Getting to Galapagos
Posted September 21st, 2008 by Bob the Sea LionAIR
Flights from the mainland arrive at two airports:
Isla Baltra just north of Santa Cruz
and Isla San Cristóbal. There are almost
an equal number of flights to Baltra and
San Cristóbal. Every two or three years the
Baltra airport undergoes repairs and all
flights are diverted to San Cristóbal for up
to several months.
Two major airlines flying to the Galápagos
Islands are TAME ( p367 ) and Aerogal
( p367 ). TAME operates two morning flights
daily from Quito via Guayaquil to both the
Isla Baltra airport, just over an hour away
from Puerto Ayora by public transportation
(see p368 ) and the San Cristóbal airport.
AeroGal has three flights daily from
Quito to Isla Baltra and San Cristóbal via
Guayaquil. All return flights are in the early
afternoons of the same days. Icaro (Guayaquil
%04-229 4265; www.icaro.com.ec) also flies to San
Cristóbal three times a week.
Flights from Guayaquil cost high season/
low season $344/300 round-trip and take
1½ hours. From Quito, flights cost $390/344
round-trip and take 3¼ hours, due to the
layover in Guayaquil (you do not have to get
off the plane). It’s also possible to fly from
Quito and return to Guayaquil or vice versa.
There is a limit of 20kg of checked luggage
(per person) on the flight to the Galápagos.
Ecuadorian nationals can fly from Guayaquil
for half the price foreigners pay, and
Galápagos residents pay half that again. Some
foreign residents of Ecuador or workers in
the islands are also eligible, so if you have a
residence visa you should make inquiries.
There is a Hercules military plane that flies
to the islands every other Wednesday that
occasionally has room for foreign passengers.
Make inquiries at Avenida de la Prensa 3570,
a few hundred meters from the Quito airport
(ask for Departamento de Operaciones,
Fuerza Aerea del Ecuador). Flights go from
Quito via Guayaquil and stop at both San
Cristóbal and Baltra. Foreigners pay about
$300 round-trip for either destination.
Flights to the Galápagos are sometimes
booked solid well in advance, but you’ll
often find that there are many no-shows.
Travel agencies book blocks of seats for
their all-inclusive Galápagos Islands tours.
They will release the seats on the day of the
flight when there is no longer any hope of
selling their tour.
Tags: Galapagos Tours
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