The islands
How to book Galápagos tours
Galápagos tour prices live on the operator’s page. The choice before that is the shape: a cruise, island-hopping on land, or a day tour once you are already there. These are listings we could open.
Photograph by Cayambe, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Listings
Ways to book
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Viator
A small-ship cruise
You want the boat to be the hotel, and the sites to change overnight.
A west itinerary on the Monserrat, which the listing caps at 20 travelers, with a naturalist guide and breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It starts from Baltra. The cabin price is on that page.
See prices -
GetYourGuide
Island-hopping, five days
A hotel on Santa Cruz, and boats that come back.
The listing includes airport transfers, a hotel on Santa Cruz, a bay tour, Tortuga Bay, an Isabela day, and a Santa Fe boat, with a naturalist guide. It does not include the flight. Do not trust an old park-fee figure printed on a tour page. Use the cost chapter.
Photograph by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0.
See prices -
GetYourGuide
A day boat from Santa Cruz
You already have a bed in Puerto Ayora and want one island offshore.
North Seymour by yacht: a morning bus from the Puerto Ayora pier, about 40 minutes to the Itabaca Channel, about an hour to the island, a trail of about 2.5 hours, and a return the listing puts around 4:30 p.m. More days from the same island are on the Santa Cruz page.
Photograph by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0.
See prices
Buttons above are paid partner links. How that works.
On the ground
Trip tips
- Quito or Guayaquil
- Baltra or San Cristóbal
- A town or a ship
- A visitor site
The flight is the first hop. A cruise continues from the airport to the boat. A land week continues to a hotel, then to day boats. The North Seymour day is a third map: pier, bus, channel, yacht, and back by late afternoon.
When
Book the shape before the cabin. Cruises and the better land weeks fill. A day boat can be the week you are already in Puerto Ayora. The cost chapter refuses to print a flight price because it goes stale.
Weather
The North Seymour listing, quoted on the Santa Cruz day-tours page, describes the sea as cooler from June through November and warmer from December through May. A cruise itinerary still depends on the park’s daily call.
Stops
On a cruise, the sites named on that boat’s itinerary. On the five-day land tour: Santa Cruz, an Isabela day, and Santa Fe or a similar boat. On the day tour: North Seymour, with a possible stop at Mosquera or Las Bachas.
Altitude and what to bring
The islands are at sea level, which is the relief after Quito. Bring the documents the transit-card page asks for, a round-trip ticket, and the patience for two airport counters. Sun protection on the water. A licensed guide where the park requires one.
Sources: Galápagos National Park, entry fee · CGREG, transit card · GetYourGuide, 5-day land tour · Viator, Monserrat 5-day cruise . Rewritten here. Fees, hours, and roads change.
Before you go
Good to know
- Flights to Baltra or San Cristóbal leave from Quito and from Guayaquil. A Quito airport pickup is a separate decision from the boat.
- The park’s entry table and the $20 transit card are in the cost chapter. A tour page that still prints an older fee is behind the ordinance.
- A cruise sees more remote sites. A land week sees the towns. A day tour is neither of those. It starts where you already sleep.
Landing at Mariscal Sucre and would rather not start in a city taxi? UIO Transfers is a private car from the airport. It is the owner’s company, not a third-party ad.
Also on this site: Galápagos without a cruise · Which island · The Galápagos chapter .
Questions
Before you click
How do you book a Galápagos tour?
Pick the shape first. A cruise listing, such as the five-day Monserrat itinerary, includes the cabin and the moves between sites. An island-hopping listing includes a hotel and day boats, and usually not the flight. A day tour is booked after you are on an island, or alongside the hotel.
What are the official fees?
The Galápagos National Park’s current table lists US $200 for a foreign tourist over 12. The transit control card is US $20. Both are separate from the tour price. Children under 2 are exempt on both pages. Open the fee pages again before you pay.
Does the cruise price include the flight from Quito?
Do not assume it. The five-day land tour we opened excludes the national flight. Read the included list on the cruise you choose. The flight is its own quote.
Which island should the hotel be on?
Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, or Isabela. The island chapter is that choice. Baltra serves Santa Cruz. San Cristóbal’s airport is on the island. Isabela is usually a boat, not a jet.
Where do the day tours start?
The North Seymour day starts in Puerto Ayora, not in Quito. The Santa Cruz day-tours page is the longer list of that kind of booking.