A Backpacker’s guide to the Galapagos
Want to visit the Galapagos but afraid of what it will do to your bank account? Listen, in my opinion, there’s no way to make the Galapagos ‘cheap’, but there are many ways to make it much more affordable. I’m bringing you this blog post to share my tips and tricks on how to visit the Galapagos on a budget, including where and how to find the best value cruise, a great hostel recommendation, cheap eats options, and I’ve even included a complete price breakdown of our entire trip! My aim is to make this magical place accessible to more people!
Quick Intro
The Galapagos Islands are located around 1000km from mainland Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. The islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique ‘living museum and showcase of evolution’. It is considered one of the world’s foremost destinations for wildlife viewing, where there is a diversity of plants and animals that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. The place which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, if the Galapagos is not on your bucket list, you better add it real quick.
How to get there?
Transportation options:
Flying is your only option to get onto the Galapagos islands. You must first fly to mainland Ecuador - either Quito (UIO) or Guayaquil (GYE) airports. From there, you can fly directly to the Galapagos. There are 2 major airports to fly into, either:
Seymour Airport (GPS) This is the airport for Baltra Island, which connects to Santa Cruz by a water taxi.
San Cristóbal Airport (SCY) is the airport on the island of San Cristóbal.
I would personally recommend you fly into Seymour Airport, which connects to Santa Cruz, because that is where you can score the best deals on tours and cruises (further explanation below).
Flight costs:
Your flight into either one of the Galapagos airports from mainland Ecuador should cost around £300 return and takes 2 hours. The prices don’t tend to fluctuate too much, we booked our flight 1 week prior to visiting and I had been keeping an eye on the prices for the month before and they had stayed pretty static.
Transport once reaching Seymour Airport:
Once you have reached Seymour Airport, there are 3 further steps you need to take to reach the main town Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island.
Take the airport shuttle down to the port. As soon as you walk out the airport you will see a bus waiting to take you down to the port, the bus costs $5 per person and the cost is unavoidable (an absolute rip off if you ask me - the journey only takes around 5 minutes!).
Once you arrive at the port you must take a water taxi from Baltra Island to mainland Santa Cruz. This costs $1 per person.
After reaching the mainland you must take a further taxi or bus to the main town of Puerto Ayora. The bus costs around $5 per person and the taxi costs around $25. We opted for the bus which was more like a small mini bus, there were no stops until we reached Puerto Ayora therefore the journey seemed exactly the same as a taxi would’ve been.
Shot of Richard & I on Playa Bachas.
Santa Cruz (The Main Island)
Let’s start by introducing the ‘main island’ known as Santa Cruz. This island is the most habited out of all the islands, and is a great base for booking tours and exploring. The largest town on the island - Puerto Ayora is the tourism hub, where you will find countless travel agents, many restaurants and bars, and the famous fisherman’s market. It’s important to know about this island if you wish to visit the Galapagos islands on a budget, because this is where you are going to score the cheapest deals on tours and cruises. I would recommend flying into Baltra Island airport, from there you can take the above transportation methods in order to reach Puerto Ayora to book and sort out your itinerary.
Seeing and swimming with penguins was one of my trip highlights!
My Galapagos Itinerary Recommendation
Here is a breakdown of the itinerary I would suggest for visiting the Galapagos on a budget, further down the blog I will explain in more detail about each of the stops and locations.
I would recommend spending between 7-10 days in the Galapagos, this gives you enough time to get there, find appropriate tours and explore multiple islands. If you have more time / money I would spend up to 2 weeks here, but you can be the judge of that based on your budget and time frame.
Based on a 9 day trip, see below itinerary:
Day 1 - Arrive at Baltra Airport (connecting to Santa Cruz), 1-2 night(s) in a hostel in Puerto Ayora.
Days 2 to 7 - Hop on an all inclusive cruise and spend between 5-7 nights sailing around multiple islands.
Day 7-8 - Depending on how long your cruise was, once it finishes and docks back into the harbour spend 1-2 night(s) at a hostel before catching your return flight back to mainland Ecuador. If you choose to spend 2 nights, do some exploring on Santa Cruz island before heading back.
Day 9 - Departure flight home.
Obviously depending on how many days you have, adjust accordingly, i.e choosing a shorter cruise, or spending less nights before / after the cruise.
Giant tortoise sanctuary visit!
Santa Cruz Hostel Recommendation
A great place to stay in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island is a hostel called ‘Morning Glory’ hostel. It is in the perfect location, less than a minutes walk to the fisherman’s market, is right amongst all the travel agents, restaurants and bars, and is really reasonably priced for decent and clean accommodation in the Galapagos. The price is £22 per night for a private room. Here is the airbnb link below:
It also has a shared kitchen where you can cook your own meals - again great option for those on a budget.
A beautiful flamingo!
Why choose a cruise?
