www.ecuadors.org

[Tarsha]

I'm looking into a honeymoon destination. I thought it would be fun to stay in Galapagos Islands for 4-5 days and a couple days in Ecuador. Any recommendations on where to stay while in the G.Islands? We're looking for something nice near the water....

[Zafirah]

There isn't really much in the way of upscale accomodations (if that's what you mean) on the Galapagos Islands. Most of the hotels are rather basic and meant to serve as a 1-2 night stopover before or after cruises. Also what do you mean by near water, are you looking for a beach? The only hotel in Puerto Ayora (Santa Cruz island) that I recall as being on a beach was the Finch Bay. This was just opposite the harbor, accessible by water taxis. There are other hotels in town that overlook the water but are not on a beach. One of these is the Red Mangrove which looked pretty nice. I believe there's another more upscale establishment on the other side of Santa Cruz island but I didn't venture to that area. San Cristobal and a couple of other islands also have hotels but the choices are even more limited than on Santa Cruz.

May I ask why you want to stay on the islands rather than take a cruise? Most visitors' goal is to see as much of the wildlife in the Galapagos as possible which is not easily accomplished with a hotel based stay. We did a combination of cruise and island stay which we enjoyed. The island stay let us decompress afterward and take in some local flavor. While I found Puerto Ayora charming, I wouldn't go all the way to the Galapagos just to stay on the island.

[Vahip]

We just returned last month from Galapagos. We did a 7 day cruise on the 100-pax ship.

We originally considered putting an individual travel itinerary together with a pre-or post-cruise stay in Santa Cruz. The two hotels that the travel agents recommended were Red Mangrove or the Galapagos Hotel.

[Maasiai]

Banos (very close to Ambato and a 4 hour drive from Quito) is a beautiful place for a honeymoon. It has thermal bath, and is very close to the jungle with lots of tours that would go there. Although turisty, is it very worth it. The lake section north of Quito is also beautiful and picturesque and would allow a visit to the Otavalo Indian Market (can be a day trip or overnight stay). Cuenca is also beautiful (lots of flights from Quito or Guayaquil). It was declared World Heritage site. Finally, I have to make a pitch for my city, Guayaquil. It has gone a long way to offer safe and beautiful tourist attractions and give you the feel of a big city. I may be biased but I do not think Quito has more to offer than Guayaquil. Either one merits a 2 day visit. The beaches north of Guayaquil are beautiful if beaches are what you are looking for! Because the country is small, you can really jump from one place to another fairly quickly.

Have fun!