San Cristóbal  Island

May 15, 2025

Of all the islands we visited, San Cristóbal is definitely my favorite.  While they are all amazing in their own right, Santa Cruz is a bit too touristy and not a lot of exiting tour options, Isabela, has some great tours like Los Tuneles, but it's a bit too undeveloped for my taste.  San Cristobal is the perfect blend of built up - it has a very charming, but small, main street on the waterfront and some amazing tours like the 360 tour around the island featuring incredible marine life like the funky hammerhead shark.  And of course, the San Cristobal sunsets are second to none. 

We spent 5 days on this incredible island, exploring the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, sampling some of its delicious restaurants and visiting virtually every playground in the vicinity.  We also booked ourselves on the flagship "360 Tour" with tour operator Galapagos Xcursions.  

The 360° Tour offered by Galapagos Xcursion is a full-day adventure that circles San Cristóbal Island, providing a comprehensive experience of its diverse marine and coastal ecosystems. The tour is designed for travelers seeking to explore the island's natural beauty through snorkeling, beach visits, and scenic navigation.  

The cost of the tour depends on the time of year you go. In early May when we went they were listing it as $180 per person (child and adult are the same price), but we did a lot of reseach and saw other similar tours for $140-$160 so we negotiated them down to $150 per person given we were bringing 4 persons. 

Since Austen didn't want to go Francesa and I went on different days - her with Finley and me with Ryan.  It was an amazing experience both days, although the weather was a little better for Ryan and me and therefore we saw some marine life that Franesca and Finley did not - most notably the mighty hammerhead shark.  We also saw schools of rays, giant Galapagos sea turtles, black and white tip reef sharks and octopi. 

We flew out of San Cristobal airport to Guayanquil to Quito and on to Panama for our final month.