Exploring the Galapagos: Activities & Best Islands

How to explore the islands

The Galapagos offers a rare combination of wildlife encounters, outdoor adventure, and natural beauty unlike anywhere else on Earth. Here are the ways you can experience it.

The 2 main ways to visit the islands are:

Live aboard cruise
Island hopping

Live Aboard

A liveaboard cruise is widely considered the most immersive way to experience the Galapagos. By sleeping on the boat and moving between sites overnight, passengers access remote islands and uninhabited anchorages that land-based day tours simply cannot reach — resulting in more varied wildlife encounters and less-crowded sites.

Liveaboards range from 4 to 14 days and can cost anywhere between $1,500 and $20,000+ per person depending on vessel class and itinerary. Most itineraries are either expedition-focused (land excursions guided by certified naturalists) or dive-focused. Note that permits for each type are separate: excursion liveaboards are generally not authorized for diving, and dive liveaboards do not carry permits for land-based excursions.

Islands Hopping

Island hopping will revolve around moving between the 4 inhabited islands and doing daily tours from there.

Some agencies allow you to pre book tours before you travel. It is recommended to do this just through agencies approved by the ministry of tourism. It is also common to book tours once you are there in person, this would get you better prices but at the risk of not finding availability.

In the future I intend to provide a price range for each tour, but I currently don’t have the information to that granularity.

Santa Cruz/Puerto Ayora

Activities you can do easily from town:

Charles Darwin Research Station: Half a day. Requires a naturalist guide.
Highlands tour to see Giant Tortoises: Half a day. You can book a tour from town or hire your own taxi and do it on your own, you can find naturalist guides in the ranches where you will see the tortoises.
Tortuga Bay: Half a day. You can go there for free, it’s one of the most beautiful beaches you will see. You can swim, snorkel and kayak there.
Bay Tour: Half a day. If you buy the tour it will include the naturalist guide. You will go around the bay looking at the wildlife, swim and go to Las Grietas.
Las Grietas: Half a day. You can do Las Grietas on it’s own, without doing the whole Bay Tour (above). You will need a guide once you get there, but you will find them there. You can stop by Playa de los Alemanes on the way.

Day tours available from the island:

These tours usually start at 07:00-08:00 and finish ~16:00-17:00, so assume them as whole day activities. Prices range around $150 - $350 per person depending on the tour:

North Seymour Island: One of the most visited day-tour destinations. Home to a large frigatebird nesting colony, blue-footed boobies, and Galapagos sea lions.
Santa Fe Island: Features land iguanas endemic to Santa Fe, a turquoise bay, and a large sea lion beach - excellent for snorkeling.
Bartolomé Island: Famous for its iconic Pinnacle Rock views and lunar volcanic landscape. A small Galapagos penguin colony nests at the base of Pinnacle Rock.
Pinzón Island: A snorkeling-focused tour with no land visits, known for excellent encounters with sea turtles and white-tipped reef sharks.
South Plaza Island: A small island with a large sea lion colony, land iguanas, swallow-tailed gulls, and dramatic cliff scenery above the open ocean.

Diving tours available from the island:

Diving tours can range anywhere between $200 - $400 per person depending on the destination and diving company.

Gordon Rock: An advanced-level dive and one of the best in the archipelago. Expect schooling hammerhead sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, and large pelagic fish.
Seymour and Mosquera: A calmer alternative suitable for all levels, with common sightings including whitetip reef sharks, eagle rays, large schools of fish and hammerhead sharks if you get lucky.
Daphne: A restricted-permit site that sees very few divers. Known for tuna, hammerhead sharks, and strong currents.
Floreana: Offers encounters with reef sharks, sea turtles, and endemic black coral - often combined with a surface visit to Post Office Bay.

San Cristobal/Puerto Baquerizo Moreno

Activities you can do easily from town:

Playa Mann: The main town beach, a short walk from the center. Sea lions are a permanent fixture on the sand and in the water.
Las Tijeretas: A scenic hill - also known as Frigatebird Hill - overlooking the ocean, with a sheltered cove below that is one of the best snorkeling spots near town.
Puerto Chino: A more remote beach on the far side of the island, accessible by car only. A nesting site for sea turtles and a good spot for solitude.
La Lobería: A rocky shoreline sea lion colony just outside of town, also frequented by marine iguanas and sea turtles.

Day tours available from the island:

Kicker Rock: The most iconic day tour from San Cristóbal. A dramatic eroded volcanic formation rising from the sea, surrounded by sharks and sea lions.
One of the best snorkeling sites in the archipelago.
Punta Pitt: The only site in the entire archipelago where all three booby species, blue-footed, red-footed, and Nazca, can be seen together.
360 Tour: A full circumnavigation of San Cristóbal by boat, taking in multiple coastline highlights and wildlife sites in a single day.
Espanola Island: Home to the world’s largest waved albatross nesting colony (present April–December), blue-footed boobies, and a famous blowhole at Punta Suarez.

Diving tours available from the island:

Kicker Rock: The underwater version of the iconic landmark - hammerhead sharks, eagle rays, Galapagos sharks, and sea lions make this one of the most dramatic dive sites in the islands.

Isabela/Puerto Villamil

Activities you can do easily from town:

Concha Perla: A free snorkeling spot accessible from the main dock, just minutes from Puerto Villamil. Galapagos penguins and sea lions are regularly seen in the water.
Wall of Tears: A historic stone wall built by forced labor during the island’s 1940s–50s penal colony. You can walk or cycle here, passing several scenic viewpoints.
Bay Tour: A boat tour of Isabela’s inner bay, taking in marine iguanas, sea lions, white tip reef sharks and penguins.

Day tours available from the island:

Los Tuneles: Spectacular lava arch and tunnel formations accessible only by boat. Known for seahorses, white-tipped reef sharks, penguins, and sea turtles.
Sierra Negra Volcano: One of the world’s largest active volcanic calderas, approximately 10 km wide. The hike is around 16 km round-trip and offers dramatic views of the caldera and adjacent Chico volcano.

Diving tours available from the island:

Dont have current information on this

Floreana/Puerto Velasco Ibarra

Floreana is the least visited of the inhabited islands and is typically reached on a day tour from Santa Cruz. Its small size belies the variety of experiences it offers.

Punta Cormorant: A landing site with a flamingo lagoon and a distinctive green-sand beach where sea turtles nest between November and February.
Devil’s Crown: A partially submerged volcanic crater forming a natural ring of reef. Excellent snorkeling with a high density of reef fish and Galapagos sharks.
Post Office Bay: Home to an 18th-century wooden barrel used as a makeshift post office by passing whalers. The tradition of leaving and hand-delivering letters to their destinations continues to this day.