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Espanola Island Galapagos Islands

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Española Island | Day Tour price $240 | Galapagos

4.4/5 - (151 votes)

Española island, is one of the most sought-after tours on San Cristóbal Island. On it, you will hike in the company of albatrosses, marine iguanas and nasca boobies. I can help you book the tour to Espanola island from $240.

The Española Island Tour (Galapagos – Ecuador) is the only tour where you can see albatrosses and, with a bit of luck, even see their mating dance. Between the months of April and December, it is sure to be spotted on the trail leading to Punta Suarez.

Albatros on Espanola Island

Albatros on Espanola Island

 


Choko Host - Galapagos hotels
Choko Host - Galapagos hotels




How to get to Espanola Island


There are two ways to get to Española Island in the Galapagos. First, on a Galapagos cruise that includes the Island on its itinerary. Second, taking a tour from San Cristobal Island. If you travel on a cruise to Española Island, you will visit the same places as if you were traveling on a daily tour.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities opened a new daily tour on Tuesdays, where travelers visit other places on Española Island, such as: Punta Cevallos, Tortuga Islet and Manzanillo.

Albatross in their mating dance on Espanola Island

Albatross in their mating dance on Espanola Island

Disembarkation in Garden Bay

Disembarkation in Garden Bay

 
 

»TRAVELERS ALSO VISIT 360 Tour on San Cristobal

 
 

Trip itinerary


This tour involves two stops, after a 2h15 min boat ride from the main dock of San Cristobal.

Stop 1: Gardner Bay (2-hour hike around Punta Suarez)
Stop 2: Gardner Island/Rock (lunch and snorkeling)

 

You must leave early in the morning and take necessary precautions according to the tide. First, the place you arrive is Punta Suarez. Where you are greeted by young sea lions swimming around the boat showing off their skills.

Then you’ll go on a hike across the island that lasts a couple of hours, where you will see many lava iguanas, marine iguanas, sea lions, nasca and blue-footed boobies as well as, you guessed it, the Galapagos albatross.

Stories on Instagram
from Espanola Island

  • ENTER AND ENJOY IT!
  • by @ChokoEc

    Nazca or Masked Boobies in Punta Suarez

    Nazca or Masked Boobies in Punta Suarez

    When you reach the cliff, you will realize that it was worth the trip to this island. It is also home to a colony of boobies, along with iguanas and sea lions. Before snorkeling on Gardner Island lunch is served, it is advisable to indicate on the form if you are vegetarian or vegan.

    Because of the pandemic, a new tour to Española Island was opened, with a different route where you visit places like: Punta Cevallo, where you make a wet landing and then make a short walk to reach the coastal area of Albatross nesting.

    Alternative trail on the tour to Isla Espanola

    Alternative trail on the tour to Isla Espanola

    In addition, this place is used by the Albatross as their private airport to take flight. You also travel to Islote Tortuga, it is a place for snorkeling, and as expected in Galapagos you can see a variety of fish, sea turtles and sea lions. And to finish, you visit the beautiful Manzanillo beach, to have a relaxing time or snorkel and continue observing marine life.

     

    ESPANOLA ISLAND ON VIDEO


     
     

    »TRAVELERS ALSO VISIT Bartolome Island

     
     

    Information on Espanola day tour


    Tour from San Cristobal Island
    Tour price: US$ 240 (Tuesday and Thursday)
    Tour price: US$ 298 (Wednesday and Friday)
    *Tour price changes in high season
    Departure dates: Tuesday (Cevallos Point) or Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (Suarez Point)
    Pick up: Assigned by operator
    Passenger per yacht: 10-12 people
    Sail total: 4h (2h there and 2h back)
    Start time: 07h00
    Return time: 17h00
    Includes: Snorkeling equipment (masks and fins), life vest, towels, lunch, snacks, bilingual certified Galapagos National Park guide, marine transport.

    Does not include: Neoprene suit, alcoholic drinks, soda and tips.

    * Price does not include 12% IVA (We only charge it if you need an invoice).
    * This tour is not recommended for children from 0 – 2 years of age.
    * This tour is not recommended for people with mobility problems.
    * You definitely need to bring a pair of trekking shoes (lava rocks are sharp!)
    * Reserve this Espanola Island Tour with a partial payment using the available payment methods: a bank transfer from any Ecuadorian bank (no additional cost), using WeTravel you can a bank transfer from any U.S. bank (1% + 0.30 cents in additional costs), credit or debit card (only 3.9% additional cost) o using Paypal (5.9% additional cost).

