Ecuador · 8 days · Moderate
8-Day Galápagos: San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz & Isabela
The full land-based archipelago. Eight days is where island hopping stops being a compromise: you get all three inhabited islands, both of the great snorkelling sites, and Sierra Negra, and you still sleep on land every night.
Short answer
8-Day Galápagos: San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz & Isabela is a 8-day, 7-night Ecuador itinerary starting in San Cristóbal airport and finishing in Baltra airport, for private, or shared groups of up to 12. It is quoted on request, because the price moves with dates, party size and hotel category. On top of that sit the mainland–islands flight and US$230 per adult in mandatory fees, which no operator is allowed to include — US$200 for the National Park, US$20 for the transit card and US$10 collected at the pier on Isabela. Every day of it is published below, and we rebuild it around your dates at no extra cost.
Highlights
- Kicker Rock (León Dormido) — a vertical tuff cone rising from open water, with hammerheads and Galápagos sharks in the channel
- Sierra Negra, one of the largest volcanic calderas on earth, on foot
- Both Las Tintoreras and Los Túneles, which most shorter trips make you choose between
- Arriving at San Cristóbal and leaving from Baltra — no backtracking
How this trip moves
7 nights, 3 places to unpack
The thing most itineraries hide is how much of your holiday is spent getting somewhere. Here it is up front.
Where you sleep
- Puerto Baquerizo Moreno 2 nights
- Puerto Ayora 2 nights
- Puerto Villamil 3 nights
The shape of it
- 1 The day you get there
- You sleep here
- Flight
- Boat
Day by day
- Day 1
Quito to San Cristóbal
Morning flight from Quito’s Mariscal Sucre airport (or from Guayaquil) to San Cristóbal, two hours, or a little more with the usual stop in Guayaquil (flight not included). The easiest arrival in the islands: the airport is five minutes from town. Sea lions have taken the municipal beach, the benches and occasionally the boats, and nobody moves them.
- Change of base
- Flight
- Meals
- Not included
- You sleep at
- Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
- Day 2
Kicker Rock
A boat out to León Dormido, a split volcanic cone in open ocean. You snorkel the channel between the two walls — hammerheads, Galápagos sharks, turtles, rays. It is the single best snorkel from San Cristóbal and it is not a gentle one.
- Change of base
- None — you stay where you slept
- Meals
- Breakfast
- You sleep at
- Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
- Day 3
Crossing to Santa Cruz — highlands and Darwin Station
Two hours by speedboat, then straight into the highlands for wild giant tortoises and the lava tunnels, and the Charles Darwin Research Station in the afternoon.
- Change of base
- Boat
- Meals
- Breakfast
- You sleep at
- Puerto Ayora
- Day 4
Full-day navigable tour
A day boat to one of the uninhabited visitor sites — North Seymour, Pinzón, Santa Fe or Bartolomé depending on the park’s allocation. Landing, walk, snorkel.
- Change of base
- None — you stay where you slept
- Meals
- Breakfast
- You sleep at
- Puerto Ayora
- Day 5
To Isabela — Las Tintoreras
Crossing to Puerto Villamil, then the afternoon at Las Tintoreras with the reef sharks, marine iguanas and penguins.
- Change of base
- Boat
- Meals
- Breakfast
- You sleep at
- Puerto Villamil
- Day 6
Sierra Negra
The hike up to the caldera rim and along it. On a clear morning the crater floor runs to the horizon; in the garúa season you walk into cloud and see fifty metres. Both are worth it.
- Change of base
- None — you stay where you slept
- Meals
- Breakfast
- You sleep at
- Puerto Villamil
- Day 7
Los Túneles
The lava arches, the turtles, the seahorses, the nesting boobies. Most people put this day at the top of the trip.
- Change of base
- None — you stay where you slept
- Meals
- Breakfast
- You sleep at
- Puerto Villamil
- Day 8
Isabela to Baltra
Early speedboat to Santa Cruz, road crossing and the ferry to Baltra for your flight.
- Change of base
- Boat
- Meals
- Breakfast
- You sleep at
- — last day, you fly home
What is included
- All inter-island speedboat crossings and island transfers
- Seven nights’ hotel accommodation with breakfast
- A National Park–licensed naturalist guide on every excursion
- Snorkelling equipment
- Airport assistance on arrival and departure
What is not included
- Flights to and from the islands
- Galápagos National Park entrance fee — US$200 per adult, cash on arrival
- INGALA transit control card — US$20
- Lunches and dinners unless stated, travel insurance, tips
Per person in double occupancy. Final price depends on your dates, party size and hotel category — high season and single occupancy carry supplements. The Galápagos National Park entrance fee (US$200 per adult, US$100 per child under 12, cash on arrival) and the INGALA transit control card (US$20, bought online before your flight) are collected from you personally and cannot be included in any operator’s price. Budget US$230 per adult on top of the figure above. Full breakdown →
When to do this trip
Year-round. Kicker Rock visibility is best December–May; hammerhead numbers peak June–November.
Good to know before you book
- Group size
- Private, or shared groups of up to 12
- Starts
- San Cristóbal airport
- Ends
- Baltra airport
- Pace
- Moderate
- Passport
- Valid at least six months beyond your arrival date. Entry requirements →
- Insurance
- Not included and not optional in our view. Medical evacuation from the islands or the rainforest is expensive.
- What moves the price
- Hotel category, private versus shared guiding, your dates, and party size — a solo traveller pays the room, not half of it. We break the whole thing down in the Galápagos price index.
- If we have to change something
- Weather, park regulations and flight schedules occasionally force a swap. We tell you before you travel, not on the day, and we replace like with like.
Who this trip is not for
We would rather lose the booking than sell you the wrong week. These are the reasons people come back from this itinerary disappointed, and all of them are predictable before you pay.
Anyone prone to seasickness
Three islands means four open-ocean crossings of about two hours each. That is the trade for seeing three very different places without a cruise.
Anyone who wants to unpack once
You change hotel twice. If what you want is one room and day trips from it, ask us for the Santa Cruz-based version instead.
Anyone expecting Darwin and Wolf
The famous dive walls are seven or eight nights on a liveaboard. No land-based itinerary reaches them, ours included.
If any of those describe you, tell us — there is almost always a version that fits, and it is usually not more expensive.
Questions about this itinerary
How long is the 8-Day Galápagos: San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz & Isabela?
8 days and 7 nights, starting in San Cristóbal airport and ending in Baltra airport.
How difficult is it?
Moderate. Group size: Private, or shared groups of up to 12.
When is the best time to do this trip?
Year-round. Kicker Rock visibility is best December–May; hammerhead numbers peak June–November.
What extra costs should I budget for?
Per person in double occupancy. Final price depends on your dates, party size and hotel category — high season and single occupancy carry supplements. The Galápagos National Park entrance fee (US$200 per adult, US$100 per child under 12, cash on arrival) and the INGALA transit control card (US$20, bought online before your flight) are collected from you personally and cannot be included in any operator’s price. Budget US$230 per adult on top of the figure above.
Photographs
These islands, photographed by us
Not a picture library. These are ours, taken on the islands this itinerary visits — each one says where and when.
-
A sea lion asleep on the municipal beach, late afternoon San Cristóbal, January 2019 — our own photograph -
The town beach at sunset, with the anchored boats Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristóbal, January 2019 — our own photograph -
Las Grietas, from the rim of the fissure Santa Cruz, January 2019 — our own photograph
What you meet on this one
Not a promise — these are wild animals. But these are the species this itinerary is actually built to reach, and each one has its own page with the exact sites.
The full Galápagos wildlife encyclopedia →Which month for which animal →
If this one is not quite it
