Galapagos flight from Guayaquil or Quito (?) and daytrips / diving

Hello,

From Quito or Guayaquil the price for the flight can be from $199 to $450 per person. From Quito its probably that the airplane stop first in Guayaquil (there are direct flights from Quito to Baltra in Galapagos). The best way in my opinion to begin your tour is from Baltra airport then bus transfer from Baltra to Puerto Ayora (all people must do this). In Puerto Ayora you will find a lot of travel agencies saling daily tours, all agencies have the same price per tour, all taxis have the same prices too. For long daily trips ask the agencies whats exactly include on each one.

I´m sure you will love the islands!

Hi there,

Baltra is definitely the place to start tours and get the most travel agencies. But if you want to visit most of the islands you can also get a plane tickets getting to Baltra and leaving from San Cristobal (the city's name is Pto Baquerizo Moreno) San Cristobal has Kicker Rock, that is a nice place for snorkeling and diving. Hammerhead Sharks, Whited-spotted eagle rays, and more depending on how lucky you are.

You can maybe get to San Cristobal and do this on your own and then connect to Santa Cruz (Pto Ayora is the name of the city) and there join a cruise to the other islands. Also you can do it backwards, there are a lot of things to do and see there. You can get land-based tours and get to visit the 4 inhabited islands, the two mentioned before, Floreana, and Isabella.

Maybe you can combined a land-based starting from San Cristobal ending in Sta Cruz and then have a cruise booked fro 4-5 days. That might not be cheap though, but maybe you are lucky enough to do that. I will do it if i would have the time and the money!!!

Cheap place in Pto Ayora i have stayed: Hostel Espana. about $20 a night
Company i have done a land-based tour, based on San Cristobal: Sharksky

There are a lot of options I hope this help you a bit. Hit me for any other question.

Let's clarify a couple of things about Baltra first: there is only an airport there. At the airport everyone boards a bus which transfers them to a small boat, which then heads to Puerto Ayora. Also, there are no agencies or anything else on Baltra. You must go to Puerto Ayora first.

It is quite possible to do a land-based and cruise combination. Quite a few people do this. Especially if you want to dive, you can do 4-5 day cruise which will take you to some sites not available to day-trip excursions (though it won't go to the more remote islands), then return to PA and book a day or two of diving.

Hello azbuceadora, parce696 and ovidio

many thanks for these tips!

I'd fly into Baltra and out of San Cristobal to save yourself a return journey by boat. It's easy to get from Baltra to Puerto Ayora but the reverse journey requires a cab as the buses to airport only run until 8am. Most of the cruises are booked from Santa Cruz but there are some tour offices on San Cristobal also. I'd recommend diving around Santa Cruz, going rate is around $150 for 2 tanks. If you are lucky you might get to see big schools of hammerheads like I did. There is a budget liveaboard boat called solatario Jorge that visits the dive sites around Santa Cruz islands. I don't know much about this boat as I didn't do this but you could look into it. You can take day tours to the other islands but they are expensive $160+. You can also spot wildlife just walking around the main islands visit Darwin research centre and tortuga bay which are free.

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