     

    Stories on Instagram
    from Espanola Island

  • ENTER AND ENJOY IT!
  • by @ChokoEc

     
     

    »TRAVELERS ALSO VISIT North Seymour Island

     
     


     
     
     
     

    DON’T MISS OUT!


    I can help you reserve this Espanola island tour with local operators that own the vessels. Instead of wasting time wandering around each island looking for tours, you should be enjoying the places you can visit on your own while at the Galapagos Islands.

     

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    Punta Suarez viewpoint

     

    DON’T MISS OUT!


    I can help you reserve this Epsanola island tour with local operators that own the vessels. Instead of wasting time wandering around each island looking for tours, you should be enjoying the places you can visit on your own while at the Galapagos Islands.
     

  • 📆 CHECK AVAILABILITY
  • *We work directly with boat owners and tour operators in the Galapagos, thereby avoiding additional costs, unlike travel operators like Viator, Get Your Guide and Civitatis which rely on third-party local operators.



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  •  

    @ChokoEc

    @ChokoEc

    My name is Christian but you came call me Choko. Together with my wife we have created this blog to help all travelers going to Galapagos. I am from Ecuador, born in Guayaquil. Passionate about traveling and everything related to social media. In my free time I travel the americas. I have given conferences and workshops revolving around my work and tourism 2.0 // WRITE ME USING WHATSAPP: +593978990910 - BLOG EN ESPAÑOL ChokoTrip

    35 Comments

    • David

      My wife and I did the Espanola island tour and enjoyed the tour and the guide. Seeing the albatross dance and swimming with the guide and sea lions were the best. .The guide downloaded his Go-Pro video so we could enjoy later for free.

      July 17, 2023 at 4:01 pm
    • Heather

      We loved our trip to Española! We were a family of 4 with kids ages 9 and 5. The tour operator did such a good job making sure the kids had good and appropriately sized equipment for snorkeling. The guide gave our youngest a safety ring to snorkel with so he felt comfortable in the water in his first ever snorkel tour.

      The guide also took and shared GoPro pictures with us after the trip, which took a lot of stress of off having to take our own photos.

      We saw blue footed boobies, Nazca boobies, albatrosses, sea lions, sea turtles, and so many fish! It is a long day, and a long boat ride, but we really enjoyed both the hike and the two snorkeling spots. There was plenty of food with lunch and snacks and it was all delicious as well. I would highly recommend.

      June 13, 2023 at 7:33 pm
    • Edward Fiets

      The trip to española was good. of course the albatrosses, but also de snorkeling thereafter. the crew onboard was friendly and lunch was good.

      August 1, 2022 at 12:37 pm
    • Ben

      The tour was very well organised, very good boat and guide. We appreciated the fact that we had booked the tour with Choko Tour in 2020 and we managed to push it to 2022 (due to Covid) with Christian’s help. We loved Espanola – full of birds, iguanas and sea lions. One of our preferred islands. Thank you.

      July 22, 2022 at 7:08 pm
    • KCT

      Very reliable and dependable agent. Trip to Espanola Island was well organized and instructions for contacting agency on the ground were very clear. Recommended.

      July 4, 2022 at 12:50 pm
    • Ivan

      If there’s one trip you should do in the Galapagos it is an excursion to Española island. The nesting birds, the island specific Lava lizards and mockingbirds really bring home to you Darwin’s evolutionary theory. The trip Choko booked us on was perfect

      March 20, 2022 at 4:48 pm
    • Erin

      This island tour was amazing. We saw all of the animals that are endemic to Española island and had time to watch them and get great photos. Our guide was very nice and knowledgeable about the island and the animals there. He was very nice to my son and answered all of his many questions. This tour was great. I was very happy with Choko Tours for setting it up.

