5-Tage All-Inclusive Galapagos: Isabela und Santa Cruz Island

The contact with the organization was superb. We were met everywhere. Fine restaurants for both lunch and dinner and good and nice accommodations. Educational tours with mostly enthusiastic guides. You get your money's worth. Island Isabella is definitely not to be missed when travelling to the Galapagos

What a fantastic trip we had!! Galapagos was absolutely amazing. We loved every day on the two islands and experienced the beauty and the amazing wildlife up close. When we first started looking for trips to Galapagos, we contacted Nature Galapagos, and immediately Chris was very helpfull and very serviceminded. He arranged everything from airport transfers, to an extra day on Santa Cruz and suggested trips. Before our flight, and also during our trip, Chris contacted me a few times, to follow up if everything was OK, and reminded us, that if we had any questions, he was available. Our 2 local guides, Fernando and Jonathan were a great help and both so friendly and also punktual. Both arranged local trips, meals and transfers between the islands. The local meals were delicious, we visited many different restaurants, all had great locations, kind staff and really good food. We give Nature Galapagos, and especially Chris, our warmest recommendations.

Where to start….*disclaimer- this review does not include individual guides or tours independent of NG & E* This was an absolutely abysmal experience from top to bottom. From the incredibly poor communication, to the closed minded staff, I recommend anyone reading this to avoid this tour company. Our group has traveled many places around the world, and all of us agreed that we have never had such a poor experience. Our main guide / contact Théo was only seen on the first day, and then vanished into the wild as we scrambled every morning to figure out what the plans were for the day. Keep in mind that this company is NOT lgbtq+ friendly, all involved were clearly uncomfortable with the composition of our group (they gladly took our money, however). Not only were plans poorly explained, which lead to injuries and sickness on a two hour speed boat ride, but they also were wrong at every step. For instance, one morning we were told to meet at a certain time at a certain place only the have a bus show up at our hotel to pick us up 45 minutes prior to the agreed upon location and time, which lead to the guide having to leave without us and many in our group missing out on the entire excursion (the rest of us took a taxi and caught up to the bus). I could go on with the examples, but our group ultimately decided to cut our loses and enjoy the rest of our vacation without the stress of dealing with NG & E. Honestly, this really sucks as we were all excited to visit the Galapagos Islands, but in the end, we just wanted to be home and done with this nightmare. I recommend staying far away from this tour company which seems to have changed management in the past year or so.

Our experience visiting the Galapagos islands was amazing. This place is magical. We were consistently waiting for our guides to pick us up. Joseph our Isabella island guide was amazing. Highly recommend using Joseph as your guide

There are not many reviews on this company, so we were hesitant to book at first. I ran into some issues with reserving the wrong dates, and they were able to accommodate us without hesitation. We had someone waiting for us at the airport once we arrived in Galapagos. They took us from there to the first place we needed to be to catch the speedboat to the first island. This ride is extremely rough. I recommend taking some medication for sickness before this ride. Once we arrived at the hotel, check in was easy, even though the lady that checked us in seemed like we were bothering her. There was no elevator in the hotel, so we had to carry our luggage upstairs. We did not get to see the Flamingo Lagoon as part of the package, but we were staying right across from it, so quite frankly this should not even be included in the tour because you can just walk there and see for yourself without a tour guide. They let us know what time to be outside the hotel for pick up for our tours. We did the Sierra Negra Volcano and snorkeling in Concha Perla. The hike to the volcano was challenging for us (low fitness level), but we managed to make it. I recommend taking good hiking shoes because the hike through the volcanic rocks is painful in regular shoes. I also recommend wearing a long sleeve shirt or plenty of sunblock because this is under the sun the entire time. Bring plenty of water. For the snorkeling, make sure you mention you want a lifejacket if you need one before the tour or else, they will not bring one for you. The following day we visited the wetlands in the morning. Our tour guide mentioned that we should have started earlier because the sun is very strong, but we were not given this option. The start is at 8am, but a 7 or 630am start of this hike would have been better. Bring an umbrella and sunblock as you do not have shade for majority of this hike. We chose not to hike to el muro de lagrimas because we were hurting from the day before (Sierra Negra Volcano hike) and opted for more time at the Galapagos turtles breeding center. In the afternoon we went to Tintoreras Islet. This tour goes very fast (wish we had more time there). This is the only place we saw the famous blue footed booby birds. Breakfast and dinner was excellent at the hotel. The chef is a very humble kind man and deserves generous tips. The following day, you leave early in the morning, and go on a very rough speedboat ride to Santa Cruz Island. We toured the Charles Darwin Center, visited the highlands and lava tunnels. All excellent tour guides! They provide instructions on where to be at and what time daily. We did not get to see tintoreras or penguins. Maybe it just was not the season.

Chris of Nature & Galapagos arranged Our entire itinerary. It was seamless and saved us a significant Amount of time, effort and money arranging our family, land-based tour of Santa Cruz and Isabella . Most importantly As well as the Quito area. All the activities were great, We learned a lot and we never had a dull moment throughout the trip. I would highly recommend Rather than arranging a family trip to Ecuador on your own to work with Nature and Galapagos.

David and Fernando, made this a really memorable trip,tours,boat and taxi connections sorted, so nothing to think about except photographing the wildlife, one tip, bring an underwater camera.you are allocated a couple of restaurants to eat in and the food is good,especially back on the island of Santa Cruz restaurant Nami Nami, all in all a wonderful experience. Thanks to you both, see you in Qatar!

I had an amazing time at Galapagos, Christian and the team helped me to get the most of my stay! Isabella island was my favorite for sure

We organized with them our tours to the galapagos and also transfers to and from the airport and ferry tickets to isabela and santa cruz. What can I say, Fernanda the operator has always answered me for every need and every doubt. Everything was organized to perfection. All the activities were wonderful, they also always picked us up and took us to the hotel at every meeting point even if we had taken the hotels ourselves. An extremely reliable operator that I recommend to everyone.

Top of the line accommodations was only 3 star and did not accept credit cards when we were stuck and had to stay another 2 nights. Apparently tour operator did not have a good track record in paying the hotel on a timely basis. Some of the included "shuttle/transportation" required climbing up into an open air jeep like arrangement. The 8km volcano hike was actually 8km in and another 8km out. The Flamingo Bay excursion consisted of 3 Flamingos. Basically if you are into lizards, lava rocks, cactus and have the energy of a 20 year old, and are on a budget, this is the place for you. If you like cats, 5 star hotels and your energy level is more mature, this is not the place.