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Want to fit a Galapagos trip into our itinerary but prices seem prohibitive - what's the most cost effective way of seein the Galapagos Islands???

Galapagos will cost you regardless. And you really are getting what you paid for. I would recommend GAP tours as your cheapest option. Also the most diverse in age. If you go for the more expensive tours you will have families and people that are retired. Remember you be spending quite a few days with the people you're on the boat with. In addition, GAP doesn't charge extra if you're just going as an individual traveller. It should run you about 2500 USD, that for the tour, tips and local payment. This doesn't include your flight to Quito. Which I would definitely spend a few days in. Use something like kayak or odopodo to get a better gauge on how the flights cost to ecuador. From what I heard there are several flights connecting from madrid to south america.

A cheaper option is to see the Poor Man's Galapagos (Isla de Plata) near Puerto Lopez. Trips are short jaunts, and I have heard that while it's not the Galapagos, it's nonetheless beautiful and affordable.

I found the "Cheap mans Galapogas" to be a complete waste of time - pretty pointless.

If you're on a really tight budget, in reality your only option is to go to Quito and book a last minute cruise - they're never that cheap though.

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Galapogas Islands Cruises Guide

I toured for a week in the Galapagos for $1,100.00 US$. That included my flight, park tax, food, hotels, day tours, and everything else.

UrbanBlitz---you are nuts for mentioning GAP as the cheapest option.

I booked day tours with travel agencies on various islands in the Galapagos. I did everything the cruises did and saw everything they did.

I went snorkeling with the sea lions and turtles, saw all of the birds, iguanas, dolphins, etc. I also had fresh seafood for every meal. I swam through the lava tunnels. I took ferries to the different islands (Isabela, Floreana, etc.) and went horseback riding up to the volcano.

All for $1100

I'm in Quito now, and prices here are already $1000 cheaper than the states.

That being said, yes, it's still very expensive. It will cost you $500 just to set foot on the island ($400 plane tix and $100 park fee).

I'm debating if we should just fly there and try to find something as the prices keep dropping the closer we get. If you have time on your side (flexible), you should be able to find a decent deal.

quote:

Originally posted by dustingduvet:

I booked day tours with travel agencies on various islands in the Galapagos. I did everything the cruises did and saw everything they did.
All for $1100

Is this something that a person can reasonably expect to do on a shorter trip? ie, not on an extended, time-is-not-of-the-essence trip? We're hoping to do this next year, and booking local would definitely be the preference, if we know it's not like we'll show up, then have to wait 3 days for something to become available. We'll (probably) only have 2-3 weeks, so if it's too risky to try and book upon arrival, then we might just have to book something in advance....
I hadn't considered the day tripping option - someone had mentioned to me about booking a cruise for much cheaper on the island, but made no mention of the option of day trips. Care to go into more detail about this?

Also, anyone know anything about camping in the Galapagos? I thought I heard that it's possible to camp on one or more of the islands, would like to know more.

Yes, you can definitely expect to be able to do this. Book your flight with a travel agency, show up to the islands, and book a day tour a day in advance while on the islands (even the day of in many cases). There are many agencies on Santa Cruz Island and you will be able to choose from a variety of tours everyday. You should not be worried about waiting 2-3 days for a tour to open up because that will not happen. The same goes for hotels. You can definitely find accommodations to stay at without making reservations.

And there is no seasonal restriction to this? the same holds true at any time of year? (is the Christmas season busier than say, January?)

and by booking the flight through an agent, do you mean just the flight to the island? I'm assuming this is the easiest way to do it?

I went during the high season (busiest time) which lasts from june-september and november-april. Going solo, i had no problem booking day tours. You will start to have trouble if you are in a group of 3 or more. The agencies were always happy to add to me to their tours as they always had room for one more, or at least they always made room for one more to earn that extra buck.

