How to travel the Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands were one of our most anticipated destinations during our world trip and we did a ton of research about where to go, what to see and which season is the best for us to visit the islands. At the same time, this was one of our most well-planned destinations in general as we didn’t want to waste a single minute. The planning paid off, as it turned out to be one of our greatest experiences! We compiled all our findings in this article and hope that it helps planning your trip too!

First, we help you pick a time to visit, then discuss how to get to the Galápagos, and decide on whether to book a cruise or explore the islands independently. After that, we take a look at each island and give you some practical tips about what to expect and how to plan the practical details. At last, we present the typical costs of a trip based on our 12-day stay in the Galápagos. So, let’s dive in!

Best time to visit

The Galápagos Islands are an interesting destination all year round, as all the islands have something different to offer in every season. It is advisable to check in advance which animals and what kind of marine life you would like to see, as each month brings different highlights.

There are two main seasons, the wet and the dry season, with some key differences.

• The wet season (December to June) is the warmer season with average temperatures of 27-32°C (80-90°F) and also more touristy in general, especially around the Christmas holidays. The ocean is a bit calmer, and water temperatures are higher. Rain occurs almost daily, and skies are often cloudy. It is also very humid. Thanks to the rain, trees and bushes turn lush green. Prices tend to be a little higher than in the dry season. Underwater visibility is slightly better during those months.
• The dry season (July to December) brings cooler temperatures of 15-27° C (60-80°F), which are pleasant on land, but significantly colder underwater, with a higher possibility of choppy waters. July and August are particularly busy because of the holiday season, which also drives hotel and tour prices high. Therefore, we would recommend avoiding those months. Prices overall drop between September and December, with chances to get some great deals. Some small ships and yachts might come out of service due to fewer tourists and maintenance.

Galápagos species calendar

We prepared a practical calendar by species (click to zoom in) to help you pick the best season for visiting. It’s worth noting that most animals are present on the islands throughout the whole year. However, most of them migrate multiple times per year to mate, nest, and take advantage of ocean currents bringing nutrient-rich water. That’s why it’s important to plan ahead according to their location and activity around specific islands that can be visited either on a day trip or on a cruise. Some islands are closed off for visitors in certain months to further protect the animals.

The calendar aims to mark the most active or interesting season of each species, such as nesting, pups appearing or high activity on land or in the water.

Highlights per month

Another perspective on the same matter: here you can see a breakdown of the highlights per month.

Month	Highlights
January	Nesting season of Darwin’s finches and land birds Marine iguanas turn bright green and red on Española Pacific green sea turtles begin laying eggs Season start of golden rays and eagle rays (through May/June)
February	Nesting season of Bahama pintail ducks, flamingos and Galápagos doves Penguins migrate from Bartolome to Isabela and Fernandina Beginning of hammerhead shark season (through June) Nesting season of marine iguanas peaks, especially on Fernandina Pacific green sea turtles start hatching
March	Galápagos giant tortoises migrate to lower-lying terrain and nesting sites Red-footed booby chicks start hatching on Genovesa island Waved albatross arrive back on the islands after the spring equinox
April	Mating season of waved albatross on Española island starts Nesting season of brown pelicans begin at Tagus Cove (through May) Pacific green sea turtles can be spotted in large numbers on Isabela and Fernandina (through November)
May	Marine iguana hatchlings appear on Fernandina Galápagos snakes, hawks and great blue herons start hunting for baby marine iguanas on Fernandina Large flocks of Galápagos shearwaters appear Waved albatross mate and lay eggs on Española Nesting season of wedge rumped storm petrels begins on Genovesa
June	First waved albatross chicks appear Nesting season of blue-footed boobies High chance of Bryde’s whale sightings near Kicker Rock
July	Waved albatross hatching begins high chances of seeing chicks Galápagos giant tortoises start migration back to the highlands Nesting season of American oystercatchers and common gallinules begins Season for humpback whales and dolphins begin Chances to spot whale sharks while diving
August	Nazca (masked) boobies and swallow-tailed gulls nest on Genovesa island Giant tortoises in abundance on Santa Cruz Birthing season of sea lions, humpback whales, dolphins and sea turtles begins Galápagos hawks court on Española, Santiago and Fernandina High chances of spotting mola mola (ocean sunfish) while diving
September	Peak breeding season of sea lions and Galápagos fur seals Galápagos penguins begin courtship and are especially active on Bartolome island
October	High chances to spot sea lions and Galápagos fur seals with their pups Giant tortoise egg laying season starts Blue-footed booby chicks emerge Lava herons nesting season begins
November	Whale and dolphin season ends Pacific green sea turtles mate and are especially active in water Offsprings of many species like sea lions, brown noddies, band-rumped storm petrels, Nazca boobies, blue footed boobies and red footed boobies can be spotted Jellyfish in abundance
December	Marine iguanas begin mating Galápagos sea lion pups abundant in water at central and southern islands Bryde’s whale sightings in the western archipelago Bottlenose and common dolphin sightings in central and southern archipelago Higher chances to spot manta rays