In my opinion (and some might disagree) booking a cruise is the BEST way to make the most of your Galapagos trip. Here are the reasons I believe a cruise is a better option than booking individual day trips / hopping around islands by yourself:
You have more chance of seeing a larger variety of wildlife. This is because, on a cruise you have the option to visit islands which are less accessible than through an individual day trip, in fact, there are some islands which you cannot visit unless you are on a cruise. Additionally, because you sleep out at sea, there is more wildlife spotting done in the evening and at night, which you cannot do if you simply paid for a day trip. For example, on an evening sea lions would hop on our boat to sleep, we would see sharks circling our boat, and we even saw 2 stingrays mating one evening. Getting back to the boat on an evening was actually one of our favourite parts about the cruise - you get to eat dinner and chat with the other people on your cruise, watch all the wildlife at sea, and even catch the sunset from the top deck.
You will likely visit more islands than you would if you were taking day trips. More islands = more sights, wildlife and experiences! It’s a no brainer for me. If you have made it to the Galapagos, this is likely a once in a lifetime opportunity, you want to experience as much as it has to offer in the time you have.
Less time spent travelling to different islands / on multiple modes of transport. If you pick a cruise, all the travelling between islands is done for you, you don’t have to think about organising a ferry, taking a taxi, planning a route, booking individual day trips etc. Most likely while on a cruise, your captain will take care of everything for you while you’re sleeping! When you go to sleep and wake up the next morning, you will have already arrived at your next island or destination.
It can be CHEAPER! I will explain later in the blog how you can grab the cheapest possible price for a cruise, but when we added up our total cruise price, and compared it with the cost of 5-6 day trips, transport between islands, food & drink, and accommodation costs, our cruise price was MUCH cheaper (contrary to what we heard from others).
Hiding in a hole in some volcanic rock!
Cheapest way to book your cruise
Getting a good price for your cruise is not going to be as simple as finding a website online and booking. If you really want to score a cheap deal, you’re going to have to put in some leg work. This section covers how and where to book a cruise and top tips on how to get the cheapest prices. Below are the steps we took in order to secure a cheap deal on a LUXURY 6 day cruise (please note, there is no guaranteed price as cheap as ours, I can only give advice based on my personal experience):
Book at a local travel agent in Puerto Ayora. Once you reach Santa Cruz, its important to stay in the town of Puerto Ayora for your first night. This is because there are countless travel agents in the town offering slashed cruise prices just waiting to be snapped up!
Book last minute once you arrive in the islands, NOT ONLINE. I would argue this is the most important step you can take in order to secure a cheap cruise. When I say ‘last minute’ I mean between 1-3 days before you expect your cruise to depart. We flew into the Galapagos with nothing booked in advance whatsoever. If you book online, you will likely pay at least twice if not 3 or 4 times the price of someone who booked last minute. A couple on the exact same cruise as us told us they paid online for £2500 per person, we booked onto the cruise the night before it departed and paid just £700 per person. We literally were on the same cruise as them and had identical experiences!
Shop around at multiple travel agents before committing. Like I mentioned earlier, there are countless travel agents in Puerto Ayora, all likely offering a variety of different cruises. Hop in and out and get quotes from each for the various cruises they have on offer. For example, some will offer economy cruises, while others will offer luxury or first class. The number of nights will also vary, so when comparing prices make sure you are comparing like for like (i.e same number of nights and same class level).
Barter the prices! Rule of thumb is to never accept the first, or even second price you are quoted. Chances are the operator can come down much more than the initial price they gave you, and here is where you can really bring the price of the cruise down. For example, the first price we were quoted was around £1200 per person for a 6 day cruise, we managed to get this down to £700 per person simply from bartering down. A top tip would be to try not to do much talking, let the operator talk and they usually talk their way into a lower price without you having to say too much - just make sure you don’t jump for joy at the first price offered!
Book an economy cruise. If you are on a seriously tight budget, try to find an economy cruise. This is the lowest class level available, and while the actual boat itself and the dining might not be as nice, its likely your itinerary will be quite similar to a luxury or first class cruise. However saying this, the differences in prices we saw between economy and luxury were smaller than we were expecting - at most an extra £100 per person. So for the extra comfort, better food, service and overall experience we opted for a luxury cruise over economy. Again, thats for you to decide!
Sea lion mumma & baby. You will find sea lions all over the Galapagos!
Price breakdown of our trip
I have included this section for those who are interested in getting an accurate price breakdown of our Galapagos trip. We spent 9 days here, and this breakdown includes everything we spent during that time.
Flights:
£300 per person return flight from Guayaquil to Baltra Island (connecting to Santa Cruz)
Cruise:
£700 per person for a 6 day luxury cruise. This includes absolutely everything you need while onboard including food, drink, activities, cabin, experienced guide, team of staff etc the only thing not included is a wet suit rental which you can rent once onboard.
Wetsuit rental - £35 for the 6 days.
Galapagos National Park entry:
£90 per person. This cost is compulsory to enter the Galapagos islands and is paid at the airport prior to entry.
Accommodation outside of the cruise:
£22 per night for a private room at the ‘Morning Glory’ hostel mentioned above. We stayed a total of 3 nights so our cost was £66.
Transport to and from the airport:
We estimate this to be between £40-50 in total (we didn’t write down the exact prices).
