Northeast Islands

Arrive at Baltra Airport and meet your naturalist guide. Head to Itabaca Channel, then board a short ferry to Santa Cruz Island. During the ride, take in Baltra’s dry terrain and hear about its role as a U.S. military base during World War II. This marks the start of your Galapagos exploration.

Level: Easy
Activities: Hiking

Black Turtle Cove is named for the large number of green sea turtles, locally called “tortugas negras.” Explore the area by dinghy, navigating narrow channels and inlets lined with mangroves. Watch for reef sharks, rays, and turtles in these calm waters—an important breeding zone for marine life. Spot herons, pelicans, and boobies hunting anchovies nearby.

Highlights:  Mangroves, White-tipped and black-tipped reef sharks, Green sea turtles, Rays, Herons, Blue footed boobies, Reef sharks
Level: Easy
Activities: Panga ride

Chinese Hat, named for its cone-like shape, sits just off Santiago Island across a narrow channel. Walk a coastal path through a sea lion colony and scan nearby lava rocks for resting penguins. The area combines volcanic features with close wildlife encounters.

Snorkel Experience: Enter the clear water and swim alongside colorful fish, reef sharks, and possibly a quick-moving penguin hunting nearshore anchovy schools..

Highlights: Lava tubes, Galapagos sea lions, Galapagos penguins, Oystercatchers, Galapagos hawks

Rabida stands out for its red lava rocks and beach, colored by iron-rich minerals. Walk along the shoreline to observe a sea lion colony and explore a nearby saltwater lagoon, where ducks, stilts, and occasionally flamingos gather. Follow the inland trail for views of the coast and watch for Darwin finches, flycatchers, and mockingbirds. Scan the cliffs for Nazca and blue-footed boobies, noddies, herons, and both Galapagos and fur seals.

Snorkel Experience: Enter the water from the beach and explore a protected rocky zone. Swim alongside sea lions, reef sharks, and schools of fish. Check the vertical rock walls for a wide variety of small invertebrates clinging to the surface.
 
Highlights: Red-sand beach, Galapagos sea lions, Galapagos hawks, Darwin finches, Galapagos flycatchers
Trail: 2 km / 1.2 mi
Level: Easy
Activities: Hiking, snorkeling, panga ride

This island is home for large colonies of both magnificent and great frigatebirds and you can see them displaying their red balloons to attract a female. Blue-footed boobies nest in the ground and perform their famous dance in the open areas, while swallow-tailed gulls perch on the cliff edges. Land iguanas are common inland while their marine cousins bask in the rocks by the sea, close to sea lions, which often like to body surf in the waves.

Snorkel Experience: This place is a really great snorkeling location, as it has tremendous diversity and amount of fish, but also sea lions, sharks, eels, turtles, rays and many more.
 
Highlights: Galapagos sea lions, Magnificent and great frigatebirds, Land and marine iguanas, Darwin finches
Trail: 1.4 km / 0.8 mi
Level: Easy
Activities: Hiking

Either if you do this visit starting from Baltra or from Puerto Ayora, a bus will take you to the highlands stopping along the way at one of the reserves to visit the lush highland forests where you will look for Galapagos Giant tortoises in their natural environment. This is the best place in the Galapagos to see these gentle giants (reaching over 300 kg / 600 pounds!) casually grazing and resting in freshwater ponds. This is also home for a great diversity of birds rarely found at the lowlands, including finches (tree, woodpecker, and vegetarian finches), flycatchers, and several species of water birds. You will visit a lava tunnel (depending on the itinerary) and learn how these extraordinary formations were created by ancient volcanic eruptions.
 
Highlights: Lava tunnels, Darwin finches, Galapagos flycatchers, Giant tortoises, Barn owls, White-cheeked pintails
Trail: 1 - 1.5 km / 0.6 - 0.9 mi
Level: Easy
Activities: Hiking

Either if you do this visit starting from Baltra or from Puerto Ayora, a bus will take you to the highlands, stopping along the way at one of the reserves to visit the lush highland forests where you will look for Galapagos Giant tortoises in their natural environment. This is the best place in the Galapagos to see these gentle giants (reaching over 300 kg / 600 pounds!) casually grazing and resting in freshwater ponds. This is also home for a great diversity of birds rarely found at the lowlands, including finches (tree, woodpecker, and vegetarian finches), flycatchers, and several species of water birds. You will visit a lava tunnel (depending on the itinerary) and learn how these extraordinary formations were created by ancient volcanic eruptions.
 
