Getting to the Galapagos: What you need to know!

Tips for Getting to the Galapagos

Getting to the Galapagos can be confusing, even when you have booked a cruise, but especially when travelling independently. I have tried to lay this out so that it makes the most sense and helps to clear up confusion regarding visiting this incredible place.

The Galapagos is part of Ecuador. This means that a flight from the mainland to the Galapagos is a domestic flight. However, because it is such an amazing place, and a National Park, there are a few rules that apply to traveling here: Transit Control Cards, Entrance Fees, Customs Declarations, etc. More on that in a bit…

Ecuador is on Eastern time; the Galapagos are on Central time. This fact surprises a lot of people; I know it surprised me! It certainly makes travel from the US fairly straightforward as far as jet lag goes.

Getting to the mainland.

All flights to the Galapagos stop on the mainland first. It doesn’t matter if you booked a flight with the Galapagos as your final destination or not. You will have to land in one of the two major airports – either Guayaquil (GYE) or Quito (UIO), and you will have to go through customs there and pick up any checked bags. There are no flights that leave from any other country and go directly to the Galapagos. We went through Quito, and since our flight arrived at 11pm and our next flight didn’t leave until 1:05pm the following afternoon, we got a hotel room. Which brings me to:

Quito Airport. Even though the airport is called the Quito Airport (actual name: Mariscal Sucre International Airport), it is a good distance away from the city of Quito. As in – about 45 minutes. Ugh. There are actually surprisingly few hotels built around the airport and many people book hotels in Quito without realizing how far away it is. (The UIO airport was opened February 2013, so options may expand in the future). We chose to stay at the Wyndham, which is really close to the airport - about a 5-minute shuttle ride. We knew we didn’t want to go all the way into the city that late at night, only to turn around and go back again the next day. The Wyndham is a very nice hotel with a free airport shuttle. It has some cool architecture, but its primary attraction to us was its proximity to the airport. Booking it was a bit of an adventure, but I plan to write another post about the wild, wacky world of booking hotels in Ecuador with a family.

Transportation from Quito Airport. Once you have landed, gone through customs, and picked up any checked bags, it’s time to find transportation. We wandered around a bit, trying to figure out signs and basically looking like dumb tourists, so here’s what we wish we would have known.

- Going to Quito: Head outside of the building near the baggage claim. Immediately in front of the sidewalk will be taxis, a good option, but if you are staying in Quito, not especially cheap. Immediately to your right will be the CITTEG bus, another good and much cheaper option for heading into Quito.

- Going to Wyndham: Walk out of the building and follow the sidewalk immediately to the right - about 75 feet - past the booth for the bus tickets. Just past the corner of the building will be a handy little sign that says “Wyndham”. The shuttle showed up within a couple minutes. On the sign, and in the hotel literature, it says that it runs every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, but I think it just goes back and forth as quickly as possible. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for it. It seats about 11 passengers, so a couple of people had to wait. Since it only took us about 5 minutes to get to the hotel though, I don’t think that they had to wait long for it to come back for them. There was another shuttle for a different hotel that pulled into that area while we were waiting, but I was too tired to notice the name. I also remember that when I was looking at hotels close to the airport that some of them offered transportation, but you had to arrange it ahead of time and it wasn’t free. The Wyndham isn’t especially cheap, but it was worth it for the lack of hassle. In the morning, we just checked out and a shuttle was there to take us back to the airport within 10 minutes. Another quick note about hotels in Ecuador. They always ask for your passport. They ask when you book activities too, but when you don’t have it, they just shrug. A copy is acceptable, so have it handy.

Entrance to the very nice Quito Airport Wyndham Hotel.

Food. The breakfast was spectacular and included with our room. We had a “deluxe” room, which I think was all that they had available with two queen beds when I booked. I don’t know if a different breakfast is included with a regular room or not, but our room was on the fourth floor, the club level, which required a keycard in the elevator to get to, and that is where the breakfast was served. Seriously good though, and since we hoped not to have to buy anymore crappy airport food – worth it. The service was awesome, and they had a fabulous omelet station, lots of fruit and even ceviche. I am getting hungry just thinking about it. Yum.

Getting to the Galapagos.

Transit Control Card. As I mentioned, flights to the Galapagos are a domestic flight, so that is the part of the airport to look for (just to the right after exiting the Wyndham shuttle). As you enter – to your right is the Transit Control Card Station. Go there first. You need to buy a card there for $20 cash per person to enter the Galapagos. (This is not the same as the National Park Entrance Fee, that is $100 pp ($50 12 and under) and is paid once you get to the Galapagos. Again, cash.) Now, there is a large amount of confusion regarding the Transit Control Card, also known as the TCT. There are some rules that the government says they are going to enforce, and then they don’t. You can pre-register for the TCT online, but they haven’t renewed their SSL certificate for the last 2 years, so be prepared for your browser to yell at you about how unsafe it is to proceed to the form. I ended up filling it out and then saving it as a PDF and printing it out, but not submitting it. I wasn’t comfortable with my information disappearing into their system considering that an SSL certificate is super simple to get. Apparently, they are supposed to ask for all kinds of information about where you are staying when, etc. I was prepared to answer all of those questions. Yep. They asked hardly anything: What airline are you flying on, are you flying into Santa Cruz, let me see your passports, give me $20 pp. He typed some stuff into his system from our passports and we were done. Three minutes, tops. We had been really nervous about this portion of traveling because my parents had gone to the Galapagos a few years ago (they flew through Guayaquil) and talked about how the computers were down, and the line got so long, and how my dad slept in line waiting for the booth to open so that they would make their flight on time, and how people behind them probably missed their flights. EEK. For us it wouldn’t have been the end of the world, since we aren’t trying to catch a cruise, but for other people I can imagine that it could be horrible. However, whether they have improved their system, or we just got lucky, here’s what the line looked like when we were there. Cue the crickets. Perhaps more Galapagos flights leave from GYE?

