Galapagos Islands (1)

The Galapagos is a place like no other in the world... The fauna and flora found here are absolutely fascinating and unusual. On the islands you find forms of vegetation that you have never seen anywhere else, sea lions resting on park benches without caring about passers-by, penguins lost in the course of evolution, birds of the most unusual and giant tortoises that can slowly cross the road. The aquatic life is also fantastic, sea lions can accompany you while snorkeling, sharks of several species including the famous hammerhead sharks, sea turtles and a lot of fish can be observed during diving. Definitely a place that is on the list of those who like to travel...

We chose to stay only on Santa Cruz Island for the entire stay (6 nights) at the Flamingo Hotel. We were very pleased with our choice of accommodation, the hotel offers all the comforts, excellent breakfast and is very centrally located in Puerto Ayura. Most visitors frequently travel between islands, but staying only a week we preferred to stay on the same island and possibly make day trips to other nearby islands.

Unfortunately, this wonderful place also has some man-made aspects that overshadow the greatness of nature... That the prices of this location are very high is to be expected and somewhat normal. If the prices were very affordable, the islands would probably be flooded with mass tourism. But the quality of services (and here I am talking especially about diving and tours with activities) is below expectations, you get the impression that the tour operators are only interested in quickly collecting the dollars of the tourist who came to see the island wonders. In addition, they only ask for cash, if you want to pay with a credit card they want to add a 10% commission (illegal in Ecuador). I don't want to get into polemics about what is hidden behind this "cash mania". I just want to say that we resisted the temptation to pay in cash or with commissions. And we sometimes negotiated to the death. Out of principle, not out of stinginess. Talking to other tourists during the tours, I found that unfortunately there are greenhorns who pay double the price for the same thing.Read more