Galapagos – top 10 travel tips

1.) Don’t always believe Lonely Planet

You really do not have to book a fully organized tour as Lonely Planet apparently strongly suggests – we found it actually pretty easy (and much cheaper! plus more options…) to just book the flight to Galapagos, look for a hostel once you’re there and then shop around in travel agencies for 1-day or 2 to 3-day trips. And you don’t even have to speak Spanish, people are used to tourists and do speak English here. …You have to check bills etc. twice whether you ordered in Spanish or English But then again, it’s completeley safe here, you might pay 1 or 2 dollars more for stuff if you don’t have a close look, but there’s no mugging, no stealing, it feels completely safe EVERYWHERE.

2.) Plaza South: the most incredible island we’ve seen here altogether

Incredible landscape, land iguanas, sea turtles, sea lions, hammer head sharks, manta rays, sea iguanas… just wow.

3.) Isla Isabela: Calm, beautiful, still feels like paradise

Stay a few days in Puerto Villamila, it’s just paradise. Still… this will change in a very few years so many construction sites…

4.) Isla Floreana: Forget Isla Floreana…

Travel agents love to sell you this 1-day tour, and it sounds good and is reasonably priced. But it’s really nothing special at all – and that on Galapagos! Walk to the fish market in Puerto Ayora (see 4.), Santa Cruz and you see more interesting wildlife.

Oh, if you want to hear a certified galapagos park guide rant about the right not to not believe in evolution, here’s your place but I’d rather watch a creationism youtube video then and save my time here for Plaza South, for example.

5.) Santa Cruz 1: Watch sea lions, pelicanos and a blue footed boobie queuing at the Puerto Ayora fish market

If you have a free morning, go and have breakfast at “Chocolate” and watch the sea lions, pelicanos and one blue footed booby “queue” for the fish it’s sooo cute. Best time around 10-12h.

Sea lion helping at the fish market in Puerto Ayora

6.) Santa Cruz 2: Breakfast at terrace next to harbour

Unfortunately forgot to write down the name of that place… Anyway, it’s just next to where ships to San Cristobal and Isabela leave. Great fruit-salad with granola and yoghurt for 3$, a huge one for 4$, they also have lunch and dinner menu for what looks like best prices for what you get in Puerto Ayora. Nice point: they also have take-away, in case you have booked that tour at 7 am and just have 5 minutes before it starts…

7.) Santa Cruz 3: Rent a bike and go to the highlands to see lava-tunels and “wild” galapagos turtles

Rent the bike and take a cab/pick-up up to Santa Rosa (5$ with the bikes), from there it’s 3km downhill (and later up ) to the lava tunels and galapagos turtles next to Rancho Primicias – the guys in the bike rental will tell you how to go exactly.

8.) Santa Cruz 4: Bike Trip to Cerro Mesa

Take a pick-up to Bellavista, $/person with the mountain bike. If you don’t like to go uphill by bike take the pick-up straight through to Cerro Mesa, another 7$ for the whole car. There: just great views to several islands around, a huge volcano “hole” a few hundred meters away, and the way back downhill on the mud-road is fun.

9.) Horseback trip to Volcan Sierra Negra on Isla Isabela

1 hr of horseback riding along the volcano crater (nice horses, not huge, but strong en0ugh and pretty friendly), 1 hr foot walk through volcano landscape with views on the whole island with its 6 more volcanos – and then the same back. Nice! And so different from all the other trips.

10.) Watch white tipped reef sharks sleeping…

The small islands directly opposite the harbor in Villamil is definitely a must visit if you are on Isabela: penguins, blue footed boobies, hundreds and hundreds of sea iguanas, dozens of land iguanas, and then there is this channel where you are sure to see a few white tipped reef sharks dozing. Snorquelling there will reward you with manta rays and lots of colourful fishes.

11… Go rather sooner than later

Of course it is to hope that Galapagos will stay the special place and paradise for endemic and unique animals, but we also saw quite some building sites… and ships going there grow bigger every year.

…the “Flamingo lagoon” in Villamil, Isla Isabela. Search the flamingos…

…one of a dozen building sites just 5m from flamingo lagoon. Wonder why the flamingos went away…