Nineteen volcanic islands on the equator where nothing has learned to be afraid of people. The animals do not move when you approach, and that is the entire experience.
What it is
Nineteen islands and dozens of islets 1,000km off Ecuador, thrown up by a volcanic hotspot and never connected to the mainland. Everything that lives there arrived by air, by sea or on floating vegetation, and then evolved in isolation.
Because there were no large land predators, nothing developed a flight response. Sea lions sleep on the pavement in Puerto Ayora. Marine iguanas ignore you. Blue-footed boobies nest on the path and you step around them. The park rule is to stay two metres away from animals, and enforcing it is entirely your problem because they will not.
Darwin spent five weeks here in 1835 and did not have his idea until later, working through the specimens in London. The finches were mislabelled and had to be sorted out by someone else.
Cruise or land-based
Cruises — four to fifteen days, 16 to 100 passengers — sail overnight and reach islands day boats cannot: Genovesa’s seabird colonies, Fernandina’s marine iguana masses, Española’s waved albatross. You wake up somewhere new every morning. It is expensive.
Land-based island-hopping — staying in hotels on Santa Cruz, Isabela and San Cristóbal, taking day boats — costs a fraction as much, supports local businesses more directly, and still gets you tortoises, iguanas, sea lions, penguins, sharks and superb snorkelling. What it cannot reach is the outer islands.
For most people a week land-based is the right answer. For a once-in-a-lifetime trip focused on wildlife, a cruise earns its cost.
Costs
There is a national park entrance fee, doubled in 2024 for most foreign visitors, plus a transit control card, both payable in cash on arrival. Flights from the mainland are a fixed and substantial cost. Everything on the islands is imported and priced accordingly.
Every visitor site requires a licensed naturalist guide. You cannot wander a trail alone. This is well enforced and is a large part of why the place is still in the condition it is.
Seasons
December to May: warmer air and water, calmer seas, occasional rain, better for snorkelling and for anyone prone to seasickness.
June to November: the Humboldt current brings cooler, nutrient-rich water — rougher seas, cooler air, and much more marine activity. Whale sharks around Darwin and Wolf are August to November.
There is no bad season. Different animals do different things month to month, and any decent operator will tell you what is happening when.
Practical
Biosecurity on arrival is strict: no seeds, fresh food or soil. Bags are screened at the mainland airport before you fly.
Bring reef-safe sun cream, a wetsuit skin or rash vest, and motion sickness tablets if you are on a boat.
Snorkelling is at least half the experience. Sea lions play with you, penguins fly past underwater, and there are usually sharks, which are harmless and unnerving in equal measure.
More Wildlife
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Antarctica
The only continent with no permanent population and no government, reached by two days across the roughest sea on earth, in a season four months long.