Galapagos Islands: Family Adventure 2025 & 2026

Welcome to Ecuador! Upon your arrival you will be met at Quito International Airport and will be transferred to your downtown hotel.

The day is at leisure as people will arrive at different times, but we will all meet in the evening.

Overnight in Quito

We will visit downtown Quito to relish in this urban jewel and its treasures of art and architecture. Quito’s colonial quarter, the largest and best preserved of South America, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We will stroll at the Independence Plaza, flanked by the Cathedral, the Presidential Palace, the Municipal Building and the Archbishop's Palace. We will visit also the temple of *La Compañía de Jesús and its awesome gilded interior. We continue on to the Monastery of San Francisco, one the of great religious buildings of the New World; its impressive façade and atrium that lead to its Baroque interior
influenced by Moorish style, with the winged Virgin of Quito at its main altar.

Then we will continue to the Equatorial Monument, 25 Kms. (16 miles) North of Quito, which marks the exact Middle of the World, latitude 0º, where we can stand with a foot on each hemisphere. We will visit the Ethnographic Museum inside the monument, which shows the different Native American groups living in Ecuador. Beside the monument there is a colonial-style town, complete with main square, church, post office, bullring, cafeterias, restaurants and many gift shops with postcards and souvenirs. A certificate for having crossed the Equator will be given at the end of our tour.

Overnight in Quito

Today we will be collected from our hotel and transferred to the airport in time for our flight to the Galapagos Islands.

Baltra Airport and Santa Cruz Island
We land at Baltra Island by plane in the morning and transfer to the nearby dock to board Yacht Isabela II, where we receive a welcome introductory briefing, boat drill, and lunch.

Las Bachas (Santa Cruz Island)
This beautiful visitor site is located on the north shore of Santa Cruz Island, a glorious white beach with a couple of brackish lagoons only a few steps away from the sea. These lagoons are the feeding grounds of various wading birds, from stilts to flamingos. You may enjoy swimming at this beach, too. Back on the ship, we will settle in with a welcome cocktail, a briefing on the next day’s expedition plan, and a delicious dinner

Cerro Brujo (San Cristobal Island)
A dinghy ride along the shores of tuff-stone layers takes us to Cerro Brujo's expansive, white coral beach, great for walking, with rewarding bird-watching featuring seabirds and shore birds. Also, look out for Galapagos sea lions. These are the same shores that Charles Darwin walked upon, back in September 1835. You will love this white-coralline beach.

Cerro Colorado
We disembark at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and drive 40 minutes to the island’s southern shore. At Cerro Colorado, we visit the breeding center for highly endangered giant tortoises in the midst of a fantastic deciduous forest, home to dozens of bird species, including the San Cristobal mockingbird, as well as the endemic San Cristobal lava lizard

Gardner Bay (Española Island)
In the morning, we’ll set foot on this beautiful, white coral beach and go on a short walk to observe the sea lions, mockingbirds, finches or simply enjoy the beach. There is great snorkeling in this area. Kayaking, an inflatable dinghy-ride, or a ride on the glass-bottom boat are also offered.

Punta Suarez (Española Island)
Our afternoon outing at Punta Suarez explores the coastline where we’re bound to spot sealions playing in the waves and marine turtles surfacing. Along the dramatic volcanic cliffs, we can spot the island’s famous red-green-black marine iguanas and, if we are fortunate, waved albatrosses on the water or flying (seen from early April to early January), as well as boobies and swallow-tail gulls. We can take to our kayaks to explore the coastline further. Back on board for dinner.

Cormorant Point (Floreana Island)
We disembark in the morning at the curiously green-tinged, olivine-crystal beach that makes for an easy walk to a brackish water lagoon where bird species like American flamingos can be observed. Crossing over to the other side of the island, we come to a white-sand beach where sea turtles come out at night to nest. At Champion Islet, guests can choose between snorkeling, a panga ride, or a ride in our glass-bottom boat.

Post Office Bay & Baroness Cove (Floreana Island)
After lunch, we land at Post Office Bay to visit the historic barrel that has served as an informal post office in the archipelago for over two centuries. Snorkeling off the beach will be offered afterward.

Punta Moreno (Isabela Island)
In the morning, following a meander through the mangroves in search of sea turtles, we disembark amid a landscape dominated by the giant volcanoes of southern Isabela Island, some still active. The rugged trail loops inland from the coast, giving us plenty of opportunity to enjoy unique lava formations, pioneer lava cactus, and interesting scalesia trees, as well as plenty of wildlife: Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, brown pelicans, herons, sea lions, marine iguanas, and dozens of Sally Lightfoot crabs. The inland lagoons are home to Bahama-pintail ducks, common stilts, Galapagos flamingos, and even Galapagos hawks and mockingbirds. Following our walk, we can take to our glass-bottom boats or deep-water snorkel.

Punta Mangle (Fernandina Island)
Venturing across to Fernandina Island, in the afternoon we board our pangas (inflatable dinghies) to explore the coastline of the archipelago’s youngest ecosystem, a virgin, pristine world of tiny bays, tall mangroves (mangle is Spanish for mangrove) and tranquil coves, home to diminutive Galapagos penguins and green-eyed flightless cormorants preening on the shore’s black rocks. Beneath the waves, rays and sea turtles might glide by. The nutrient-rich waters of the Bolivar Channel, which separates Fernandina and Isabela islands, attract dolphins and whales. With luck, we’ll be able to spot them. Depending on sea conditions, we end our visit with a glass-bottom boat ride or deep-water snorkel.

Eden Islet
A panga ride takes us to Eden Islet, located off the coast of Santa Cruz, where we can observe blue-footed boobies, reef sharks, and frigatebirds. There’s a chance to snorkel and, if weather conditions permit, to ride in the glass-bottom boat. The volcanic setting of this area is quite stunning.

North Seymour Island
We have saved one of the best visitor sites in the archipelago for last. In the afternoon, we disembark for a walk along the coast and the interior of this beautiful flat island, ambling between numerous nesting frigatebirds, some male frigatebirds displaying their balloon-like red gular sacs, as well as land iguanas and sea lion colonies along the coastline. We can explore the coast by dinghy, too, seeking out fur seals, and enjoying a fun, deep-water snorkel. Evening briefing, farewell cocktail, and dinner.

Our journey ends at Baltra Island where we transfer to the airport to take the flight back to the mainland.

**Extension programmes to the Cloud Forest or the Amazon in Ecuador are available