I'm not exactly sure how you would book the flight in advance from the UK/US. I booked mine at the TAME office in Quito with the help of my friend who got me a special deal. Try calling TAME asap to see if you can purchase your tickets over the phone. You should also call some travel agencies in Quito and try to get them to book your flight as another option. I booked mine 2 weeks in advance. I wish I could be of more help with this question. If you need the names and phone #'s of some agencies, let me know.

we've looked at a couple of different tour operators, and while they make the trip look fantastic, nice boats and the works, minimum $2500 for a week-10 days, is not in the budget. we're hoping to spend that much for 3 weeks in Ecuador/Galapagos, TOTAL. (per person, of course).

how much in advance would you have to book the flight to the islands from Quito? on the Amazing Race, they almost always seem able to just pull up to an agency wherever they happen to be, and get a flight within 24 hours - is this realistic, or is it a matter of being possible, at a stupid premium? ie, prohibitive to average folk.

and what are the day tour boats like? are they nice, or basic ferry-type boats? do they tend to be very crowded?

I'm torn between the seemingly cheaper day tour option, and the nice-cozy-boat week-long tour option.

anyone know what prices are like for booking a week long tour directly from Santa Cruz?

dustingduvet - GAP was the cheapest option when I was looking US agencies and Ecuadorian travel agencies. What put it over the top was the flights from Quito to Galapagos. It was only 300 via GAP.

And the tour is really dependent on the guide. If you have a crappy guide, you sort of got what you paid for. I read many reviews, and GAP always came highly recommended. It was an 8 day tour, that also covered another 2 day additional stay in Quito.

TheWanderer,

If you have seen prices for $2500 PP P/WK you will easily find options for half of that in Quito or on the islands themselves. The prices for airfare are fixed as far as I can tell from researching here (although some other members on the boards here may have and inside scoop?) Flights are a bit cheaper from GQ.

We got a really great deal on a first class boat from CarpeDM Adventures inside the Secret Garden hostel in Quito. There are agencies every 10ft in the Mariscal area of quito and CarpeDM beat them all--no pushy sales either.

Maybe consider the option of a 4-5 day cruise combined with some island hopping on your own. We did this and realized how spoiled we were on the live-aboard. The water taxis between the islands are just overpriced/overcrowded (like everything on the islands) motorboats.

Yes, you can see some good stuff on your own... but the live-aboards are way better if you can swing it.

The only thing that sucks about the Galapagos is the cost--but it is still worth every penny you don't have.

Check out our pics if you're interested: www.wanderingwhy.com

Have fun out there!

I'm just worried about being able to go where we want to with little time to spare. Since this is a 3 week trip, I think I'm really kind of nervous about just showing up and finding out there's no vacancies...that would be no good at all. Boats, there's lots of, but flights feel like a risk.

Flight rates are fixed so don't worry about overspending. If you know the dates you want go ahead and lock it in.

Airlines are Tame and Aerogal. $400 from Quito and a bit cheaper from Guayaquil.

$100 cash paid on arrival for park entry fee.

Have fun!

We were there in August (high season) and people were still able to get onto the longer boat trips. We opted for the land based option as we wanted to get some diving in too. We were able to get onto tours/dive trips the night before - it just took a bit of wandering round the tour operators in puerto ayora.

Getting the flights proved more of a problem than getting tours once on the islands. We booked online with TAME, but finding availability was difficult.

We spent five days in puerto ayora & four nights on Isabella & enjoyed it but, if I dare admit it, it wasn't as amazing as we were expecting it to be.

DustingDuvet or anyone else who has been to Galapagos!

Can you suggest the "must do" day trips. I will be on San Cristobal Island in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno for five days next week and plan to book everything locally the day of or day before.

Can anyone suggest the best dives and excusrions?

Thank you!

Beija Flor

You mentioned snorkeling in Galapagos. Was this with a group on a day tour? We want to snorkel and kayak, but we hear that there are some fierce currents and we want to make sure we're in a safe place. So, even though we want to be on our own, as you were, there are some things we don't want to do entirely on our own. Your advice? Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by dustingduvet:
Yes, you can definitely expect to be able to do this. Book your flight with a travel agency, show up to the islands, and book a day tour a day in advance while on the islands (even the day of in many cases). There are many agencies on Santa Cruz Island and you will be able to choose from a variety of tours everyday. You should not be worried about waiting 2-3 days for a tour to open up because that will not happen. The same goes for hotels. You can definitely find accommodations to stay at without making reservations.