We travelled at the end of September, which is ideal for Galápagos penguin sightings, seeing blue-footed boobies nesting, and this is the season of fur seal and sea lion pups. The little pups were very playful and it was a joy to swim with them in the water. However, sea lion bulls are known to be aggressive this time of the year as they protect their young, so it is advised to keep a safe distance from them. As for marine life, September is also dolphin and humpback whale season and we were able to spot some from the boat on our tour around San Cristóbal Island.

Getting to the islands

There are only two ways to fly to the Gálapagos Islands: either from Quito, the capital of Ecuador, or from Guayaquil, a city near the coast of the mainland. We flew from and back to Quito, as the north-west coast of Ecuador was politically unstable during our visit, and we wanted to avoid getting into any kind of trouble.

At Quito airport, there is an entire area dedicated to departures to the Galápagos Islands. There is a separate security check for luggage, as there are certain items you cannot transport to the islands. Make sure to check the regulations here (use Google Translate, if needed). You also need to fill out a Transit Control Card on the official website. It is in Spanish, so make sure to read the step-by-step guide in English here if you are having difficulties filling it out.

When you fly from Quito to San Cristóbal, the plane might make a short stop at Guayaquil. You can stay on board if you are continuing your journey to the islands. When we were on the flight back, the captain called out someone’s birthday, which was a nice touch and shows how incredibly friendly people in Ecuador and the islands are.

There is a 200 USD entrance fee per person (100 USD for children under 12 years) to the Galápagos Islands, which goes directly to nature conservation efforts. For nationals of the Andean Community and Mercosur countries, the entry fee is 100 USD per person. Details are available on the official website here. Prepare to pay this amount in cash upon arrival, as card payment is not possible.

Transportation between islands

There are two options to get from one island to the other, if you are not on a cruise. There are inter-island flights, but they tend to be a little more expensive with tickets on sale starting at $70 per person.

A more affordable option is taking the ferries. There are multiple companies running the service between Santa Cruz<->Isabela and Santa Cruz<->San Cristóbal, both routes taking around 2 hours. There are no direct connections between Isabela and San Cristóbal. All providers operate at a fixed rate of $35 per person. Tickets can be purchased at the port or at any tour company, or you can purchase them online in advance. You can check the current schedule and book tickets in advance here or here.

Sea sickness pills are recommended, as the sea can be quite choppy from time to time. We saw some passengers throwing up on the boat, sadly.

Transportation on land

To get around on the islands, taxis are the way to go, as there is no other public transport service available. You will see many pickup trucks running through the settlements with the official logo of the local taxi cooperative. They operate on fixed rates too, depending on the distance. You have a little wiggle room for negotiation though! The best way to get a ride is to either ask in your hotel or flag down a taxi on the streets and negotiate the price for the ride upfront.

Layover in Quito

If you have a longer layover in Quito before your flight to the Galápagos Islands, just like we did, we recommend booking a hotel near the airport and not venturing further into the downtown area to avoid taxi fees and congestion.

We stayed at Samariwasi Airport Hotel, which was just perfect for resting between our flights! The hotel staff is incredibly kind, they have great rooms, a nice garden and even an outdoor pool to relax and enjoy the sunset. Airport pick-up and drop-off are included in the price and they also offer an affordable dinner option for $10 per person.

Local island stay or cruise?

There is an important matter you need to consider beforehand: Do you want to stay directly on the islands and explore them the DIY way, or book a cruise? Some of the key differences are:

Cruise: You can visit islands that are otherwise not accessible by tours from the public islands. The costs are relatively high, usually starting around $500 per person per day, with most cruises running for 4-11 days. You will get to see much more of nature and wildlife, though, which makes cruises a worthwhile consideration. As these are planned trips with a predetermined schedule, there’s no need to plan anything on your own, and you will be guided by knowledgeable naturalists at all times.

DIY: You can stay on local island(s) as a base and book tours and activities to explore from there, depending on your interests. A great advantage is that you not only get to experience nature but also the local life and culture on the islands. Everyone we met on the islands was super friendly and hospitable! Stays are actually quite affordable, starting at around 15 USD per person per night.

Which island to visit?