Waiting area for transit control card processing.

Checked Baggage and Checking in for Flights. After getting your TCT, (insert picture of TCT) there is a hallway directly to the right of the TCT booth. Walk down that with your bags. (pictures?) This is where they sort of screen your luggage; they didn’t seem to care much. They asked if we had any food, and I told them just granola bars and showed them. No problem. They then tagged our checked baggage with green plastic tags though the zippers and we were allowed to take them again. Continue down the same hallway and you will end up in the main lobby again. If you are flying LATAM there are some self-check in computer stations in between the two LATAM desks. You can print your boarding passes and luggage tags here. Pro tip – if you have booked your flight all the way through with your AA miles like I did, don’t be a dummy and pick American as your check in choice. I managed to freeze up the computer when I picked American and then entered the record locator. Even though the record locator code is the same for the AA flights we took, you need to choose LATAM. I’m sure that no one else is quite that silly. J Once you have done that, go to the main desk for your airline (this will be on your right for LATAM - if you are standing so the doors you originally entered though are behind you). The opposite LATAM desk is for flights other than to the Galapagos. They will take your checked baggage here – just like checking your bags at a US airport.

Internet and Airline Apps. Then it was pretty normal airport procedures – find your gate and wait. The internet at the airport is unfortunately pretty slow, and it didn’t seem to want to let us send e-mails. Also, we were trying to download the LATAM Play app onto the girls’ iPads and that did not work at all. So, here’s a quick tip for at home if you are traveling American and LATAM (I’m sure other airlines have similar apps). Download the apps at home! Jake and I had the American Airlines app on our phones, but we didn’t even think to download them onto the girls’ iPads. Big mistake. The only way to watch inflight movies or TV on a device is to have the app already downloaded. We ended up ceding our phones to them for a lot of the flight, and they looked pretty silly trying to watch movies on that tiny little screen. LATAM has both a regular flights app and a Play app that is only for the entertainment on the flight.

Galapagos Airports. I have written another post about booking the flights to the Galapagos, but to avoid confusion, here are the basics. There are two airports in the Galapagos islands: Baltra (GPS) and San Cristobal (SCY). We flew into Baltra, which for extra fun is sometimes called Seymour Airport, or Santa Cruz Airport. They are all the same thing. There is not an actual airport on Santa Cruz island. Baltra is a separate island that is located just to the north of Santa Cruz island, but the only thing on Baltra is the airport. There isn’t any lodging. They picked a pretty barren landscape to place the airport to minimize environmental impact. (MAP)

Flight to Santa Cruz and Customs Declaration. The flight itself is pretty normal with three exceptions. Domestic flights on LATAM do not have complimentary beverages or snacks – the flight isn’t that long, so it doesn’t matter much – it is just something to be aware of. Before landing, the flight attendants open up all of the overhead storage bins and spray them with some kind of pesticide. Don’t panic, this is an attempt to keep the islands from getting contaminated with insects or other things that might disrupt the unique environment they have here. Also, during initial descent, there is a Customs Declaration to fill out that verifies you aren’t bringing biological contaminants into the Galapagos.

National Park Entrance Fee. You get out onto the tarmac. We saw an iguana and a lava lizard on the way into the airport, which was pretty exciting! Move along though because a line forms very quickly and moves slowly. There are two lines, one is for Ecuadorians and one for foreigners. They direct you to the line you need to be in and there are signs too, so no worries. This is where you hand over your passports (again) and pay the National Park Entrance Fee. This is $100 for anyone over 12 and $50 for children 12 and under. All cash. You also have to show your Transit Control Cards here.

Retrieving Baggage and Bus. Carryon luggage goes on a conveyer for screening; Customs Declarations Forms get handed over here too. On to get the checked bags! This is actually pretty fun to watch. All of the baggage is brought in, but the passengers have to stay behind a line that is painted on the floor. After everyone is herded into the correct area, they bring out the dogs. The first dog they brought out was a black lab, an old veteran; he knew exactly what he was doing. His handler used hardly any commands. After he was done, they brought out a younger dog. He was on a leash, and his handler was clearly training him. He had a lot of trouble walking on the luggage, but he was adorable, and he tried hard! After that, they picked out some random luggage for additional screening and we were allowed to go get our bags. It was a bit of a mad rush, but it worked out, and we hustled outside to get in line for the bus. It is $5 per person, and it is a hot, stuffy ride, but it isn’t long – 10-15 minutes.

The Ferry. The short bus ride drops you off at the ferry to Santa Cruz island. You could seriously swim this, it isn’t very wide. But it is probably worth the $1 per person to get the ferry and get your bags across. J

Transportation to Puerto Ayora. There are plenty of taxis waiting for you on the other side, plus a bus. The bus is cheaper of course. It’s about a 45 minute ride to the other side of the island. Or you could do what we did and stay three quarters of the way there at the Royal Palm in the highlands. We took a taxi - $25 to Royal Palm for the four of us. But then we also stopped along the way to see Los Gemelos and El Chato Tortoise Reserve. That added $45 to our trip. We probably paid way too much, but that is how it goes sometimes! We are really dumb tourists sometimes, but we have a lot of fun too. About the taxis – they are all white pickups. They all have extended cabs, so they fit four people just fine. You can stow your luggage in the back. On Isabela Island people also ride in the back on benches. I don’t remember seeing that at all on Santa Cruz Island.

I hope that this helps anyone who would like to travel to the islands. I know we had a lot of questions and uncertainty and I tried to answer everything that I remember being confused about! We will be posting lots of other articles on food, lodging and activities. Good luck!