SANTA CRUZ , ISABELA and SAN CRISTOBAL

SANTA CRUZ - ISABELA - SAN CRISTOBAL

OVERVIEW

In your 8-day Galapagos Island Hopping Tour, explore the diverse flora and fauna of the islands. Visit Santa Cruz, Isabela, and San Cristobal, enjoying beaches, highlands, and famous sites like Kicker Rock. Activities include hiking, snorkeling, and kayaking. Highlights include Santa Cruz’s highlands, twin craters, and lava tunnels, as well as unique wildlife encounters on uninhabited islands. Isabela offers penguin spotting and snorkeling with sea lions and turtles. Don’t miss out on our great deals for exploring the Galapagos Islands. Check our Last-Minute offers!

TOUR FACTORS

Difficulty 55%
Adventure 60%
Comfort 70%
Family friendly 90%

ITINERARY:

Click to see every day in detail

In the morning, flight to Galapagos (flight not included). On arrival at the airport, your English-speaking driver takes you across the island to the small town of Puerto Ayora, where you embark on the public speedboat at 2:00pm to Isabela Island. Transfer to your hotel on Isabela Island. Rest of the afternoon at leisure.

Hotel: Tourist Superior in double room accommodation

Meals included:

Los Tuneles is perhaps one of the most beautiful sights in the archipelago. Continuous volcanic eruptions petrified into tunnel-like lava formations right in the middle of the sea, and crystal-clear turquoise water allows an amazing view of marine vegetation and playful sea lions.

The tour begins via speedboat and the first stop is a small islet in the middle of the ocean, home to pelicans, blue-footed boobies, and sea lions. Finados snorkeling site is the next stop, where you can swim next to sea turtles, Tintoreras sharks (endemic to the islands), trumpet fish and surgeonfish.

With some luck, eagle and golden rays will come to this site too. Getting to Los Tuneles will take around 1 ½ – 2 hrs. Once there, the speedboat will navigate through various spots in and around the Lava Tunnels. Here you get the chance to do some more snorkeling and enjoy some short walks while observing the landscape and wildlife inhabiting the area. A box lunch on board will be provided for this day.

*There are two departure times for this tour, one at 08:00 am with return time at 13:00 pm approx., and one at 11:00 am, with return time at 16:00 pm. approx. The chosen departure time for your tour might vary; hence, you will be notified on the departure time for this day trip on the night before the tour.

Hotel: Tourist Superior in double room accommodation

Meals included: Breakfast | Lunch

Today, you have a day at leisure on the island of Isabela. You can optionally visit the Wall of Tears.

 

Known in Spanish as El Muro de las Lágrimas, the Wall of Tears is one of the most important historic sites in the Galapagos Islands. The history of the Wall of Tears is not a nice one. The wall was built over 14 years back in the 1940s and 1950s by prisoners, who were sent to Isabela Island. The establishment of a penal colony here was an easy choice for authorities, as they knew it was virtually impossible for anyone to escape from the remote island. As for the wall itself, it was built by the inmates by hand. Out in the sweltering heat they would collect the heavy, sharp lava rocks from around the island that make up the wall. Some people say the wall was never finished, as it was meant to be a wall that would surround the actual prison area. However, it is more likely that the wall never had a real purpose other than making the prisoners suffer.

Other places worth visiting: Sierra Negra Volcano, Concha de Perla to snorkel

 

Hotel: Tourist Superior in double room accommodation

Meals included: Breakfast

Early in the morning, you leave Isabela Island by public speedboat to Santa Cruz.

 

Your English-speaking guide meets you at the harbor and you can drop off your luggage at the hotel (check–in possible at 2:00pm) before heading up to the highland of Santa Cruz. You will visit the highlands of this Island, so please have your shoes and rain gear ready. Check out the twin craters of Los Gemelos, see giant Galapagos tortoises roaming in their natural environment and experience ancient underground lava tunnels. You have lunch at the reserve. In the afternoon, you travel on to Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz’s principal town for the check-in at your hotel.

Hotel: Tourist Superior in double room accommodation

Meals included: Breakfast | Lunch

Today, you will visit one of the uninhabited islands. According to the National Park’s regulations, you will either visit North Seymour, Plazas, Santa Fé or Bartolomé. Observe the wildlife on land (iguanas, sea lions, different birds like blue-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and Galapagos hawks) as well as under water (tropical and subtropical fish, corals and Galapagos penguins) while snorkeling. In the afternoon, you return to Puerto Ayora.

Hotel: Tourist Superior in double room accommodation

Meals included: Breakfast | Lunch

In the morning, you have time to explore the small town of Puerto Ayora on your own. You can walk along the streets, watch different animals and birds, buy souvenirs or just take a rest in your room. In the afternoon, you take the public speedboat to San Cristobal Island. At arrival on San Cristobal you will be picked up and taken to your hotel.

Hotel: Tourist Superior in double room accommodation

Meals included: Breakfast

Get ready for 1 1/2-hour navigation towards your Kicker Rock Galapagos snorkeling adventure. The day-tour will have two visiting sites. The first one will be underwater at the Kicker Rock lava formations, which is one of the most outstanding snorkeling sites in the Galapagos. On the surface, you may catch sight of some of the many birds inhabiting the towers emerging from the ocean floor. You can spot Nazca boobies, blue-footed boobies, frigate birds and tropicbirds.

It is the underwater world, which will really amaze you. Get ready to swim alongside the most iconic Galapagos wildlife: hammerhead sharks, sea turtles and Galapagos sharks inhabit the area.  The view is also one to remember. The walls are connected below the surface through a 60ft deep channel running between them. On a good day, you can see the sandy-looking bottom of the channel formed by the two towering Kicker Rock walls.

This day trip also has an add-on activity. Depending on the day, the tour will be complemented either with a visit to Cerro Tijeretas Bay for some snorkeling or a visit to a deserted beach (Manglecito, Puerto Grande or similar) to observe wildlife and relax in the pristine sand. 

A box lunch will be served on the boat. Return time to San Cristobal is scheduled around 4pm.

Hotel: Tourist Superior in double room accommodation

Meals included: Breakfast | Lunch 

After breakfast at the hotel, your private transfer takes you to the airport on San Cristobal island to fly to Guayaquil or Quito, from where you leave for your international flight, or for an optional extension.

Meals included: Breakfast

WHAT'S INCLUDED:

starting from

$2090 ,- p.p.

in US DOLLAR

*Please contact us for special offers and child discounts. Prices are subject to change.

 

*Price based on double occupancy.

Alternative Tours

Consider as you reserve:

My own room: 

Single supplement fee: USD $555,-p.p.

Not Included:

International airfare to and from destination; Galapagos National park entrance fee US$100,- per Person (to be paid in cash at arrival at the airport in Galapagos); Transit Control Card US$20,- per Person (to be paid in cash at the airport in Quito or Guayaquil); wet-suits for snorkeling (available for rental); meals not described; cost of medical immunizations as needed; trip cancellation insurance or any other travel insurance; cost of optional activities; excess baggage charges; airport taxes (if any); alcoholic beverages or soft drinks; optional gratuities to your guides; items of personal nature.

Travel Insurance:

To protect your travel investment, we highly recommend the purchase of travel insurance. Travel insurance is intended to cover medical expenses, trip interruption and cancellation, theft and other losses incurred while traveling domestically or internationally.

Visa and Entry Requirements

Ecuador requires a valid passport (with a minimum 6 months validity). Contact your local embassy or consulate for the most up-to-date visa requirements.