail southwest of town. Once you arrive at Tortuga Bay (a guide is not needed), you will encounter a long, white-sand beach and some pretty powerful waves offshore. If you came to surf, stay and try your luck, but if you came to swim or relax on the beach, keep walking until the end of the beach, where there is a spit of secluded beachland (hopefully not filled with visitors) and a protected swimming area. Do not stay at the first beach; not only have numerous children and adults drowned in the hard-to-read waters, but the second beach area is much nicer. There you can rest alongside mangroves, dodge mockingbirds, watch pelicans, follow marine iguanas, or snorkel with sharks. Make sure you bring food, water, and sunscreen, because there are no facilities and very little shade. Also on the southwest side of town is the Laguna Las Ninfas. This is a beautiful, refreshing place to swim (if you come when the little kids who usually frequent the swimming area are at school) or look for wildlife.

La Playa de los Alemanes, another beautiful white-sand beach, and Las Grietas, a series of rock crevices filled with water, are also close to town. Take a 50-cent water taxi across the bay to the second dock, where you will encounter the head of the walking trail. Following the trail for about five minutes, you will arrive at La Playa de los Alemanes, where you can relax, swim, and enjoy the mangrove (and Finch Bay Hotel) surroundings. Make sure you get to the beach during low tide, because it can disappear at high tide. Past the beach, the trail becomes rocky and potentially treacherous for balance-deficient or barefoot visitors. The trail continues for about 20 minutes past a small salt mine, arid-zone vegetation, and the occasional bird to the top of the first of two approximately 12-meter deep crevices known as Las Grietas. If you are daring, you can jump from there into the cool water below, or you can follow the wooden staircase down to the water. There you can swim, play with the blennies that have made their home among the submerged rocks, or jump from the various rocky platforms. Make an effort to arrive at mid-day, when the sun shines directly overhead and illuminates the crevice.

Two hills: Cerro Crocker, the highest point on Santa Cruz, and El Puntudo require a guide, but offer great hiking, biking or horseback riding from the main road, taking in the typical highland flora and fauna.

The Tunnel del Mirador, is a lava tube extending more than one kilometer underground. You can explore the tunnels on your own or with a tour organized in Puerto Ayora.

Two visitor sites reached by boat: Bachas Beach , where you can walk along the white-sand beach and see flamingoes, and Black Turtle Cove, where you can kayak in the clear waters and see sharks, rays, and other marine creatures.

There are many things to do in Puerto Ayora and around Santa Cruz Island such as the Charles Darwin Research Center, the Galapagos tortoises and lava tunnels in the highlands, Scuba diving, snorkelling, beach hopping amongst other activities.

Isabella Island
Puerto Villamil is a small port town on the southeast side of Isabela. It has about 2,000 inhabitants (1,619 in 2001), most of whom make their living from fishing. As such, it maintains the quaint, community atmosphere of a fishing-town - main streets are unpaved - despite the fact that tourism is rising as an important economic activity.

The white-sand beach extends the length of the town, providing visitors with excellent swimming, snorkeling, surfing, and sporting possibilities.

Although the town only consists of a few main streets, it does have a telephone center, a bank, a post office, a police station, and a small hospital. There is little selection when it comes to accommodations and food, but the quality and friendliness of service will not leave you disappointed. There are also some amazing camping spots.

The town's beach is a spectacular two-mile stretch of silky bone-colored sand sprouting swaying palms in just the right spots. A five-minute walk from town, you will find a tucked-away lagoon sprouting flamingos. Hikers will appreciate the numerous trails heading inland and up the sides of the Island's volcanoes.

It can be reach by daily speed boat from Puerto Ayora (2 hours) or by inter island flight from Baltra or San Cristobal.

West of the town center, there is a scenic trail leading north off of the main road to two visitor sites. A short distance after the start of the trail, you will encounter La Poza de los Flamingos, a small lagoon where you can spot flamingoes and other migrant birds. Continuing north along the trail, you will find the Centro de Crianza de Tortuga Terrestre, a land tortoise breeding facility open to the public.

Shortly beyond the breeding facility, the trail merges with the main road and continues north toward Volcan Sierra Negra, an active volcano (1490m) 27-km from Puerto Villamil, where visitors can camp, horseback ride, hike, or simply enjoy nature. You can walk around the caldera, which is roughly 10-km in diameter, passing fumaroles and interesting lava formations, Galapagos hawks, short-eared owls, finches and flycatchers.

Trips to the volcano with naturalist guides can be organized by tour agencies in Puerto Villamil, but if you decide to go it alone, you can hire private transportation from the town center to take you to Santo Tomas, a small settlement at the flanks of the volcano. From there, it is 9-km to the top of the volcano, which you can hike or complete on horseback. Horses can be rented in the town. Be sure to bring plenty of food, water and a compass - it's easy to get lost.