Without booking a cruise, this is probably the next question you will ask yourself if you are planning to travel to the Galápagos Islands. There are four islands that allow overnight stays: San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz, Isabela and Floreana. All of them have their distinctive vegetation and animals you can spot, and there are different day trips you can do from each island. We would recommend putting together a trip that includes multiple islands.

You can also take some inspiration from our two-week itinerary, which is ideal for first-time visitors looking to cover the highlights of the main islands!

San Cristóbal

San Cristóbal was our first stop and also our favourite island. It is famous for its ever-present sea lions and Galápagos seals. We swam with them in the water and hung out with them on the beach. We were there during pup season and saw many little playful youngsters. We also spotted blue-footed boobies, Galápagos tortoises, marine iguanas and Darwin’s finches, all endemic to the Galápagos. One of the most popular tours is the 360° tour that passes by Kicker Rock, a famous dive site, with high chances of spotting hammerhead sharks depending on the season.

Read more about San Cristóbal in our comprehensive guide here!

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, the most touristy and most populous of the local islands, has volcanic origin and is known for its giant Galápagos tortoises. It also has the best and most diverse line-up of tours in our opinion. You can venture offshore to see incredible landscapes on nearby islands like Bartolomé, North Seymour or Plaza Island, and spot iconic Galápagos animals like marine and land iguanas, penguins, blue-footed boobies and frigate birds. The dive site Gordon Rocks can be reached from here.

We found this island to be a little more crowded and expensive in general, but once we left the area around the port, everything seemed very local and much more authentic.

Read more about Santa Cruz in our dedicated article here!

Isabela Island

Isabela is by far the biggest of the Galápagos Islands and was formed by lava flows from six originally separate shield volcano islands. It is often touted as travellers’ favourite island, as it is home to the beloved Galápagos penguins. Unfortunately, just in the week of our arrival, the penguins started their mating season and all migrated to a bay on the far north side of the island that cannot be accessed by any tours – but this shouldn’t discourage anyone from visiting! We still had an incredible time on this island and spotted flamingos, huge marine iguanas with beautiful colours, lava lizards, blue-footed boobies by the beach, and snorkelled with turtles, sharks, stingrays, sea lions and even saw a tiny seahorse! Also, our favourite tour of all the excursions we did was from here – the Los Túneles tour, taking you to an otherworldly volcanic landscape to see blue-footed boobies and snorkel in the waters around the lava islets.

Check out all there is to know about Isabela in our article here!

Floreana

Floreana is the smallest of the inhabited islands and hosts incredible wildlife – you can spot flamingos, Galápagos mockingbirds and hawks, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, red-billed tropicbirds, lava herons and Darwin’s finches. All these amazing species are nestled in beautiful landscapes around the island. There are some great snorkelling spots near the island too, such as Devil’s Crown, with chances of spotting reef sharks, Galápagos sea lions and, with some luck, even penguins.

One of the most famous spots is Post Office Bay, a unique postal service built by whalers for sailors passing by in 1790. The idea is that you don’t need any stamps because ships headed to the port of the address pick up and deliver the letters, respectively. It has worked pretty well over the last couple of centuries and now visitors can drop a letter too, and take some to deliver in exchange!

Items you should pack for your Galápagos trip

While you do not need any special equipment as a tourist, there are a couple of things that will make your life much easier and your experience more enjoyable.

• Binoculars: this is probably the item that you will benefit from the most. Because wildlife is, well, usually quite far away, you will have a hard time making out the details of animals. There is nothing more frustrating than spotting an exciting rare species and not being able to take a proper look. Good binoculars can be super expensive, but we were absolute newcomers, so we researched some budget models and settled for entry-level ones from Bresser and Hawke (Amazon).
• Sunglasses: quite useful, especially when doing tours on the water, to protect your eyes and your view from reflections.
• Sun protection: reef-safe waterproof sunscreen (our go-to is NIVEA SUN on Amazon), long-sleeved shirts and a hat. The sun can be quite harsh, so we recommend all-round protection against sunburn.
• Warm clothing: if you are visiting in the dry season, temperatures can drop in the evening and the wind makes boat rides a breezy-cold experience. Especially if you are just coming out of the cold water.
• Snorkelling gear: while most tour companies provide all the necessary gear you need (snorkelling mask, fins and a wetsuit), we sometimes ended up with uncomfortable or scratched masks. If there are no spares or different sizes, you might miss out on the spectacular underwater world. So just for peace of mind, we recommend bringing your own gear too. You can also use these when you go to explore beaches by yourselves without a tour.
• Water shoes: on some tours, you will walk on volcanic terrain and sharp rocks near the shore. These shoes protect your feet while not having to worry about water damage. These from Sixspace are a good option (Amazon).
• Earplugs: although we didn’t face any problems, we read occasional hotel reviews of people complaining about noise at night from barking dogs. We ordered some of these OHROPAX earplugs on Amazon before our trip.

