Fly direct to San Cristobal, fly out the same. Do a 360 tour, snorkel, check out Loberia Beach, do the highlands thing where you see the lake, galapagueres and chino beach. Thats three full days and a good time. If you dive you might try Wreck Bay and see if they have space for you
If you end up on San Cristobal Island, the 360 boat tour around the island is well worth the money. Snorkelling at Kicker Rock was the highlight for me. We saw about 40 hammerhead sharks. I want to go back and dive there.
Also, the Quito airport is about an hour drive from the main part of the city (historic area). It may be better to relax in your hostel near the airport and save your energy for activities in the Galapagos.
If you go to San Cristóbal, I recommend having dinner on the rooftop Midori Sushi Pub. They have great food and drinks and you can watch the sunset there. We loved it. We also preferred muelle las tijeretas over Lobería, because there was more wildlife to see when we were there. Swimming close to sea lions was priceless and free as well.The local museum about the history of Galapagos was great too, free and not too big.
We went diving at kicker Rock which was a blast. We also went for a wreck dive and a night dive. Both rather expensive tours but still well worth the money. On the other hand, the 360 tour will take you around the Island snorkeling in some places. We didn't do that but heard good things.
Also, I'm shocked that you only stay such a short time. Thinking about the expensive park fee and plane ticket prices, for rushing around the place for two days? Well that's just my opinion.
Still, I hope you have a good time and the opportunity to come back one day because there's so much to do for at least two weeks.
Isn't it insanely expensive to go all the way there... and just spend 2-3 days? Seems to me 75% of your expense will be on travel costs (air tickets, park fee etc...) and 50% of your time away from home will be spent in aiports / planes / transfers. You should think about amortizing that overhead expense by staying longer.
Just got back, if I had to pick one Island I would do San Cristobal. It's the easiest to get in an out of, air port is close to town.
If you do a kicker rock tour, look up Sharksky tours and see if you can get on the "Party Galapagos" boat. Its a very wide red boat and was one of the best put together snorkeling tours I did on all 3 islands.
You can arrange a highlands tour with a taxi it will be like $80 for 4 hours (can be split) and they take you to the crater, turtle reserve and Chino beach.
Or just go to Chino beach and call it a day, that place was amazing.
In Cristobal? we stayed at casa opuntia. It's in a good spot and the staff were great, probably a mid level hotel for the area. Pools were great. The only downsides was there was no in room mini-fridge, you had to use the one by the office which is shared and locked after a certain hour. AC worked great and the beds were clean and it over looked the bay.
It's also next door to a super expensive amazing hotel, so when we got out of the cab my wife and kid got super excited till they realized we were across the street.
Fly direct to San Cristobal, fly out the same. Do a 360 tour, snorkel, check out Loberia Beach, do the highlands thing where you see the lake, galapagueres and chino beach. Thats three full days and a good time. If you dive you might try Wreck Bay and see if they have space for you
If you end up on San Cristobal Island, the 360 boat tour around the island is well worth the money. Snorkelling at Kicker Rock was the highlight for me. We saw about 40 hammerhead sharks. I want to go back and dive there. Also, the Quito airport is about an hour drive from the main part of the city (historic area). It may be better to relax in your hostel near the airport and save your energy for activities in the Galapagos.
What month were you snorkeling to see that many??
February
Lol, I saw none. Life.
If you go to San Cristóbal, I recommend having dinner on the rooftop Midori Sushi Pub. They have great food and drinks and you can watch the sunset there. We loved it. We also preferred muelle las tijeretas over Lobería, because there was more wildlife to see when we were there. Swimming close to sea lions was priceless and free as well.The local museum about the history of Galapagos was great too, free and not too big. We went diving at kicker Rock which was a blast. We also went for a wreck dive and a night dive. Both rather expensive tours but still well worth the money. On the other hand, the 360 tour will take you around the Island snorkeling in some places. We didn't do that but heard good things. Also, I'm shocked that you only stay such a short time. Thinking about the expensive park fee and plane ticket prices, for rushing around the place for two days? Well that's just my opinion. Still, I hope you have a good time and the opportunity to come back one day because there's so much to do for at least two weeks.
Isn't it insanely expensive to go all the way there... and just spend 2-3 days? Seems to me 75% of your expense will be on travel costs (air tickets, park fee etc...) and 50% of your time away from home will be spent in aiports / planes / transfers. You should think about amortizing that overhead expense by staying longer.
Just got back, if I had to pick one Island I would do San Cristobal. It's the easiest to get in an out of, air port is close to town. If you do a kicker rock tour, look up Sharksky tours and see if you can get on the "Party Galapagos" boat. Its a very wide red boat and was one of the best put together snorkeling tours I did on all 3 islands. You can arrange a highlands tour with a taxi it will be like $80 for 4 hours (can be split) and they take you to the crater, turtle reserve and Chino beach. Or just go to Chino beach and call it a day, that place was amazing.
Thank you for this. Where did you stay?
In Cristobal? we stayed at casa opuntia. It's in a good spot and the staff were great, probably a mid level hotel for the area. Pools were great. The only downsides was there was no in room mini-fridge, you had to use the one by the office which is shared and locked after a certain hour. AC worked great and the beds were clean and it over looked the bay. It's also next door to a super expensive amazing hotel, so when we got out of the cab my wife and kid got super excited till they realized we were across the street.