      December 20, 2021 at 9:55 pm
    • martin rodriguez

      The island is beautiful. It is amazing to have tons of birds and iguanas very close (of course keeping the distance to respect their habitat). The landscape is very nice. The boat ride can be rough, so definitely be prepared (motion sickness pills)

      July 29, 2021 at 3:32 pm
    • Sabrina

      This was an amazing tour especially since we were the only ones on the island. The guide and service on the boat were outstanding. Highly recommended. Saw an array of amazing things on this island and appreciate Choko for setting up this tour for us. Thank you!

      May 4, 2021 at 1:32 pm
    • Kimberly Crawford

      The tour of Espanola was amazing! The guide did a great job of providing information about the island, the animals, and the birds. Ending with snorkling was perfect since it was pretty hot on Espanola. Swimming with sea turtles was amazing! The meal on the boat was also very welcome! Thank you for such an amazing experience!!

      January 26, 2020 at 12:54 am
    • Kimberly Crawford

      The Espanola tour was amazing! I went on the January 6th tour this year. The guide and crew of the boat were very professional and explained everything very well. We did a hiking tour of Espanola first and saw an incredible birds, Iguana, sea lions, and plant life. The hike was followed by a very refreshing snorkle tour where we swam with enormous sea turtles. Snorkling was a perfect thing to do after the hike! THANK YOU!

      January 15, 2020 at 7:40 am
    • Robert

      Very interesting and nice trip, we have loved it. There were sea lions playing with us and Espanola Island is a paradise with all the Birds. We even saw the mate dance of the Albatros and have been very lucky to see them at all, because according to our guide they are leaving the island for some month at the end of December. There have been Babys of the Albatros, too. Loved the trip.

      January 15, 2020 at 1:02 am
      • Robert

        Fantastic organization by choko, by the way. All the trips organized by choko went weil.

        January 15, 2020 at 1:04 am
    • laurent Sabourin

      Isla Espanola is certainly the best day tour that one can have in the Galapagos. The scenery is amazing the birdlife outstanding and the food was delicious. Our guide was quite young ans still student, but very helpfull during the diving time. She even filmed us swimming with the sea lions so that we could get a memorable little movie of this unforgettable adventure. Concerning Choko, I simply can say that if you want to book in advance this tour, it is certainly the best option. If you go during low season, maybe you can take the risk not to book and then pay a little less but not guarantee.

      November 14, 2019 at 3:08 pm
    • Laurence Baskin

      outstanding
      Guide Jennifer awesome
      captain and crew professional
      Espanalo trail highlight of Galapagos

      September 16, 2019 at 11:53 pm
    • Katherine Dunne

      Our day trip to Española on the yacht “Sofia girl” organised by Christian was fantastic. We met with the boat captain the day prior to the trip to be fitted with wetsuits and snorkelling gear. The boat was adequate although not luxurious but the crew and guide were exceptional. The hike on Española was amazing, the waved albatross a magnificent bird to see, however the highlight of the day was snorkelling with the playful sea lions!

      September 11, 2019 at 2:11 pm
    • Vanessa

      We had a great trip to Espanola Island organised by Christian. It was our favorite we did in the Galapagos. Communication with Christian was great, the guide was so passionate about the Galapagos and he transmitted all his energy.

      August 5, 2019 at 2:58 pm
    • karl

      Everything nice and easy organized by choko! Thank you.

      July 2, 2019 at 8:17 pm
    • Ann

      My family and I had an excellent tour of Espanola with John (Lennon) as our knowledgeable and most excellent guide. I shopped around for tours to Espanola with different agencies and Choko Tour is definitely had the best deal for the same itinerary. I highly recommend them.!

      June 22, 2019 at 10:31 am
    • Mark

      We booked a day trip through Christian to go to Espanola in mid April. He did a great job responding to questions we had prior to booking. Everything was exactly as he described on the tour. The group that we took the trip with was on time and very professional. The tour itself was great, we snorkeled first in a small cove off the island. The waters were calm and we saw a ton of marine life. We then took the walking tour, which was not at all difficult. It does take about 2 hours and can be a little slow at times, however this provided plenty of time to enjoy the amazing views and take pictures. Overall, a great experience booking through Chok Trip and a great tour.

      May 24, 2019 at 6:41 am
    • Alistair Burns

      Espanola was a fantastic trip. The snorkelling included sea lions playing around us, rays and a shark at the end. The walk around the island was equally great with albatrosses, boobies and swarms of butterflies.

