ARRIVAL TO QUITO AIRPORT.
You are met by our representative at the airport in Quito and provide transfers at Grand Hotel Alameda Mercure or similar in Quito. + Buffet Breakfast
CITY TOUR & MIDDLE OF THE WORLD.
After breakfast, we will go back in time a couple of hundred years while driving around the colonial section of Quito and admire architectural monuments, la Basilica church, Independence Square, with the Presidential Palace and the colonial Churches. Visit the toy workshop, you will find wooden toys, like spin toys. Visit the Api Real store, they produces products such as soaps, creams and shampoos, based on honey and its merger with essential oils and extracts 100% natural.
You will learn how to do it and you will take home the secret recipe and drive up to the “Middle of the World City” (entrance included) where the monument that divides the Northern from the Southern Hemisphere will be visited. It was built during the XVII century when a French Expedition defined the precise location of the equatorial line. The “Intiñan Museum”, known as the Equinox solar Museum, can also be visited (entrance is not included)
Overnight at Grand Hotel Alameda Mercure or similar in Quito + Buffet Breakfast
TRANSFER AIRPORT TO HOTEL–AFTERNOON FREE (B,L)
Early in the morning, after breakfast, you will have the transfer to Quito airport to take Galapagos flight. When you arrived at the Galapagos in the Baltra airport, our staff will meet you. They will transfer you to Hotel Ninfa, located on Santa Cruz Island. After lunch we will have the afternoon free to take a walk along Puerto Ayora’s seafront and buy crafts.
SANTA FE ISLAND–BEACH LANDING (B,L)
After breakfast, we sail an hour to Santa Fe Island. From the yacht, we see on its huge cliffs a forest of giant cacti endemic to this island. In the calm, turquoise waters of the bay are colonies of sea birds, such as pelicans, boobies and gulls, and many sea lions. Snorkeling is fantastic. We will swim with manta rays and tropical fish, and sometimes see sea turtles. We will have lunch on board and then land on a beautiful, white-sand beach. There we will relax, take photos and enjoy the Galapagos sun, before returning to the hotel.
EL CHATO RESERVE/TUNNELS (B,L)
The highlands of Santa Cruz Island offer important attractions thanks to its climate and vegetation. This tropical rain forest has a very different landscape than the lowlands. In the Santa Rosa sector, we will visit the El Chato Reserve where the famous “Galapagos” giant tortoises live in the wild. You can watch the tortoises relaxing and bathing in El Chato lagoon. Also, this is nesting grounds for many of the island’s wild birds, such as finches, Vermilion Flycatcher, Cattle Egret and sometimes Galapagos Crake.
Our journey lets you see the huge Galapagos tortoises in their natural state. During the visit to this reserve we’ll also visit a natural lava tunnel, which you can go through thanks to the soft lighting installed by the owners of the ranch.
GEMELOS CRATERS–AIRPORT(B).
After breakfast, we will take a bus or taxi back to the airport. On the way, we will make a last stop to visit the Gemelos Craters, twin geological depressions amidst a forest of scalesia (native vegetation) on the highest part of the island.
When you arrive Quito or Guayaquil, you are met by our Representative and provide transfer at Grand Hotel Alameda Mercure + BB
TRANSFER OUT INTERNATIONAL FLYING.
After breakfast, transfer out