www.ecuadors.org

[Egil]

Hello, I see from browsing around here that it's really worth doing a proper tour in Galapagos, but I've only got 10-12 May days' holiday in Ecuador, and I'm wondering how to make the most of it on a budget.

I'm wondering if it might be a good idea just to get a boat to a nice island like Isabela and spend a few days there - as a kind of short cut alternative to a cruise. Would that be a bad idea? Are there advantages to the cruises apart from just visiting more islands and seeing different types of wildlife?

Thanks,

[bakery]

I took a 5 day cruise and then had a couple days on either end to look around myself. A cruise is nice in that everything is nice and planned for you and you get to see a lot of islands. But I would love to also do it on my own. I know that Santa Cruz, San Cristobal and Isabella are easy to do on your own. You can arrange boats to take you to different islands and then organize tours on those islands. I never managed to make my way over to Isabella but it sounds amazing. There isn't a whole lot to do on San Cristobal, a day there would do it. The night life isn't that amazing. And Puerto Ayorta is the tourist center of the Galapagos on Santa Cruz island, so if you go there you can look into tours and get advice from fellow travelers as well as visit the Charles Darwin center.

Maybe you could do a 5 day cruise and then do a couple days on Isabella on your own?