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admin · Site Admin Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 24

Booking a trip:
If you book from abroad or through the internet you will pay 2 to 3 times more than what you would pay on the islands. Booking from Quito you will still pay about 20% to 50% more. If you can spare a few days, depending on the season, and aren’t after a particular boat, fly independently to the islands and then shop around in Puerto Ayora; (this advice does not apply to groups larger than 2 people who want to travel together). NB Drinks other than water/tea/coffee are never included in the price, nor is diving.

Naturalist guides are listed as level-I (average fluency in English), level-II (fluent in English & Spanish) and level-III (fluent in more languages). The levels are only for the number of languages they speak, and do not indicate knowledge.

On arrival to the islands:
1 – You’ll need to pay US$100 park entrance fee when you disembark in Baltra airport. Watch for tour guides that will be there to pick up passengers who booked from Quito/abroad; ask the guides if they have space available for you. They will check with their colleagues too.
2 - Go to town: everyone takes the free bus and then the boat to Santa Cruz (5 minutes, US$0.70), then another bus to Puerto Ayora (45 minutes, US$1.80).
3 - The captains or the tour guides will be either around the pier in Puerto Ayora or on their boats. Boats usually leave after 7 p.m.
4 – Once paid, you will get a detailed receipt of your itinerary saying what’s included in your cruise (i.e. meals etc) and which islands the boat visits each day.
6 – If you have no luck with all the above, you can still easily go to one of the travel agents in Puerto Ayora which will also be cheaper than travel agents in Quito.

Louietraveller · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 9 Location: London UK

It's best to bring cash to the Galapagos - some tours / boats do take credit card (visa & mastercard) but none take AMEX. And bnring a good supply of batteries, film or memory card as you probably won't be able to get what you want there.