Galapagos Luxury Cruises & Tours

There are three things to consider when choosing your ideal month to visit the Galapagos Islands: Weather, crowds and the wildlife.

Weather
As opposed to many wildlife sanctuaries around the world that are found at the extremes of our planet, the Galapagos Islands are conveniently located right at the center of our globe, on the equator. Areas near or at the equator receive high amounts of sunlight due to the inclination of the earth. Because more amount of sunlight is received in these areas, there are only two seasons in this part of the world as a result, and the Galapagos Islands enjoy very stable air and water temperatures year-round. This makes them a great year-round destination for travelers from all over the globe and there really is no “better” or “worse” time to travel to the Islands as it refers to the weather. In all our years offering Galapagos luxury cruises, we have never had a Guest return home saying they wished they would have visited the Islands during a different month than the one they did. You can visit our Galapagos climate and weather page for a detailed table on air and water temperatures for every month of the year.

Crowds
The high season for tourism tends to be from mid-December to January and from June to August, which coincides with the general holidays and vacation months of the Northern Hemisphere. If you are planning your Galapagos cruise during the "popular" holiday months, we recommend you book your trip at least 6 months prior to your desired travel date and when possible, even sooner. If you are looking to travel during Christmas or New Year’s weeks, you will want to book at least a year in advance, if not two. For those who are flexible with their travel schedules, we highly recommend traveling during the months of January, February, September and October. These months fall right after the “popular” holiday months, meaning you will see less visitors around the National Park but still enjoy amazing weather and spectacular wildlife encounters.

Wildlife
Regarding the wildlife of the Galapagos, there is also no “better” or “worse” time to go to see the animals that are considered “the main attraction” of the Islands. Because almost all of the animal species you will see on the Islands arrived because they floated there on logs or beds of plants, or they were blown in, they made the islands their permanent home and they do not migrate. This means that iconic ‘must-see’ species like the Galapagos penguin, flightless cormorant, marine iguana, land iguana, blue footed booby, Galapagos hawk, fur sea lion, California sea lion and many others spend the entire year in the Galapagos and can be seen regardless of the time of year you go. A few species in the Galapagos are migratory, meaning that they are not present in the Islands year-round. These include whales, the waved albatross and some petrels and tattlers. To see these species we recommend you travel between the months of August – October. You can continue reading our page on ‘when to visit Galapagos’ for a detailed month by month weather and wildlife breakdown.

From the time the Galapagos was declared a National Park in the late 50’s and all the way to around 2010, all ships in the Galapagos Islands were run by local Ecuadorian companies (although some operated through international cruise brands). In case you didn’t know, the Galapagos Islands belong to the country of Ecuador. However, around 2010, larger international cruise lines started to gain interest in the Galapagos and companies in the likes of Celebrity, Silversea, Disney and Hurtigruten have now started offering cruises in the archipelago. All these major cruise lines operate 100 passenger ships, which is the largest ship size permitted in the Galapagos National Park and the Galapagos Marine Reserve. For those of you who have cruised with the major cruise lines before, 100 passengers may sound like a very small number and it may seem like an intimate experience but, in Galapagos, these ships are the equivalent of the 1,000 passenger ships in other popular cruising destinations. To get the best experience in the Galapagos, we highly recommend choosing yachts with 36 passengers or less.

We often get asked what the cost of a Galapagos Islands cruise is and the answer depends on the type of accommodations and experience that you are looking for. Getting to Ecuador Regarding flights, there are no direct international flights to the Galapagos Islands. Anyone visiting the archipelago must first fly into the cities of Quito or Guayaquil in mainland Ecuador, and then connect to the Galapagos. Many major airlines offer international flights to Quito and Guayaquil, including Copa Airlines, Aeromexico, American Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Jet Blue, Avianca, Latam and Iberia. Please check with each airline for the best possible flights to Ecuador, but you can expect to pay anywhere from $400 to up to $800 if flying to Ecuador from the US, and between $900 and $1500 if flying from Europe. In addition to the international flights you also have to book domestic flights to the Galapagos from either Quito or Guayaquil. Depending on where you are flying from (Guayaquil or Quito), flight prices range from $470 to about $530 for adults and $360 - $400 for children. Please note flight prices are constantly changing so it is best to always check with airlines like Latam and Avianca that currently have daily flights out to the islands. Children under 12 normally get an important discount on domestic air. You also need to pay a mandatory transit card (used to track visitors and make sure they don’t stay more than 3 months in the islands) and it costs $20 per person. Spending a Few Days in the Mainland before flying to Galapagos For anyone interested in cruising the Galapagos, it is strongly recommended to add a minimum of 2 nights in Mainland Ecuador on the front end of your trip to accommodate for flight delays, cancellations or baggage issues. How much you spend in your travels on the mainland will depend on the type of hotel you stay at and if you choose to do any tours while in Ecuador. But it’s always best to consider at least a couple of days in Mainland Ecuador as part of your overall Galapagos trip budget. Entering the Galapagos National Park Once in Galapagos, non-Ecuadorians must pay a Park fee of $100 for adults and $50 for children under 12. There are discounts available for Ecuadorians and for some Andean countries that are members of Pacto Andino. Galapagos Cruise Prices Galapagos is considered an expensive cruising destination, regardless of the type of traveler you are. As a general rule of thumb however, you can use the guidelines below to book the best Galapagos cruise to fit your budget. Galapagos cruise offers are available from time to time.