PCR Tests
£35 per person. At the time we visited the Galapagos (April 2021) it was compulsory to present a negative PCR test prior to departure. We completed these 2 days before our flight in mainland Ecuador.
Additional food and drink (outside of the cruise):
Estimate around £80 for 2 people. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner for the 3 days we were not on the cruise.
Additional excursions (outside of the cruise):
£7 per person. On our final day on Santa Cruz island we visited a place called ‘Las Grietas’, which we paid an entry fee for.
TOTAL COST: Around £2530 for 2 people. So £1265 PER PERSON for a 9 day trip.
**This excludes any flight you must take to reach mainland Ecuador prior to your flight to the Galapagos**
Shot of our cruise!
Our Cruise Company
The cruise company we booked was called ‘Galaxy Cruises’ and we booked this through one of the tour operators in Puerto Ayora. The tour operator we used was directly opposite the fisherman’s market. Here is the link to the cruise company’s website:
https://www.galaxyonboard.com/
What to expect on your cruise?
I’m sure you have heard about all the wild and wonderful things you can see and experience in the Galapagos islands, so I won’t go into every possible detail, but I will give you a little outline of the islands we visited and the wildlife we saw on our cruise!
Islands we visited:
Santa Cruz
San Cristobal
Bartholme
Santiago
Floreana
Espanola
Wildlife we saw:
Penguins
Reef sharks
Hammerhead sharks
Many types of rays
Flamingos
Crabs
Sea Lions
Turtles
Huge variety of fish and other sea creatures
Albatross’, blue footed boobies and a huge variety of other birds
Iguanas
Giant tortoises
Snakes
Activities we did:
Snorkelling (if you can - choose a cruise which snorkels ‘Devil’s Crown’, this was like being in a real life aquarium, think Finding Nemo!
Hiking - nothing super strenuous but we explored various hiking trails spotting wildlife
Exploring volcanic land
Exploring beaches
Observing lots of wildlife ALL THE TIME!
Checking out viewpoints
Learning about the history and wildlife
Visiting the Giant Turtle Sanctuary
Visiting the Charles Darwin Research Centre
Marine iguana
Affordable Food and Drink recommendations
Realistically, the most affordable way to eat and drink while in the Galapagos is to cook at your hostel. There are some small supermarkets in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island where you can pick up basic groceries to make a meal. The hostel I recommended also provides free drinking water, so no need to spend any additional money on drinks if you don’t want to!
However, if you do want to eat out, a couple of reasonably priced options are below:
Galapagos Deli - we ate here once and the food was tasty, a variety of sandwiches, paninis, pizzas and deserts on offer. Expect to spend between £3-£7 per meal.
Mexican restaurant on Charles Binford street. I can’t remember the name and it’s not on google but it is the only Mexican restaurant in town, if you ask around people will tell you the name! Meals are between £6-10 and the food was so good!
Mi Tierra Galapagos - cheap local restaurant with decent food. Typical Ecuadorian cuisine and good, cheap breakfast options.
A wild albatross!
Additional tips for your trip
Sea sickness. This is something I did not consider much when we booked our cruise, I had been on overnight ferry’s multiple times before and countless boat trips and didn’t think it would be a problem. However, spending multiple nights at sea can have an affect on you, and while I wasn’t physically sick, there were times I felt very queasy! So bring some sea sickness tablets with you, and if you know you get seasick then maybe think twice about booking a cruise. Additionally to this, I found that once we had finished the cruise, I was left with a somewhat ‘rocking’ feeling, for between 24-48 hours after, i.e feeling like we were still swaying on the boat while in fact we were on solid, dry land! Just something to be aware of prior to your trip.
Rent a wetsuit. I didn’t quite realise how cold the water would be in some areas when snorkelling. When given the opportunity to rent a wet suit, always take it! Do not attempt to snorkel without one because it will be extremely uncomfortable and will ruin your experience, no matter how much you think you can cope with colder water, just trust me on this one! You will likely be in the water for over 1 hour at a time, and in our case we were snorkelling for 1-2 hours, twice a day! You don’t want to be freezing cold wishing you were back on the boat and missing out on all the amazing sea life. It will also protect you from potential jelly fish stings and other things in the ocean which could cause you damage, for example catching yourself on a rock while swimming.
Always take a hot shower! On your cruise you will be given the opportunity to shower multiple times a day (usually in between snorkels/ swimming opportunities). Always take this opportunity, you may come out of the water pretty cold after a long snorkel, and the quickest way to heat up is to grab a quick hot shower before continuing onto the next activity. Even if you are tired try to avoid missing out on this because you don’t want to be feeling cold and uncomfortable while taking on your next activity / experience of the day.
Group photo from our cruise!
Thank you for reading!
I hope you enjoyed this blog post on the Galapagos islands, and I hope it inspires you to visit this unbelievable part of the world. My aim with this blog post is to show that you can make your trip here more affordable, and therefore accessible to more people. We absolutely adored our time here and it really is a once in a lifetime adventure!