Highlights: Lava tunnels, Darwin finches, Galapagos flycatchers, Giant tortoises, Barn owls, White-cheeked pintails
Trail: 1.2 km / 0.7 mi
Level: Difficult
Activities: Hiking, snorkeling, panga ride, paddle board, kayak

Genovesa is a favorite island for birdwatchers as it is home to very large colonies of seabirds. From the minute you set foot at the beach you will be amazed by the noise of hundreds of boobies, gulls and frigatebirds flying over your heads, perched in the bushes or nesting on the sandy terrain. The trail is an ultimate wildlife experience as there are animals everywhere; sea lions and marine iguanas near the sea; night herons, lava and swallow-tailed gulls, Darwin finches, Galapagos doves, mockingbirds, and many more species inland.

Snorkel Experience: The bay offers several places to snorkel, from deep waters along the cliffs across the bay, to shallow waters by the beach. In either case, there are many fish to see and great chances of seeing sharks, rays, and sea lions.
 
Highlights: Nesting great frigatebirds, Red-footed and Nazca boobies, Galapagos sea lions, Yellow-crowned night herons, Genovesa ground finch, Genovesa cactus finch, Galapagos mockingbirds
Trail: 1.2 km / 0.7 mi
Level: Difficult
Activities: Hiking, snorkeling, panga ride, paddle board, kayak

This hike is a journey into understanding the birth of these volcanic islands. You will walk in a very well preserved flow of Pahoehoe lava, which will give you endless opportunities to see the delicate textures of these types of lavas which only appear in a few places throughout the world. At first sight the barren landscape looks completely deprived of life, but look carefully for pioneer plants, lava lizards and small birds. By the shore, you can find penguins, pelicans and oystercatchers.

Snorkel Experience: You will have the option to swim or snorkel from a coral sand beach or from the dinghies. Getting underwater is like traveling to another world: if the land is almost lifeless, the sea is teaming with life, including large schools of fish, Galapagos penguins, reef sharks, turtles and rays.
 
Highlights: Lava tubes, Galapagos penguins, Oystercatchers, Galapagos hawks
Trail: 2.2 km / 1.4 mi
Level: Difficult
Activities: Hiking, Snorkeling, Panga Ride

Bartolome is one of the most iconic islands in Galapagos, renowned for its dramatic volcanic landscape and the famous Pinnacle Rock. Nestled beside a peach-colored sand beach, this island is one of the few places where you can spot penguins without traveling to remote Isabela and Fernandina. The hike to the summit offers breathtaking views of a lunar-like terrain dotted with volcanic cones, with stunning panoramas of Sullivan Bay and Pinnacle Rock. From the top, the vast beauty of the archipelago unfolds before you, creating a truly unforgettable experience.

Snorkel Experience: Enjoy an unforgettable snorkeling experience in Bartolome, one of Galapagos’ top spots. Swim in calm, clear waters alongside penguins, colorful fish, sea turtles, sea lions, rays, and reef sharks in a thriving marine ecosystem.

Highlights: Volcanic landscapes, Pinnacle rock, Herons, Blue-footed boobies, Galapagos penguins
Trail: 1.5 km / 0.9 mi
Level: Moderate
Activities: Hiking, snorkeling, panga ride

Located in the outskirts of Puerto Baquerizo, this center is dedicated to the history of human presence in the Galapagos. Since the times of the early Spanish explorers to the present times, including illustrious visitors such as Charles Darwin, this permanent exhibition will take you through the dangers and struggles of the first settlers trying to survive the harsh Galapagos environment.

Highlights: Endemic plants, exhibition on human history
Trail: 0.2 km / 650 ft
Level: Easy
Activities: Hiking

After exploring the breathtaking biodiversity and unique landscapes of the Galapagos, it’s time to return to mainland Ecuador. You’ll be transferred to the airport, bringing this unforgettable journey to a close. Every encounter with giant tortoises, blue-footed boobies, and volcanic landscapes will remain etched in your memory. Galapagos is not just a destination—it’s a transformative experience that will stay with you forever. Wishing you a wonderful journey back!