Ecuador Travel Answers

Book mark

I would recommend a cruise around the Galapagos. I've used Lindblat/National Geographic (great naturalists) and my daughter Agressor (dive boat mostly) for 2 week trips. One week will get you to the highlights. Although all are similar each island has something different in terrain and ecosystem to experience. Unless things have changed and from the newsletters I've received from the Galapagos Conservatory I don't believe they have, you can not visit an island on your own. You must have a licensed guide. As for "last minute" tours, I'd suggest looking at http://www.vacationstogo.com/ to see what they have. I've gotten some incredible last minute deals from them in the past.

Your constraints of both time and money place serious limitations on your travel: First, I doubt you will find anyone who can give you an opinion based on experience with both a land based and cruise based visits to the Galapagos islands. Ferries generally go from human population to human population so this was not appealing to me. You can hire speed boats but this is unlikely to save money over an economic cruise that includes sleep and food. It will be possible to find discounted cruises on the internet and even more so on the mainland if you time of travel does not coincide with a heavy influx of visitors. You might indeed find a discounted cruise while on the islands, but it might cost you an extra day or two of looking. To a lesser degree you run this same risk if you arrive in Ecuador and try to find you discount tickets there. I would recommend at least a one week cruise. If you are going to the jungle you will have to fly because of time constraints there and back again, plus you must spend some time in the jungle or else what is the point? Machu Picchu requires travel time to and from Cusco and then to and from Machu Picchu, plus what about time for Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Are you really going to go all this way and only visit MP? You also must consider planning some time for adjusting to the altitude. I can imagine you having to spend 5-9 days in transit (arrival in Ecuador, flight to the Galapagos, flight back to the mainland, flight to Peru, flight to the jungle, flight back to Lima and then on to Cusco (on the same day if you are lucky), train to MP and back same day, and then flight to Lima and finally flight home perhaps late than same day. To plan on the shorter amount of transit time is risky because flights often do get delayed and cancelled. My advice would be to drop the jungle from this visit and plan to return. Good luck

I would also recommend a one-week cruise as it can take you to islands which can’t be visited on day tours. You should do some research first though, to see which islands you are most interested in visiting and choose a boat including those islands in your itinerary. I did a one-week cruise with M/S Cachalote last year and it was wonderful. After the cruise I stayed another six days in the Galapagos Islands and took the speedboat to Isla Isabela where I stayed a few days (in Puerto Villamil). The speed boat one way was25 (July 2011). On Isla Isabela I made a day tour to Volcan Sierra Negra ($35 dollars), a half day tour to Tintoreras ($25) and I rented a bike ($7.50 per hour). From Puerto Ayora (on Isla Santa Cruz) you can make daytrips to several of the popular islands, but it is not cheap. A day tour to Bartolome, Seymour Norte or Islas Plazas cost at least125. And remember that a return flight to Galapagos cost around500 (it is sometimes included in the cruises) and the entry fee to the National Park is100. I agree with the above post that you will spend too much time in transit and I think you should choose just one country for such a short trip. If you are interested I have got links to travel pages about the different islands I visited on my Profile page: "Ten years on VT!" - MalenaN's Profile

Thank you all for your replies! Very helpful information. I forgot to ask if I will have to pay double occupancy charge for cruise as I travel solo. Yes I realized the time spent in transit is too much, but I'm debating if it would cost more time if I do it in 2 separate trips since I am based in San Francisco, California, while I fly all the way to Ecuador, Peru seems not far from there...

If you travel alone they will pair you with someone else travelling alone, if you ask for that. If you want to pay for your own cabin it will be very expensive. I travelled alone and was very lucky. We were only 8 passengers on a boat for 16 passengers. Two of us travelled alone, but as the boat was not fully booked we got our own cabins.