# Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): map, what to do and when to go

In Galápagos, animals don't flee from people and have the right of way, and visitors stay two meters from them. A volcanic Ecuadorian archipelago about 1,000 km from the coast, it has 97% of its land as national park and 28,600 residents across four inhabited islands.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): how do you pay the US$200 park fee?** In cash, at the airport counter, right after landing.
- **Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): what do you need to do before the flight to the islands?** Before check-in, your luggage goes through the ABG biosecurity inspection, and you must register the INGALA Transit Control Card, US$20 per person, done online since 2025.
- **Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): how long does the boat to Isabela take?** Puerto Villamil, Isabela's white-sand village, is 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes away by boat, leaving early and returning in the late afternoon.

## Puerto Ayora on foot
Fly into Baltra, pay the US$200 park fee in cash, and make the three-leg trip to Puerto Ayora (bus, ferry, bus), which takes 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Charles Darwin Research Station and Fausto Llerena Breeding Center
- Tortuga Bay

## The highlands and wild tortoises
Go by the Muelle de los Pescadores fish market at 7am, when the boats come in and pelicans and a sea lion fight over the scraps, and at 8am hire a pickup truck (US$40–60 for the day, split between up to four people) or take the Santa Rosa bus for US$1.
- Las Grietas
- Los Gemelos
- El Chato, Primicias, and El Manzanillo ranches
- Bellavista lava tunnels
- Muelle de los Pescadores

## Uninhabited island: North Seymour or Bartolomé
Book a full-day tour to North Seymour or Bartolomé in advance, US$180–260 with a naturalist guide, lunch, and equipment.
- Sierra Negra Volcano, Isabela
- Bartolomé

## Charles Darwin Research Station and Fausto Llerena Breeding Center
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-estacao-cientifica-charles
Santa Cruz · One to two hours
Opened in 1964 at the eastern edge of Puerto Ayora; free entry, an approximately 800 m trail between cacti and pens. Home to the taxidermied body of Lonesome George, the last Chelonoidis abingdonii, who died on June 24, 2012, and was returned to the islands in 2017.
Check access

## Tortuga Bay
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-tortuga-bay
One to two hours
A paved 2.5 km trail starting from calle Charles Binford, open from 6am to 6:30pm, with sign-in at the gate and no fee. The first beach, Playa Brava, has a strong current and isn't for swimming; the second, Playa Mansa, is a shallow lagoon with marine iguanas, mangroves, and small reef sharks.
Check access

## Las Grietas
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-las-grietas
Bella Vista · Up to half an hour
A volcanic crevasse flooded with brackish water between walls about 20 m high, on the Punta Estrada side. Reached by water taxi plus a 25-minute walk across a lava field; charges an entry fee of roughly US$10 for foreigners.
Check access

## Los Gemelos
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-los-gemelos
Two collapse craters more than 30 m deep beside the Santa Rosa road, inside the last large forest of Scalesia, a daisy that evolved on the island into a 15 m tree. It's a good spot to see the pyrocephalus, the endemic red flycatcher.
Check access

## El Chato, Primicias, and El Manzanillo ranches
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-ranchos-el-chato-primicias
Private farms in the humid zone where wild giant tortoises roam free, especially from June to January. Entry US$5 to 10, rubber boots on loan, and the fixed rule of keeping 2 m away.
Check access

## Bellavista lava tunnels
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-tuneis-de-lava-de-bellavista
Up to half an hour
Tubes formed when the outer crust of lava cooled while the core kept flowing; one runs nearly 1 km, lit throughout, with a ceiling 3 to 5 m high. On private land, charging US$5 to 10.
Check access

## Muelle de los Pescadores
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-muelle-de-los-pescadores
Up to half an hour
The fish counter at Pelican Bay in central Puerto Ayora, where the catch is cleaned and sold. Pelicans and sea lions may approach the fishermen: activity depends on the boats arriving, so the scene changes from one visit to another.
Check access

## Kicker Rock (León Dormido), San Cristóbal
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-kicker-rock
Província de Galápagos
The remains of a tuff cone split in two, 148 m above the sea, about an hour by boat from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. The channel between the walls is a spot for hammerhead sharks, green turtles, and rays; entry only with an authorized operator.
Check access

## Sierra Negra Volcano, Isabela
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-vulcao-sierra-negra-isabela
A caldera about 9 km across, one of the largest on the planet, with its most recent eruption on June 26, 2018. The guided hike runs 16 km round trip from El Cura, crossing lava fields still dark.
Check access

## Bartolomé
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/galapagos/#g-lugar-bartolome
Half a day or more
An ash islet with 372 wooden steps up to a viewpoint about 114 m above Pinnacle Rock, a spire once used as a target by American aviators in the 1940s. A full-day tour departing from Santa Cruz, with snorkeling at the base of the rock.
Check access

**Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): how do you pay the US$200 park fee?**
In cash, at the airport counter, right after landing. A card won't help at that counter and there's no reliable ATM before it, so bring clean bills set aside from the mainland.

**Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): what do you need to do before the flight to the islands?**
Before check-in, your luggage goes through the ABG biosecurity inspection, and you must register the INGALA Transit Control Card, US$20 per person, done online since 2025.

**Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): how long does the boat to Isabela take?**
Puerto Villamil, Isabela's white-sand village, is 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes away by boat, leaving early and returning in the late afternoon.

**Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): what's the currency, and why does everything cost more?**
The currency is the US dollar, adopted in 2000, and Ecuadorian centavo coins circulate with the same value and size as American ones, easy to mix up for days. Almost everything costs 30 to 60% more than on the mainland because it arrives by boat from Guayaquil.

**Puerto Ayora (Galápagos): what are the two seasons like?**
From December to May comes the warm, humid one: 24 to 31°C in the air, 24 to 27°C in the water, short, heavy showers in the early afternoon, clear skies the rest of the day, a calm sea and underwater visibility of 15 to 20 m. From June to November the garúa sets in, the cold mist carried by the Humboldt Current: 19 to 26°C, a sea between 19 and 23°C, a wetsuit that stops being optional, highlands socked in all day and much rougher boat crossings.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 5 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/galapagos/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/galapagos/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/galapagos.md