All About Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands

When you visit the Galapagos Islands, the chances are pretty good that you’re going to arrive via flight from Guayaquil or Quito. And that means you’re very likely going to fly into Baltra Airport, just north of Santa Cruz Island. At that point, you’ll likely commute from the airport to the channel via bus, take a water taxi across the channel to Santa Cruz Island, and then take a bus 45 minutes south to the opposite end of the island — to Puerto Ayora

Regardless of which islands you’re planning to visit during your Galapagos Islands trip, most will likely include some time spent in Puerto Ayora, the most populated urban center on any of the islands. Not only is it the most populated “city” with the most to do, but it’s also a starting point if you wish to travel to any of the other islands.

Here’s what you need to know about Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz.

About Puerto Ayora

While Puerto Ayora may be the most populous town on any of the islands, it’s not a big city by any means — it has a population of only 12,000. The locals tend to live in the more northern part of the town, while the tourist area is the southern part along the coast.

Of all the towns on all of the islands, Puerto Ayora is the most developed and has the most infrastructure. And that includes cell signal (which is still spotty) and Wi-Fi. Your options on the other islands are much more limited.

Now, for Americans, many of the places we know that start with Puerto, like in Mexico for example, are resort towns. Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Escondido, etc. But I didn’t get the feeling that Puerto Ayora is a resort town. I think because the Galapagos Islands likely attract the adventurous types of travelers, since they’re so much more difficult to get to. And so I don’t think too many people there are doing all-inclusive resorts.

Most of the places travelers are likely to stay are within a 10-15 minute walk from the Muelle (Gus Angermeyer), which is the main dock and transportation hub in Puerto Ayora. This is where the bus from the airport arrives and departs, and it’s also where ferry boats to other islands arrive and depart. And speaking of transportation: If you ever need a taxi, just flag down one of the white pickup trucks driving by.

There are relatively few private cars on the island. Almost all of Santa Cruz, and Puerto Ayora, are protected as part of Galapagos National Park. The town is heavily focused on being as eco-friendly as possible. However, you’ll still likely need to buy bottled water unless you visit one of the town’s filter stations — the water isn’t safe to drink. (And if you accidentally get some in your mouth while showering, you’ll realize you wouldn’t want to drink it anyway. It tastes really bad.)

Things to Do in Puerto Ayora

The Fishing Pier was one of my favorite things in Puerto Ayora because there’s so much going on. And there’s so much wildlife in such a small area. You don’t even have to leave the town to see it. While fishermen clean their catches for the day, sea lions lounge nearby and hope for a treat. If you wander around the small touristic boardwalk, you’ll come face to face with plenty of pelicans, crabs, iguanas, and other types of creatures.

On the far east side of Puerto Ayora, about a 30-minute walk from the main Muelle in the town center, you’ll find the Charles Darwin Research Station. Suddenly, it will make sense to you why nearly everything in Puerto Ayora seems to be named after Darwin. Charles Darwin, the famous naturalist and biologist, visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835. You can visit the main building (air conditioned!) and learn about Darwin’s visit as well as the ongoing research and conservation efforts going on in and around the islands.

You can also go to the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center — you’ll see the main entrance about 10 minutes before you hit the research station if you’re walking from town. I think we did it backwards, because we decided to visit the research station first and then go see the tortoises.

We read online that the guides for the tortoise breeding center would try to make you pay, but you didn’t need a guide to go through the area. As far as we could tell, that information turned out to be false.

At both the entrance and exit to the breeding center, guides wearing ranger-like uniforms were stationed and would not allow anyone to pass until they’d paid $10 per person to enter. I wouldn’t say the guides were necessary from a logistics perspective, but I can see the reason why they don’t let you in without one — with 97% of the islands designated as Galapagos National Park, they’re doing their best to protect the nature and the landscape.

Puerto Ayora Beaches

Two of the most accessible beaches for visitors are Playa de la Estación and Bahía Tortuga (Tortuga Bay).

If you don’t want to venture too far away from town, Playa de la Estación might be the perfect beach for you. Located very close to the Research Station, it’s about 10 minutes closer to the center of town. The beach itself isn’t very big, and the surrounding area is made up of volcanic rocks with lots of bright red crabs.

There is a small sandy beach area where you can put your beach towel and shoes.  Once you get into the water, you’re walking on rocks, which hurts if you have sensitive feet. But the water is cool and refreshing, especially when you’ve been sweating all day in the hot sun. Keep an eye out for the marine iguanas swimming by.

