8 Day Magical Galapagos

You are met by our representative at the airport in Quito and provide transfers at Grand Hotel Alameda Mercure or similar in Quito. + Buffet Breakfast

After breakfast, we will go back in time a couple of hundred years while driving around the colonial section of Quito and admire architectural monuments, la Basilica church, Independence Square, with the Presidential Palace and the colonial Churches. Visit the toy workshop, you will find wooden toys, like spin toys. Visit the Api Real store, they produces products such as soaps, creams and shampoos, based on honey and its merger with essential oils and extracts 100% natural.

You will learn how to do it and you will take home the secret recipe and drive up to the “Middle of the World City” (entrance included) where the monument that divides the Northern from the Southern Hemisphere will be visited. It was built during the XVII century when a French Expedition defined the precise location of the equatorial line. The “Intiñan Museum”, known as the Equinox solar Museum, can also be visited (entrance is not included)

Overnight at Grand Hotel Alameda Mercure or similar in Quito + Buffet Breakfast

Early in the morning, after breakfast, you will have the transfer to Quito airport to take Galapagos flight. When you arrived at the Galapagos in the Baltra airport, our staff will meet you. They will transfer you to Hotel Ninfa. After lunch we will have the first visit, to El Chato Reserve.

The highlands of Santa Cruz Island provide important attractions due to its climate and vegetation. This is a tropical rain forest offering a very different landscape than that of the lowlands. In the Santa Rosa sector, we will visit the El Chato Reserve, a reserve where the famous “Galapagos” giant tortoises live in the wild. You can watch the tortoises relaxing in El Chato lagoon. Also, this is where many of the island’s wild birds nest, such as finches, Vermilion Flycatcher, Cattle Egret and sometimes Galapagos Crake.

Our journey lets you see the huge Galapagos tortoises in their natural state. During the visit to this reserve we’ll also see a natural lava tunnel, which you can go through thanks to the soft lighting installed by the ranch’s owners.

Departure at 7:30 a.m. After breakfast, we board the yacht bound for Isabela Island, two hours navigation away. After arriving in Puerto Villamil, we visit the Flamingo Lagoon and have a moment to enjoy Isabela’s beautiful beach. From there, we head to the port for lunch at a local restaurant. Afterwards, we continue our journey aboard a fiberglass boat that will take us to visit the white-tip sharks (tintoreras), and the marine iguana and penguin colonies. Then we snorkel in the sector to observe tropical fish, sea turtles and sharks. Dinner.

On Isabela Island at 8:00 a.m., after breakfast, we climb Sierra Negra Volcano. It is the largest and one of the most active volcanoes of the islands. Its northern edge is usually covered with clouds and fog, allowing the growth of vegetation. This is one of the most important biological reserves in the world, and includes tortoises, iguanas and birds. The naturalist Charles Darwin studied them in the nineteenth century to write “On the Origin of Species.” Chico Volcano is located to the northeast of Sierra Negra Volcano, at an altitude of 860 m.a.s.l. There is a clearly marked footpath. From there, we head to the port for lunch at a local restaurant. Then we return to Santa Cruz.

After breakfast, we sail an hour to Santa Fe Island. From the yacht, we see on its huge cliffs a forest of giant cacti endemic to this island. In the calm, turquoise waters of the bay are colonies of sea birds, including pelicans, boobies and gulls, and a large number of sea lions. Snorkeling is ideal. You can swim with rays and tropical fish, and occasionally observe sea turtles. We will have lunch on board and then land on a beautiful, white-sand beach where we will have a relaxing time taking pictures and enjoying the Galapagos sun, before returning to the hotel.

After breakfast, we will take a bus or taxi back to the airport. On the way, we will make a last stop to visit the Gemelos Craters, twin geological depressions amidst a forest of scalesia (native vegetation) on the highest part of the island.

When you arrive Quito or Guayaquil, you are met by our Representative and provide transfer at Grand Hotel Alameda Mercure + BB

After breakfast, transfer out