Off the southeastern end of Puerto Villamil is the island of Las Tintoreras, which has nice views, hiking possibilities, and wildlife watching.

If you follow the coastline on the other end of town, you will eventually arrive at El Muro de las Lagrimas, The Wall of Tears, an instrument of torture used to punish the prisoners of a penal colony established on Isabela from 1945-1959. Although the site sounds grim, it provides an interesting bit of the island's history and the long trail along the coast provides excellent scenic views and wildlife watching opportunities.

San Cristobal
San Cristobal is the fifth-largest island (558 km2) and lies on the southeast extreme of the archipelago. Rapid development of tourist and educational facilities, as well as the existence of an airport, has caused island visitation to grow in recent years.

San Cristobal boasts the only freshwater lagoon in the archipelago, beautiful beaches, amazing snorkeling and scuba-diving opportunities, and some of the best surfing spots in the archipelago.

The island also provides an interesting socio-environmental element missing from other islands: visitors interested in the human component of the Galapagos Islands can see colonial architecture, visit organic coffee plantations and other agricultural centers, and even dabble in local politics in the provincial capital, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

Tourists can either arrive by air from Baltra or the mainland or by private boat from Puerto Ayora.

The capital and administrative center of the Galapagos, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, has the second-largest population (5,600 inhabitants) in the archipelago, after Puerto Ayora.

Although the tourist infrastructure is less advanced here than in Puerto Ayora, visitors to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno are not without options. Hotels, stores, restaurants, and travel agencies line the boardwalk, and internet cafes, telephone centers, and banks are common. There is also a small post office, police station, and hospital. The Galapagos campus of the San Francisco University is also in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, so university staff and students reside here.

Inaugurated in 1998, the Galapagos National Park Interpretation Center, located on the northeast side of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, has a series of interactive exhibits providing information about the history and biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands. The self-guided walking tour lasts about one hour, is offered in English and in Spanish, and is appropriate for all ages.

Walking trails from the interpretation center lead to Las Tijeretas and Playa Cabo de Horno. Las Tijeretas (sometimes referred to as Frigatebird Hill), a 1.5-km hike from the Interpretation Center, provides a spectacular view of the bay below and the town behind, as well as snorkeling and swimming opportunities and possible glimpses of the two species of frigatebird. Playa Cabo de Horno is a white-sand beach at the northern end of town that offers swimming and snorkeling opportunities, sports facilities, and beautiful views.

In addition to Cabo del Horno, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno also has some excellent public beaches. Playa Man is a beautiful white-sand beach with volleyball courts, a view of the bay (and the boats and sea lions maneuvering through it), and swimming and snorkeling opportunities. Since the beach is located across from the San Francisco University, you are likely to find college students "studying" there if school is in session. Playa de Oro, at the end of the boardwalk, is a small white-sand beach perfect for lounging, swimming, or playing sports.

The town also boasts two excellent surfing spots. The first, Carola Point, is located at the north extreme of town, while the second, El Canon, is west of town near the airport.

Another popular attraction is La Loberia. Accessed via a long trail beginning at the west-end of town, visitors to la Loberia can watch the antics of a playful sea lion colony and enjoy the nice landscape views.

Located in the highlands of San Cristobal at an altitude of 700-meters, El Junco Lagoon is the only freshwater lake in the Galapagos. As you rise from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno to El Junco, you can see marked differences in climatic composition and, as a result, vegetative zones. The highland vegetation comprising of Miconia bushes and endemic tree ferns surrounds the lake, contributing to a lush landscape. Here you can also observe white-cheeked pintails and common gallinules.

Another common visitor site on the west side of San Cristobal is Cerro Brujo (Wizard Hill), a white-sand beach (accessible by wet landing) that is the home to Sally Lightfoot crabs, marine iguanas, and sea lions. If you visit in the wet season, tide pools formed by filled crevices in rocks aligning the shore harbor interesting inter-tidal creatures (even the occasional octopus).

You can swim or snorkel from shore, hike or run along the beach trail, or enjoy the majestic offshore view of the geological formation, Leon Dormido. Leon Dormido, or Kicker Rock, is a rock structure (resembling a sleeping lion, hence the name) protruding out of the sea and rivaling Bartolome's Pinnacle Rock. Small vessels can pass through a channel formed between the rocks, allowing visitors to see the wealth of barnacles attached to the rock surface. This is also a very interesting snorkeling and scuba site: divers can enjoy the colorful coral formations and tropical fish, search for macro-sized creatures in the eroded underwater crevices, or stalk Galapagos sharks swimming along the shelf.

Punta Pitt, located at the northwest tip of San Cristobal, is one of two places in the archipelago (Genovesa being the other) where you can see a colony of red-footed boobies and it is the only site where you may see all three Galapagos booby species nesting. You can also see Galapagos hawks, sea lions, and interesting volcanic tuff formations here.