Pretty much all of my planning came from reading other people's blogs. I only felt that Galapagos was manageable for me on my budget because I saw so many others had done it successfully, and had blogged about it. So here are my thoughts and recommendations.
Budget for 2 people:
Flights: ~$925
Visas: $220
Airport transport: $28
Hostel: $175
Food: ~$110
Excursions: ~$130
Activities on Santa Cruz: ~$100
Total: ~$1688 ($844 per person)
HOSTEL:
What you should expect from a hostel - air conditioning or a fan, hot water, wifi, private bathroom
What a hostel might also offer you - laundry service (extra $), breakfast (extra $), water/tea/coffee, kitchen (recommended but not required), common space (nice plus)
Laundry service - Lava Flash had ours done by 5 pm for $1.50/1 kg, this is the cheapest any hostel offered it to us, so it's not a necessary hostel service.
Kitchen - HIGHLY recommended, we ran across our fair share of problems without one. Even if you don't cook, just being able to make a sandwich will come in handy.
Water - can't drink the tap here, there are lots of places to buy the large bottles, we lucked out because we got water from our hostel, which I think saved us money because we drink a lot and also used it to brush our teeth and wash our produce.
FOOD:
Breakfast was bread, fruit, and yogurt with coffee or tea from our hostel.
Lunch was $3-4 "almuerzo" or some empanadas in the backpack if we were going to be out for lunch.
Snacks were purchased if needed, and we also had a granola/peanut mix made from grocery store purchases.
Dinner was tomato/avocado/queso fresco sandwiches sometimes with fruit or ice cream.
With a kitchen we could have done more, but we enjoyed it. Our variety came at lunch. We just had some ant/mouse problems due to poor storage, and had to "borrow" plates and utensils from the breakfast area of the attached hotel.
TRANSPORT:
The cheapest option is the bus to and from the airport ($2/person).
We did this on the way to Puerto Ayora but decided to see Los Gemelos on the way out so we went with a taxi ($20). But to get the bus back to the airport, you take a taxi ($1-2) to Terminal Terrestre at the north of town for the 7:30 or 8:30 am bus. Miss these and you take a taxi ($15-20).
Around town we just walked everywhere.
We only used taxis to get to Garrapatero beach and to Puntudo.
ACTIVITIES:
Almost everything we did on Santa Cruz was free. The only thing that cost money was our 3 hour kayak rental
($50/2 people) and day-long snorkel rental ($6/2 people). Otherwise the actual activities were free. The taxis we took obviously cost money, but they took us to free activities.
Here is a list of everything we did and what we got to see there:
- Tortuga Bay - finches, lizards, marine iguanas, fish, pelicans, mangroves, cacti; also where marine tortoises lay their eggs (this happens at night)
- Main port/Academy Bay - small sharks, fish, sea lions, pelicans, crabs, sea gulls; where boats come and go for day trips and access to other islands
- Charles Darwin Station - land iguanas, giant tortoises, finches, lizards; the site where they are working on regrowing the tortoise population through breeding programs
- Laguna de las Ninfas - rays, spiders, mangroves; where salt and fresh water mix
- El Mirador - a collapsed lava tunel 2 km outside of Puerto Ayora
- Garrapatero Beach - bugs, finches, seagulls, frigates; beautiful beach on the other side of the island that sometimes has flamingos and ducks
- Playa de los Alemanes/Punta Estrada beach/Las Grietas - frigates, seagulls, crabs, fish; three different points along a walk on the other side of the main port
- Kayaking through Academy Bay and adjacent waters - pelicans, blue-footed boobies, ray, crabs, marine iguanas, sea lions, fish, other birds, mangroves
- Puntudo/Media Luna - birds, crickets, dragonflies, many new species of plants; a long muddy hike to see the top of an old volcano (we think?)
- Los Gemelos - a pair of craters we are going to visit on the way to the airport tomorrow
EXCURSIONS:
We only went on one day trip, to Isla Floreana. We got a great deal of $60 by purchasing directly from the tour operator. We did a lot of searching and chatting at various agencies, but the place across the street from our hotel gave us Julian's name and so we went straight to the source. However, we thought the price included scuba masks and it did not. Luckily you can rent them on Floreana for $3/person, the same as on Santa Cruz, so it worked out. I definitely recommend late night deal scrounging, and looking for the tour operator. Spanish speaking gets you a cheaper price (we tried this out with Steph going in English and me going in Spanish separately). Everything closes down at/around 8 pm so make sure you had your place in place and paid for by then. Otherwise, you can try your luck around 7 or 7:30 am on the pier to fill empty spots, but that's a pretty big gamble we ended up not taking. Be sure to confirm what is and is not included, since we did a bad job on that. Wear sturdy shoes, pack lots of water, and be prepared for any weather.
If I could do it again, I recommend island hopping instead of day tripping as a method to see other islands. For example, 2-3 days on Cristobal or Isabela and 2-3 days on Santa Cruz with maybe a day trip to Floreana or Santa Fe if there is something particular you want to see. But having a home on the island definitely makes it easier to explore. 4 hours on a boat to spent 4-5 hours on an island didn't seem like a good deal to us. But 4 hours on a boat to spend 2-3 days, that makes sense. And there are ferries and boat deals to get back and
forth from the other islands, so it's definitely doable, and in my opinion, recommendable.
If you read this and are considering a trip to Galapagos, feel free to message me or comment with any questions. Also, check out my other posts for more information. Happy traveling (and budgeting)!
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