Anyone visited the Galapagos?

[Frugalityisthenewblack]

I'm interested in visiting the area my DH not so keen. The tours/cruises seem pricey. I am looking at this tour company Adventure Travel & Tours - Book Your Trip - G Adventures because they can pair you up with another similar minded traveller and the expenses are cut down re accomodation. I've never done that, but it is worth a try and I assume there are other female travellers that find themselves , like me, either travelling solo..or not going at all.

 

[Onward]

When I considered going a couple of years ago I found this article, which might help:

How to see the Galapagos Islands on the Cheap | Wild Junket - StumbleUpon

 

[donheff]

I went to the Galapagos about 7 years ago. It was one of my favorite trips. We went on a small (18 passenger) very luxurious boat with excellent guides. I have a lot of photos if you want to see the kinds of things we saw/did:
Collection: Galapagos Islands

 

[Gotadimple]

I'm interested in visiting the area my DH not so keen. The tours/cruises seem pricey. I am looking at this tour company Adventure Travel & Tours - Book Your Trip - G Adventures because they can pair you up with another similar minded traveller and the expenses are cut down re accomodation. I've never done that, but it is worth a try and I assume there are other female travellers that find themselves , like me, either travelling solo..or not going at all.

Sounds interesting. Have you done any research on the tour provider? Some of these adventure tour companies don't provide a guide, and get you to your destination and hotel. Then its up to you to 'make the adventure.'

-- Rita

 

[Gone4Good]

The Galapagos has just popped up on our radar for this winter's "escape the cold" trip. If we go, we'll spend most of our time backpacking around Ecuador with a side trip to the Galapagos.

 

[Khufu]

We went to Galapagos in January, 2011. It was our favorite trip. That's a good time to go for several reasons: US schools were in session so there were no families with children on the ship, the weather is dry so there were almost no insects bothering us and the seas were flat calm.

We researched the tour providers and went with Metropolitan Touring, which is an Ecuadorean company. The US tour companies basically resell local tours from companies like this one at a markup. From our research it seems that everyone likes the boat he was on a lot. We certainly liked ours a lot, La Pinta. It wasn't cheap. Metropolitan does offer heavy discounts on the Galapagos trips occasionally. Get on their email list. They provided excellent service, by the way.

If you look on tripadvisor you can find recommendations for a cheaper, smaller boat whose name escapes me at the moment, but you'll recognize it since it only takes about 14 passengers and it's the only one that is that small. Not deluxe, but as you'll see it has its fans and I would certainly take that trip rather than not go at all.

Be careful in Ecuador. Crime is a big problem.

 

[Gillette]

We went to Ecuador in December 2010. We didn't book our cruise until we arrived in Quito. We knew we wanted to use Ecoventura so we dropped by their office and got our 1 week tour for half price for the last minute booking. Best decision ever. I cannot recommend Ecoventura tours enough. The guides on our boat were amazing.

Not all boats do the same islands so be sure you're happy with what you'll see on whichever tour you choose. One thing to know about the tours as well is that it's no a vacation. You're up early and there is very little down time. Maybe a few hours before dinner, but it's not a relaxing trip. However, it is worth it for giant tortoises and blue footed boobies - my highlights.

G adventures doesn't typically run their own tours. They contract them to local guides so you usually save money by sourcing the local guides yourself.

 

[may pop]

With Kurt Vonnegut while ago.