Staying connected

As the islands are part of Ecuador, any eSIM for Ecuador works. We chose one of the bigger providers, Airalo, and didn’t have any connection issues while we were on the islands. Reception on the water can be spotty, but hopefully, you won’t reach for your phone besides taking photos, anyway. 😉

Food

Besides amazing grilled fish and shrimps, we managed to try many traditional Ecuadorian dishes here. One of our favourites was tigrillo, a hearty Ecuadorian breakfast made of plantains, cheese and fried eggs. Many restaurants offer Menú del Día, a daily set meal for around $6-8, typically consisting of an appetiser in the form of a soup, a main dish and a glass of fresh fruit juice and/or a dessert. This is a great way to try different dishes without breaking the bank, as these are typically much more affordable than ordering à la carte. There are also a couple of local beers that you can only get on the Galápagos Islands, for example the Endémica local craft beer on San Cristóbal or various brews from Santa Cruz Brewery on Santa Cruz Island.

Safety

The Galápagos Islands are known to be very safe as there are many tourists around, and you do not need to take as much caution as on mainland Ecuador. Nevertheless, it is always good to follow basic travel safety rules and politely decline anything that feels like a scam.

Food and water safety

Tap water is not safe to drink on any of the islands. Running water is provided by groundwater extraction and seawater desalination and is perfectly fine for showering and cleaning, but is not purified enough to be safe for consumption. Bottled and filtered water, however, is available everywhere on the islands. Your hotel will most probably provide drinking water in large dispensers, and restaurants offer ice cubes made from filtered water.

Food hygiene standards seemed to be high. We did not have any issues, nor have we heard of any food poisoning cases. Nevertheless, we recommend carefully checking restaurant reviews for these kinds of issues beforehand.

Excursions on the water

The boats we boarded for our day trips were all in very good condition and we never felt unsafe while out on the open water. They are all equipped with life jackets and life rings. The lead guides are all naturalist guides trained in special university courses mandated by the state, and take very good care of guests as well as nature – they guide you through safe passages, e.g. in mangroves and caves, and will not let visitors enter the water if conditions are adverse.

After reading the descriptions of different tours, you might be wondering about shark safety. Shark attacks are extremely rare in the Galápagos, and most specimens you encounter are very young and calm. It is recommended to keep a safe distance, though, and your guide will make sure nobody gets close enough to potentially disturb the animals. According to locals, Santa Fe Island attracts larger sharks and we read online that at least one tour group was not allowed to enter the water due to the presence of a Galápagos shark in 2018.

Cost breakdown

We spent 12 days in the Galápagos and had overnight stays on three islands. All in all, it is safe to say that the Galápagos Islands are not the cheapest holiday destination. Tours are quite expensive compared to those in surrounding countries, but the quality of the activities is high and much of the money spent goes towards nature conservation efforts. The higher costs also result in a particular kind of tourist crowd – most people are seasoned travellers truly interested in nature, animals, hiking and snorkelling or diving. We didn’t see any “influencer” kind of tourists only looking for the cliché photo opportunity for social media, which was quite pleasant.

The following breakdown sums up all our spending during our visit, including transportation, ferries, hotel stays for 11 nights, food & restaurants as well as tours. It does not include flights to and from the islands, however.

Category	Total spending for 2 people in USD	Breakdown per person per day in USD
Activities 4 boat tours, 1 diving tour, 2 tours on land	$1.382	$58
Food shopping Water, snacks, pastries, etc	$81	$3
Restaurant typically only dinner; lunch included on whole-day tours	$213	$9
Transportation incl. ferries and taxies, excl. flights	$237	$10
Galápagos conservation fees Entry to the archipelago, entry to Isabela	$420	$18
Hotels 11 nights	$450	$20
Other Souvenirs, medicine, necessities	$57	$2
Sum	$2.840	$120

Handling payments

Ecuador’s official currency is the US dollar, which makes planning your finances a bit easier, especially if you are arriving from the US. It is highly recommended to bring or withdraw cash, as you cannot pay by card everywhere. Also, sometimes you can get a discount on tours if you pay the full amount in cash.

On Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal, there are multiple ATMs available. On Isabela Island, there is only one ATM, so you might be out of luck if it’s out of order or has no more cash. We recommend checking the reviews on Google Maps and using the very handy ATM Fee Saver app (iOS | Android) to see which ATM works best with your card and has the lowest fees.

San Cristóbal, Galápagos - Guide to Tours (360°), Animals & Costs