Can you visit Galapagos on the cheap?

A resounding hell yeah! 

We were unsure about visiting Galapagos at first due to the prohibitive-looking costs involved. However after a lot of research we found that it’s way cheaper to DIY-it on Galapagos instead of joining a tour or casting away on eye-wateringly expensive cruises. People often asked us ‘isn’t it a hassle organising everything yourself?’ and I would say, yes it can definitely be stressful at times and annoying having to find the correct transport, accommodation and figure out how to do the activities that we wanted to do on the island. But really this is no different from the travel that we do anywhere else, and we saved hundreds of dollars in the process. So it’s up to you. I’ve previously joined guided tours in Egypt and found there to be many positives about having the trip organised by someone else, however it’s all about what type of trip you want and what your budget is. We spent around $500 each plus $400 on flights for 6 days in Galapagos. A large chunk of this went on the $100 dollars entry tax to the islands, and a day trip that we booked on Isabela island. Apart from that it was possible to mainly do things on the cheap and we didn’t feel like we missed out on anything at all by doing things this way – if anything, it was more rewarding.

Galapagos has many islands but only three are inhabited. Santa Cruz contains the town of Puerto Ayora which serves as the unofficial capital of the islands, the other inhabited islands are San Cristobal and Isabela. Santa Cruz and San Cristobal both have airports while Isabela can only be accessed via boat from Santa Cruz. We chose to fly to Santa Cruz and stay on both Puerto Ayora and Isabela (at its only settlement, Puerto Villamil), we didn’t visit San Cristobal but didn’t feel like we missed out as most visitors say that it is pretty similar to Santa Cruz.

We flew into Santa Cruz, which I highly recommend as it’s easier to get to the other main inhabited islands by using Santa Cruz and Puerto Ayora as your base. If you fly to San Cristobal, you have to make two boat journeys in order to get to Isabela and stop at Puerto Ayora, whereas if you want to travel to either San Cristobal or Isabela from Puerto Ayora, they’re both only one boat journey away. Isabela island is much more secluded and is quite different to Santa Cruz or San Cristobal.

The desolate landscape of Isabela

Be aware when booking flights to Galapagos that there are subsidised flights for Ecuadorian citizens which are much cheaper than the normal flights, and that if you purchase one of these flights by mistake you may be asked to pay the difference at the airport, this can sometimes be hundreds of dollars (we’ve heard horror stories!). You may think you’ve got a great deal by booking the Ecuadorean price and trying to blag it, but truthfully it isn’t worth the risk and will just end up costing you more money. Thankfully most airlines won’t allow you to book these flights without an Ecuadorean credit card but you don’t want to risk it, make sure you get the correct price by booking flights to Galapagos on the US version of airline websites such as LATAM. We got return flights for around $400 each which is roughly the correct price. All flights to Galapagos go via Guayaquil – if you book a flight from Quito then it will stop at Guayaquil to let more passengers on, don’t be worried about the short layover time as you won’t need to get off the plane.

When flying to Galapagos arrive with plenty of time at the airport, we were pre-warned about this and arrived 3 hours early. Before you even check in you need to queue in a separate queue to put your luggage through a scanner, this checks for foreign materials such as animals or plants which could harm the delicate ecosystem on the Galapagos islands. Once your bags have been checked, they’re sealed with tape so you can’t tamper with the seal or put anything else in your bag. You then need to queue again (thankfully being British I am used to this) to check-in your bags. 

You need to bring cash in dollars for the $100 dollar entrance fee to the Galapagos, after landing on the islands you’ll immediately be asked to pay… Have the cash handy! 

IF YOU ARRIVE ON SANTA CRUZ: The airport at Santa Cruz is actually on a small island just off the mainland. Unless your tour company has arranged to pick you up from the airport, you’ll need to jump on a quick shuttle bus and then take a ferry across to the mainland of Santa Cruz. You can buy your shuttle bus ticket at the kiosk just outside the airport and you will then need to buy a separate ticket for the ferry at the small port. Once across and on the mainland, you then have the option of either jumping into a private taxi truck which will drop you off at your hotel/hostel, or getting the public bus to Puerto Ayora. We opted for the bus as this was cheaper at the time however if there are 4 of you heading to the same hotel it may be cheaper to share a private transfer. 

We made the executive decision to only travel to Isabela rather than visiting San Cristobal as well. This was partly due to time and financial considerations and also as we were advised by other travellers that both Santa Cruz and San Cristobal are fairly similar in terms of the wildlife you can encounter.

If you’re on a budget like us, do not be coerced or made to feel like you’d be missing out by not booking a super expensive day trip to another island. We didn’t go on any of these $200 per person day trips and we didn’t feel like we missed out. There is plenty to explore on land and/or just by hiring snorkelling equipment or a kayak. Unless you are desperate to see one specific type of seabird that only lives on one of the more remote islands then you won’t lose anything by not going on one of these trips. 

Kiosk street (Charles Binford Street) is the place to go for cheap almuerzo deals in Puerto Ayora. Almuerzo deals, elsewhere in Ecuador, are usually only offered at lunchtime however Kiosk street is the exception as they offer these deals all day. They usually offer a starter, main and drink for $5, an example menu is fish soup, fish with rice and juice. Sometimes they even include a dessert! We tried three different establishments on Kiosk street and started comparing each restaurant’s fish soup! By the end of your trip to the Galapagos you’ll be sick of fish and fish soup but it is by far the cheapest thing to eat here for obvious reasons. We also tried Laguna Beach and Cesar’s in Puerto Villamil (both offered good almuerzo deals too).

Get ready for plenty of fish soup on the Galapagos!

There is affordable accommodation out there on the Galapagos Islands; make sure you check Booking.com, Hostelworld and Airbnb to compare prices. We managed to find a room in Puerto Ayora for about £30 per night on Airbnb.

There is WIFI available in most hotels and hostels, don’t get freaked out by other blogs that may say different. Our Airbnb, which cost about £30, per night had WIFI.

There is an ATM without fees in Puerto Ayora, next to the Proinsular supermarket near the ferry dock. Previous research online led me to believe that I needed to bring all the cash with me for the entire trip and this wasn’t correct. There are three cash machines next to the supermarket and the supermarket also takes card payments.

You don’t need to drag 2kg of pasta and rice with you here. Most blogs advocate for bringing your own food from the mainland however basic non-perishable produce like bread, eggs, pasta, rice etc is available in Puerto Ayora at the Proinsular supermarket and is not that expensive. We met a backpacker who’d lugged absolutely all her food from mainland Ecuador and even she admitted that most of the items she had brought with her were the same price or only slightly higher in the supermarket in Santa Cruz. Some items, however, are more expensive on Galapagos, such as cheese which cost over $10! And obviously if you want more luxury items such as turmeric, it’s best to bring your own.

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