How to do the Galapagos as cheaply as possible
All amounts are quoted in US dollars and are relevant for periods outside of high season. I visited the Galapagos at the end of February 2016.
Flights
Book tickets through Orbitz, I booked my tickets three months ahead and got them for $220, and my friend booked them a week before and got them for $190. If you know the dates you want to go I would suggest booking them ahead.
I flew from Quito to Baltra return, you can also fly to the island of San Cristobal which is a two hour boat ride from the main island of Santa Cruz. I ended up loving the Galapagos so much that I changed my flights to fly out three days later, to do this call the airline directly instead of contacting the third party website. I changed with Avianca and it only cost me $15 dollars, but make sure you change your flights at least a few days in advance of your flight as the process can be a bit difficult. I actually decided at the last minute I wanted to fly to Guayaquil instead of Quito, I tried to change my flight when I called but they were going to charge me $160usd to change to Guayaquil, even though my flight to Quito stopped in Guayaquill on the way. When I got to the airport in baltra I asked if there was any way I could get off at Guayaquil and have my bags tagged, I was very polite and the lady was nice enough to make the changes for me for free. If you didn't have checked luggage you can always just walk off the flight at the Guayaquill stop.
Accommodation
You can get clean economic rooms for one person from between $15 - $25 dollars per night, or $40 a night for a double room. Depending what is available this will include either a fan or air conditioning. Most of the accomodation is not available online, you can just walk around the island when you first arrive, however you can find some rooms on sites like booking.com
On Santa Cruz I stayed at Costa Del Sol, for a two person two bed room with air conditioning for $40 for two people per night. Sir Francis Drake hotel also has air conditioned rooms for around $45 for a room per night, and it has a shared kitchen you can use.
On San Cristobal I stayed at Leon Dormido, for a two person two bed room with air conditioning I paid $40 for two people per night.
On Isabela I stayed at the Posada Rosada in a double bed room with our own balcony and air conditioning for $50 for two people per night.
Tours
You can organise last minute boat tours on the island but I think the most economic and best way if you are on a budget is doing day trips. The average cost for a day trip on a boat is between $90 - $150 dollars generally including lunch. I went on the following tours organised through Jorge at Galapagos evolution dreams on Santa Cruz:
Day trip to Santa Fe island for snorkelling with sea lions, turtles, rays and many beautiful tropical fish ($95)
San Cristobal tour through five sites across the island including snorkelling gear ($35 for day tour)
Dive at Seymour rock ($150)
Day trip to the tunneles on Isabela ($100)
Flamingo walk in Isabela (Free)
Snorkeling at cabo blanco and playita ($5 per day for snorkeling equipment)
Day trip to Floreana for snorkeling and seeing the giant turtles($100)
Trip to Las Grietas (80c either way on a water taxi)
Food
Food isn't quite as expensive as I thought it would be, but if you are eating out budget about $30 dollars a day for food. Alternatively if you stay in accommodation with a kitchen cooking your own food is a good way to save money, I usually make breakfast and dinner, and then tend to go out for lunch as I am usually out for the day and lunch specials are cheaper.
Islands
Santa Cruz - This is the island most people start off from and it is the best place to book the first few days of travel. Santa Cruz does have a lot of free or cheap entertainment options that you can explore before you decide to commit to either a tour or travelling to another island. Some free or very cheap activities on Santa Cruz are visiting the Charles Darwin centre where you will see giant tortoises and a variety of iguanas (free), catch a ferry out to las grietas which is a nice swimming spot (80c either way on a water taxi), walk or catch a water taxi (at 8am and 2pm) to tortuga bay where you will be able to swim with marine iguanas.
San Cristobal - Most people spend two days one night here, one day visiting the island and the other visiting Kicker Rock.
Isabel - The largest island also has the most to offer for free or very reasonably priced. I did a boat tour to the lava tunnels called the tunneles and it was incredible. The location is unlike anything I have ever seen before and the snorkeling was amazing. We saw huge turtles, seahorses, penguins, golden rays, spotted eagle rays and sharks. On Isabela you can also do a free walk through a lagoon to see flamingos and eventually end up at the giant tortoise sanctuary. You can do a hike or a bike trip to one of the volcanoes on the island, but I didn't do this as it was too hot for me to hike. There is lots of snorkeling right of the beach where you will be also surrounded by hundreds of marine iguanas.
You can only get to the islands from Santa Cruz via ferry at a cost of $30 each way. Therefore it would be worth it to fly in to San Cristobal, stay there a couple of days, then take the ferry to Santa Cruz and spent some time there before going to Isabela and eventually returning via ferry back to Santa Cruz. Most of the day trips to other smaller islands leave from Santa Cruz.
General advice:
Ensure you bring you bring plenty of sunblock from the mainland as its quite expensive on the island and you will need a lot of it, the sun is very strong so ensure you apply it often. The ferry rides between the islands can be pretty rough so ensure you take some sea sickness tablets if you are prone to getting sea sick. The tour operator we booked through was good but I would recommend only booking a few items at a time, instead of booking everything all at once. This way you have a lot more power to change your mind about what you want to do. On all of the islands you can organise tours so it is not necessary to organise everything in advance.
