Galápagos Islands
Ecuador
Animals that never learned to be afraid of people
Remote destinations — A permit, a flight from the mainland, and a licensed boat for anywhere worth seeing
Photo by Amy Perez on Unsplash
Photos by Nicolas Martin, Amy Perez, Amy Perez and Pauline on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Ecuador
December to May (warm, calm seas), June to November (cooler, more wildlife activity)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen days in Puerto AyoraOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 100mm in Mar
Where it is
0.74°S, 90.32°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Snorkel with sea lions and turtles at Los Túneles or Kicker Rock
- See giant tortoises in the wild in the Santa Cruz highlands
- Walk to Tortuga Bay at first light
- Take a boat to Isabela for penguins and flamingos
- Visit the Charles Darwin Research Station
Galápagos Islands travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Ecuador
Very expensiveEcuador uses the US dollar, so there is nothing to exchange. Bring small notes — change for anything above a twenty is hard to find on the islands, and coins are used constantly.
ATMs & cards
Banco Pichincha and Banco del Pacífico have machines in Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, and they do run out. Bring more cash than you expect to need: the $200 park fee and the $20 transit card are cash on arrival.
Avoid these
- assuming a machine will have cash — they run dry regularly
Use these instead
- Banco Pichincha
- Banco del Pacífico (Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno)
Bring more cash than you think you need. The $200 park fee and the $20 transit card are payable in cash on arrival, and there are no machines on the outer islands.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Ecuador
Very safeCrime is essentially absent and the islands are among the safest places in Latin America. The rules are about the wildlife rather than you: stay two metres from every animal, never touch anything, do not use flash, and stay on marked trails. A licensed guide is mandatory at most sites, and the restrictions are strictly enforced.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Snorkelling in the channels, where the current is strong and the boats do not always watch
- Touching or blocking any animal, which is a fined offence as well as bad manners
- Sea lions on the harbour steps, which bite when cornered
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Ecuador visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days per calendar year, not per visit. The Galápagos add their own charges regardless of nationality: a transit control card and a national park fee, both cash on arrival.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Nothing in advance for the mainland. For the Galápagos, buy the transit control card at the mainland airport before checking in, and carry cash dollars for the park fee.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Ecuador
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Yellow fever if you are going to the Amazon — not needed for the Galápagos or the highlands
- Rabies for rural or long stays
Getting treated
Quito and Guayaquil have good private hospitals. The Galápagos have small clinics on the main islands and a hyperbaric chamber on Santa Cruz, but anything serious means a flight to the mainland, which takes hours and depends on daylight. Evacuation cover is the part of the policy that matters.
Altitude sickness in Quito (2,850m) is common on the first day. Do not drink the tap water. Seasickness on inter-island crossings catches almost everyone — bring something for it.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodFish is excellent and the set almuerzo in Puerto Ayora costs a few dollars. Encebollado is the local cure-all. Bring anything specialised with you — the islands import almost everything and prices reflect it.
Nightlife
Puerto Ayora has a few bars and a street of grills; the rest of the archipelago is a boat and a bunk.
- Puerto Ayora — the town, and what bars there are
- Calle de los Kioscos — the seafood grill street, in the evening
- Puerto Baquerizo Moreno — on San Cristóbal, and its waterfront
Closing: Midnight; the boats leave at seven.
Sea lions sleep on the harbour steps and the benches, and they were there first.
Getting around
Limited- BoltNot here
White pick-up taxis run a flat $1 to $2 within Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo. Between the islands it is the inter-island lancha or a light aircraft, and nothing else.
Time zone and your working day
Pacific/Galapagos — 2 hours behind you
6 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 11:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–15:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 11:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 11:00–19:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Ecuador
Why these are Ecuador's numbers and not Galápagos Islands's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.7× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 59% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Galápagos Islands, so these are medians for all of Ecuador. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Ecuador, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Where to base yourself
Two islands have airports and three have towns. Staying on the islands and taking day boats is far cheaper than a live-aboard cruise and reaches most of the same places — but not all of them, and that is the trade to understand before booking.
Puerto Ayora
The main town, on Santa Cruz, and the busiest place in the archipelago.
Almost every day boat leaves from here, along with the research station and the ferries to the other two towns. The base that needs the least planning.
Fly to Baltra (GPS), then a bus, a two-minute ferry and 45 minutes by road.
Puerto Villamil
A sand-street village on Isabela, the largest and youngest island.
Volcanoes you can walk up, a flamingo lagoon behind the beach, and penguins in the bay. Much quieter than Santa Cruz, and the island most people wish they had given more nights.
2h by public ferry from Puerto Ayora, or 30 minutes by light aircraft.
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
The provincial capital, on San Cristóbal, with the other airport.
Sea lions on the town beach and in the harbour, and Kicker Rock offshore — one of the best snorkel and dive sites in the islands. Flying in here and out of Baltra avoids doubling back.
Fly direct to San Cristóbal (SCY); the town is 10 minutes from the runway.
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic
Catholic majority blended with indigenous Andean tradition, most visible in highland festivals.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with a single kiss on the right cheek between women, or a woman and a man; men shake hands
- Say buenos días on entering any small shop or waiting room
- On the Galápagos, stay two metres from every animal and on the marked trails, always
- Dress warmly for the highlands — Quito is at 2,850m and the evenings are cold
Don't
- Do not touch, feed or block the path of any Galápagos animal, however unbothered it appears
- Do not take any organic material between islands; the biosecurity checks are serious and so are the fines
- Do not display phones or jewellery in Quito or Guayaquil streets
- Do not refuse food offered in a home; it is a genuine slight
Where to stay in Galápagos Islands
No Holistay rentals in Galápagos Islands yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Galápagos Islands on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Seymour, Baltra GPS
1h 30mfrom the airport· 32 km as the crow flies
Bus, ferry and bus to Puerto Ayora, 90 min.
Also worth pricing: San Cristóbal SCY — closer to its own town, and the quieter arrival.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
