Asilo de la Paz, Floreana
Short answer
Asilo de la Paz is a site in the highlands of Floreana built around a freshwater spring — the reason the island was settled at all, long before the others. Caves cut into the rock nearby were used by pirates and later by settlers, and a tortoise enclosure sits alongside.
On this page — 7 sections
Floreana was inhabited before any other island in the archipelago, and the reason is here: water that never stops. Pirates knew about it in the seventeenth century, whalers used it, and the strange settlers of the 1930s died arguing over the land around it.
Asilo de la Paz at a glance
| Island | Floreana, highlands |
|---|---|
| How you get there | By road from Puerto Velasco Ibarra |
| Guide | Park-licensed naturalist required |
| What is there | The spring, the caves, and a tortoise enclosure |
| Getting to Floreana | Two hours by speedboat from Santa Cruz |
| Time needed | Part of a half-day circuit on the island |
- 1
Asilo de la Paz is a site in the highlands of Floreana built around a freshwater spring — the reason the island was settled at all, long before the others. Caves cut into the rock nearby were used by pirates and later by settlers, and a tortoise enclosure sits alongside.
How you get there
- On a Floreana day trip
- Two hours by speedboat from Puerto Ayora, then a truck up into the highlands. It is a long day and this is one stop of several.
- On a cruise
- Less common — most southern itineraries take the coastal sites instead.
It sits on Floreana, so how you reach the island decides how you reach this.
What you actually see
The spring
Still running, still the island’s water supply. Unremarkable to look at and the entire reason for two centuries of human history here.
The caves
Cut and enlarged into the soft rock, with carved steps and window openings. Used by whalers and pirates, and later lived in by the first settlers of the 1930s.
The tortoise enclosure
Part of the Floreana restoration programme. The island’s original tortoise was wiped out; the animals here are the closest surviving relatives.
What goes wrong
We run these trips, so we know what people complain about afterwards. Better to read it here than find out on the day.
- The crossing is the hard part
- Four hours of open-water speedboat for a day on Floreana. Anyone prone to seasickness should think carefully.
- It is history, not spectacle
- Without the story it is a damp hollow and some holes in a rock. With it, it is the most human place in the archipelago.
Who this is not for
Saying this costs us bookings and saves the trip. If any of these is you, tell us and we will build the day differently.
- Anyone who struggles with two hours of open water each way.
- Visitors who want wildlife density — the coastal Floreana sites give more.
- People uninterested in the settlement history, which is the whole point here.
What lives here
- Galápagos giant tortoise — In the enclosure, as part of the Floreana restoration programme.
- Medium tree finch — Endemic to Floreana and endangered. The highlands are where it survives.
- Galápagos flycatcher — Common in the highland scrub.
Nearby
Post Office Bay
Floreana
What it is →Punta Cormorant
Floreana
What it is →Devil’s Crown
Floreana
What it is →Champion Islet
Floreana
What it is →Las Grietas
Santa Cruz
What it is →Sullivan Bay
Santiago
What it is →Every visitor site we have written up → · Floreana, the whole island →
Questions people also ask
Why was Floreana settled first?
Fresh water. The spring at Asilo de la Paz runs year-round, which almost nowhere else in the archipelago does, and that made permanent settlement possible here before anywhere else.
Who lived in the caves?
They were used by whalers and, by tradition, by pirates before them, and were lived in by some of the first permanent settlers in the 1930s while they built.
Can you visit independently?
You reach Floreana by boat and the highland sites are visited with a licensed naturalist as part of an organised day.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. If one of them changes and we have not caught up, tell us and we will fix it the same day.
Planning this trip yourself?
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