• Budget Cruises: In terms of accommodations, these cruises are the equivalent of 1 and 2 star hotels, and can cost anywhere between $250 - $430 dollars per person, per day. This normally includes accommodations, meals, excursions and all non-alcoholic beverages. A week long budget cruise can cost anywhere between $1800 to about $3,000 per person.
• Tourist Superior Cruises: Cruises in this category are the equivalent of a 3 star hotel and start at around $450 per person, per day and go up to about $600. A weeklong tourist superior cruise can cost between $3,100 and $4,200 per person.
• First Class Cruises: First class cruises are the equivalent of a 4 star hotel and they cost between $610 to about $780 per person, per day. A weeklong tourist superior cruise can cost between $4,300 and $5,500 per person.
• Luxury Cruises: These cruises are the equivalent of a 5 star hotel in terms of accommodations and service. Luxury cruises in Galapagos start at around $800 per person for the day, and go up all the way to around $1,700 per person for the day, depending on the suite category you choose. A week long luxury cruise can cost between $6,000 to around $12,000 dollars per person.

There are two different ways to visit the Galapagos Islands: On a liveaboard cruise that navigates around the archipelago, or by staying at a hotel on one of the Port Towns and taking day tours from there. The choice between staying in a hotel and visiting the Galapagos aboard a yacht is an easy decision once you understand how the Galapagos National Park is set up. 97% of the Galapagos Archipelago is a National Park and is off limits to human establishments. Only 3% of the archipelago are human-inhabited areas, where hotels can be built. The only way to access the great majority of the visitor sites around the islands is on a live aboard vessel that takes you on a cruise throughout the entire archipelago. Hotels are found in the population centers which are the only places not within the Park. From here you can only access visitor sites that are nearby, when the best ones are far away (due to the lesser presence of humans throughout history). There are over 40 National Park landing sites throughout the islands where travelers are permitted to go ashore or go snorkeling to see animals up close in their natural habitat. Over 70% of these are not accessible when staying in a Hotel. Only a handful of landing sites are accessible from the hotels and this is mostly by day boat. All the hotels compete for spaces on the day boats. If you are lucky enough to get a day boat, you start your day by having to take a power boat ride to the landing site. These can be 2 hour rides each way. Not that pleasant and really a waste of a good part of your day. In contrast, the permitted live aboard yachts arrive at your first landing site before you wake up and you will have the opportunity to go ashore and visit two different sites for up to 2 1⁄2 hours each, along with snorkeling, kayaking and panga/zodiac rides. The crossings between Islands take place at night when you are asleep. You wake up refreshed with the next visitor site right out your doorstep. On our cruises this means that you get to see both the inner and outer islands and the full spectrum of what the Galapagos has to offer, including many island landing sites off limits to the day boats. You spend the day ashore or in calm waters.

Unlike many Island cruising destinations like the Galapagos, cruises in this part of the world do not depart from the mainland and then sail to the Islands. The Galapagos are located 600 miles (1000 km) from the mainland, meaning it takes around 2 to 3 days to get there from the mainland. This distance makes sailing from the mainland unviable for a cruise, which means all Galapagos cruises depart directly from the Galapagos Islands. You must first take a domestic flight to the Galapagos from mainland Ecuador before boarding your ship. If your ship departs from Baltra Island and Puerto Ayora, you must fly to either Baltra Airport (code GPS) or to San Cristobal Airport (code SCY).

To answer this question, you must first understand how the Galapagos park handles cruise itineraries. Before 2012 Galapagos tour vessels all visited the same sites week in and week out. This led to environmental impact, with multiple boats visiting the same sites at the same time. Thankfully the Galapagos National Park came up with the idea of requiring all ships to wait 2 weeks before returning to the same site. This not only reduced environmental impact and dispersed boats evenly throughout the Islands, it reduced the amount of crossovers and passengers at each site. Today all permitted Galapagos vessels navigate a two week voyage through the islands, which they divide up into different length itineraries that are 3, 4, 5, 8 and up to 15 days. This leads to the question: How many days should you plan for your Galapagos itinerary? If you have the time and wherewithal, you can stay on the same yacht for the full two weeks and see almost all there is to see in both land and sea. Most travelers can’t do that though, so here are the alternatives. At the other end of the spectrum the chief mistake traveler’s should avoid is not allowing enough time to experience the islands. It’s a long way and a fair expense just to get there. Much of the first and last days of any itinerary are spent traveling between the mainland and Galapagos and once you arrive you’ll want to make sure you can get into the Park where all the animal action is. As an example, we refer to a 3-day Galapagos trip as ‘the airport tour’. The reason to visit Galapagos isn’t airports or even port towns, it’s to encounter all those amazing animals inside the National Park. If you don’t leave enough time, just when you are beginning to relax and realize the wonderful wildlife experiences the islands have in store for you…you will have to leave! Our 36 + years of cruising in the Enchanted Islands have shown us that an 8-day safari style yacht experience is ideal and gets great reviews. It provides plenty of opportunities for peak animal encounters and relaxation. For more information on this and related subjects read our blog: Mistakes to Avoid When Planning Your Galapagos Islands Cruise.