Tortuga Bay is much more famous, but it also takes quite a bit more effort to get there. You can take a taxi to a certain point, but we decided to walk. That’s not the hard part, anyway. From the Muelle Turístico, it’s about a 10-15 minute walk in the opposite direction from how you’d get to Playa de la Estación. You’ll climb up a small hill, and then the real fun begins.

You have to walk about 30 minutes, or a mile and a half, on a narrow boardwalk through a ton of different types of vegetation. The walk itself is nice, but it’s hot. There’s not much shade, and not much air moving. Make sure to bring plenty of sunscreen, or you might get burned before you even reach the beach.

And then, once you finally see the beach, you need to walk another 15 minutes or so in order to get to the “safe” beach, unless you’re a surfer. So you’re actually going to “Tortuga Lagoon,” which is a semi-enclosed body of water. The water is warmer than at Playa de la Estación, and totally calm. The beach is as close to white sand as I’ve ever seen. And the iguanas are EVERYWHERE! It’s so funny to see people lying on their beach towels, and the iguanas just wander around next to them while the sunbathers are oblivious.

Be sure you bring plenty of water and snacks for your Tortuga Bay excursion — there’s nowhere to buy any, really, and with how long the walks are on the way there and back, you need to stay fueled and hydrated.

Where to Eat in Puerto Ayora

Speaking of food, there are plenty of restaurants to try. But these were a few of our favorites:

Muelle de Darwin: This was literally next door to our Airbnb, so it was the very first place we ate after arriving. You’ll find that, in general, prices are a little more than what you might expect on the mainland of Ecuador. But the food here was good and still affordable. There’s a really nice outdoor seating area with ceiling fans to help keep you cool. Also, they’ve got pretty good drink specials (as many places on the island do) — two cocktails for $10. While your options for those two (or three) cocktails are more limited at some other restaurants, here you can even get Long Island iced teas or frozen piña coladas. Plus, they have good Wi-Fi!

Galapagos Deli: Another place we went back to a few times. Since we are remote workers — and our Airbnb didn’t have a very good Wi-Fi connection — we needed somewhere to chill and work for a few hours. Galapagos Deli had a solid connection and really cute vibes that made us feel comfortable. They’ve got pizza and sandwiches… because they’re a deli… great iced coffee (nice and refreshing) and an ice cream counter, too!

Almar: Definitely the fanciest restaurant we visited during the week, but we decided to treat ourselves since it was the last night of our trip. I recommend making reservations — it was kind of lucky we were able to get seated, and that’s just because it was it was pretty early for dinner when we showed up. If you end up going there, it’s likely you’ll want to sit outside, because there’s a beautiful view… but be aware of the elements! Bug spray is a non-negotiable. We didn’t need it anytime else during our trip, but we got swarmed by mosquitoes at dinner, which made it hard to enjoy. A sympathetic family next to us shared their bug spray with us and commented that they never go to that restaurant without it.

Note that it’s common for restaurants to bring you a pitcher of water. Don’t worry, as the water they provide is definitely filtered. You would know if it wasn’t because it would look brackish and taste terrible.

Medical Attention

Just in case you need to see a doctor while you’re in Puerto Ayora, like Matt did… (remember when I said don’t drink the water?) you can go to the public hospital, Hospital República del Ecuador, to the emergency room. (Sala de Emergencias.) Although it’s definitely going to be easier if you or someone you’re with can speak Spanish.

Matt was seen by one of the emergency room physicians immediately upon arrival, and we were on our way 20 minutes later with a prescription in hand. And the most amazing part was that it was totally free. Even for us foreigners.

(However, when we got back to Quito a week later, Matt was still feeling sick, so we had to deal with the private health care system after all.)

Carrying travel insurance can be super helpful in situations like this. For example, Nomad Insurance by SafetyWing starts at just $42 per four weeks, and while I hope you never have to use it, it’s there in case of emergencies that can rack up expenses. Nomad Insurance is the first insurance product built specifically for nomads, by nomads.

SafetyWing’s long-term mission is to build the first country on the internet offering global health insurance, pensions and disability, as a replacement for national welfare systems. As we were digital nomads in Ecuador at the time, this would have been a great option for us!

Find more things to do in Puerto Ayora.

 

Hopefully, now you feel like you know everything there is to know about Puerto Ayora!

If you still have any questions… please let me know in the comments and I’ll get back to you 🙂

–Cathy

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Originally Published on April 25, 2022.