QUITO & GALAPAGOS ISLANDS AT THE FINCH BAY HOTEL ON SANTA CRUZ ISLAND

• Reception at the airport and private transfer to your hotel.
• Overnight at your preferred hotel in Quito.

• For 4 hours, we will visit downtown Quito to relish in this urban jewel and its treasures of art and architecture, which is partly a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The visit starts at the Independence Plaza, flanked by the Cathedral, the Presidential Palace, the Municipal Building, and the Archbishop’s Palace.
• Visit the temple of La Compañía de Jesús and its impressive gilded interior.
• Continue to the Monastery of San Francisco, with its imposing façade and atrium that lead to its Baroque interior influenced by Moorish style.
• Then continue to the Equatorial Monument, 25 km (16 miles) North of Quito, which marks the exact Middle of the World, latitude 0º, where you can stand with a foot on each hemisphere. You will receive a certificate for having crossed the Equator.
• Visit the Ethnographic Museum inside the monument, which shows the different Native American groups living in Ecuador.
• Besides the monument, there is a colonial-style town, complete with the central square, church, post office, bullring, cafeterias, restaurants and many gift shops with postcards and souvenirs.
• Overnight at your preferred hotel in Quito.
• Breakfast included.

• Private transfer from the hotel to the airport.
• Flight from Quito to Galapagos.
• Upon arrival at Baltra airport, we bring you to the Finch Bay hotel.
• Enjoy your free afternoon.
• Overnight at Finch Bay hotel.
• Breakfast, lunch, and dinner included.

You could choose between a full day yacht exploration or full day land exploration.

Land exploration – Watch the highland giant tortoises.
• Depart from the hotel towards the Highlands of Santa Cruz.
• From there a short drive, across the farming area will bring us to El Manzanillo at the northern edge of the Giant Tortoise reserve.
• El Manzanillo is located on the natural path tortoises take every year as they either migrate to higher wet locations during the rainy season (June-September) or when they descend to the warmer lowlands during the wet season.
• The Galapagos Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis Nigra) is the largest living tortoise species, weighing up to 250 kg (550 lb).
• On Santa Cruz, year-round, tortoises can be seen grazing on the surrounding vegetation, or wallowing in muddy banks, or in the small red-coloured ponds (impressively coloured by surface red pond-weeds).
• The area is teeming with life: chirping vegetarian, small-tree, large-tree and woodpecker mockingbirds and flycatchers, as well as ducks, herons and gallinules, make this an exciting morning visit.
• On the return to Puerto Ayora, visit one of the island’s lava tunnels, significant geological formations that take us back in time and allow us to remember how lava flows formed the islands.
• Lunch at El Manzanillo.

OR
Yacht exploration – North Seymour Island
• North Seymour was lifted from the ocean floor by a seismic event, and its origins as a seabed give the island its low, flat profile.
• Cliffs only a few meters high form the shoreline, where swallow-tailed gulls sit among the ledges and rocks.
• A tiny forest of silver-grey Palo Santo trees stands just above the landing, usually without leaves, waiting for the rains to burst into bloom. This island is teaming with life!

OR

Yacht exploration: Santa Fe Island
• Santa Fe offers one of the more beautiful and sheltered coves in the islands.
• Its turquoise lagoon is protected by a peninsula of tiny islets forming an ideal anchorage. The island lies to the southeast of Santa Cruz within sight of Puerto Ayora.
• Like North Seymour, Santa Fe has been uplifted seismically, and you can see underwater lava formations.

• Overnight at Finch Bay Hotel.
• Breakfast, lunch, and dinner included.

You could choose between a full day yacht exploration or full day land exploration

Land exploration: Tortuga Bay and Charles Darwin Research Station
• Tortuga Bay is located to the southwest of Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island. Its name means “turtle”, and the island received this moniker because it is sea turtles favourite place to lay their eggs.
• The stunning white sand beach is considered by the majority the most beautiful in the Galapagos archipelago.
• For active visitors, it is an excellent place to kayak, snorkel and surf!
• There is an information centre open to the public, and also one may view the tortoise rearing program.

OR
Island yacht exploration: Bartolome Island
• Bartolome is famous for Pinnacle Rock, a towering spearheaded obelisk that rises from the ocean’s edge and is the best-known landmark on the islands.
• Galapagos penguins—the only species of penguin found north of the equator—walk precariously along narrow volcanic ledges at its base. Sea lions snooze on rocky platforms, ready to slide into the water to play with passing snorkelers.

OR

Island yacht exploration: South Plaza Island
• South Plaza Island is a small island full of fascinating wildlife, both along its shores and along its dramatic, wind-swept cliffs: sea lions, land iguanas, swallow-tailed gulls, Opuntia Cacti and vegetation that changes colours according to the season.
• South Plaza Islands is one of Galapagos’ most impressive visiting sites.

• Overnight at Finch Bay Hotel.
• Breakfast, lunch, and dinner included.

• After an early breakfast, you will go to the Baltra Island to board your flight to Quito.
• We receive you at the airport and bring you to your hotel.
• Overnight at your preferred hotel in Quito.
• Breakfast included.

• Unfortunately, now it´s time to say Good-Bye, and we bring you back to the airport, to take your flight home.
• We are very proud to welcome you again in the future and to show you other marvellous and fantastic parts of the world.
• Breakfast included.