      Sharksky and in specifically Ariana were great. Comfortable catamaran with a nice crew. Ariana has great knowledge of the environment and is a bit of an expert with her GoPro, which she will airdrop you all of the videos and photos while you return to San Cristobal.

      Heartily recommend doing this while on San Cristobal. Enjoyed it more than Kicker Rock (could be luck on what you see though) and many many thanks to Choko for arranging this!

      May 11, 2019 at 8:03 am
    • Thomas Scholz

      Tour to Espanola was realy good.
      We saw: Dove, Albatros, Marineiguana, Hawk, Nazcabobby, bluefooted Bobby, Mockingbird, Oystercatcher, Darwin finches, swallow tailed gull, Galapagos shearwater, storm petrel, tropicbird, sealion, lavalizard.
      Snorkeling was nice, some saw whitetipped shark and maybe Mola Mola.
      Service and Knowledge was good, our guide was Marlu!

      May 8, 2019 at 1:54 pm
    • Krista Parker

      After all the other day trips i did, i didn’t think this was was necessarily worth while… i did get to see the waved albatross which was good, but i ended up being stuck with a family of old people and kids, who were very slow moving. luck of the draw i guess!

      May 5, 2019 at 7:00 pm
    • Cordula

      booked Espagnola trip via choktrip. Everything was fine, great island, great boat staff. We really enjoyed the trip.

      May 2, 2019 at 8:02 pm
    • Konrad

      Española island is a very unique spot in the Galapagos and it is worth the money if you are not doing this on a boat from the tour company Edén!!! It took us 3!!! hours to get there and 3 to get back which is not acceptable, I talked to someone who was on another boat, it took them 1 hour 45 minutes one way!!!
      Also, the guide was only doing his “daily talk”, no satisfactory answers to questions when asked by the participants, this was really annoying and should not happen at such a price level!
      I have to point out that the booking through Choko was quick, reliable and perfect, it was just the wrong tour operator so maybe it is good to ask beforehand who the tour operator will be.

      April 29, 2019 at 10:56 pm
      • Rafael

        Dear Konrad,
        I work for the company who took you to Española. I am terribly sorry for this situation. Unfortunately, we had problems with one of our motors that day because of the bad gasoline on this island and could therefor only use one out of the two motors, concluding in the trip taking longer than the normal 1h, 15 minutes. I hope you can understand and forgive us for this unfortunate event. Best regards, Rafael – Scuba Eden.

        May 2, 2019 at 4:04 pm
    • Chris Worswick

      We did 15 nights on San Cristobal, Isabela & Santa Cruz islands land based with help from Choko. The Espanola trip was the most dramatic of our boat trips.The walk among the cliffs was amazing surrounded by wildlife AND WE SAW ALBATROSS both flying & on the ground. There were only 3 on land we went on 12th April 2019 as they are late this year but the Boobies, Iguanas, Galapagos Hawk and more. The snorkelling was amazing a whole group of Eagle Rays swam right at me and a shark swam beneath me (got it on the gopro)..It is well worth the 2hr boat trip & saw jumping Rays & dolphins riding the bow. Thanks to Choko it was made very easy.

      April 25, 2019 at 6:28 am
    • Walter

      The day trip I am asking about in my last e-mail is the Espanola Island

      February 22, 2019 at 12:46 pm
      • @ChokoEc
        Christian Echeverria

        Dear Walter, I have to mention you that the only catamarans that depart as a daily tour from Santa Cristobal and Española Island are SharkSky and 7 mares, however, these have no availability for July 6. On that date there is availability in other companies that offer cruise service, not as daily tours.

        February 23, 2019 at 9:11 am
    • Walter

      I am wanting to book a day trip from San Cristobal with 3 adults and 1 (13 year old) child for July 6 2019 and was wondering if your company can book the Galapagos Hopper catamaran ? If so what would the cost be?

      February 22, 2019 at 12:43 pm
    • Helen

      Would use this company again. very helpful. and the dive company were very friendly with good trips

      February 17, 2019 at 4:55 pm
    • Walter

      Do you have any catamarans that do the day tour to Espanola? If yes then what is the cost?

      January 11, 2019 at 4:43 pm
    • Celia

      Española was the best tour I did in Galapagos! So glad with the service.

      August 31, 2018 at 6:02 pm
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