Naturalist-Led Tours to Santiago Island
There are three ways to tour Santiago Island in the Galapagos, and all three use a licensed naturalist guide: a stop on a multi-day cruise, a full-day yacht trip from Santa Cruz, and a dive outing. Santiago is uninhabited, so it has no buses, city tours, museums or theatres. What it has are two big walking sites, a fur-seal coast and a lava field.
The three tour formats
| Format | Starts from | What you get on Santiago |
|---|---|---|
| Cruise stop | Your ship | Landings at Puerto Egas, Sullivan Bay, Espumilla and more, with panga rides |
| Full-day yacht trip | Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz | A Sullivan Bay lava walk added to a Bartolome visit |
| Dive outing | Puerto Ayora or a liveaboard | Cousins Rock dives |
What the guide does
The guide is there to lead and to protect the place. Expect talks on volcanic geology, a fixed route along the trail, and reminders to stay 2 m from animals. Guides also decide when snorkeling is safe. At Puerto Egas the focus is Galapagos fur seals and young sea lions on a lava shelf. At Sullivan Bay it is the young lava, hornitos and tree molds.
The full-day trip in numbers
The day starts with a hotel pickup at around 6:00. The drive to the Itabaca channel takes about 40 minutes, and the boat then needs about 2 hours. Bartolome is the headline stop, and Sullivan Bay on Santiago is the second. Return times are typically 17:00 to 18:00, so ask the seller to confirm.
For price, expect about $250 per person from a local agency in Puerto Ayora, around $296 to $364 on booking platforms, and up to about $550 on one international site. A wetsuit usually costs extra.
Dive tours
Dive centres in Puerto Ayora run day outings to Bartolome and Cousins Rock, with the dive sites about 1.5 hours beyond the Itabaca channel. A daily tour is priced at $270. Liveaboard dive cruises include Cousins Rock too.
Questions to ask before you pay
- Is the park fee included? It is $200 for foreign visitors aged 12 and over.
- Is the wetsuit included?
- Which Santiago sites are on this itinerary?
- What is the return time?
Official sources help here. The park rules page explains guide and distance requirements, and the government fee table lists who pays what.
Check tours on GetYourGuide .
Read more: activities , sightseeing and walking tours .