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Blue-footed boobies nesting on the hiking trails, staring quizzically as you walk past. Mockingbirds landing on camera lenses and peering at their reflections. Sea lions hopping off rocks as you hop out of your Zodiac, eager to look at you, or swim with you. Galápagos is a rare and magical place and the most welcoming place to be after the year our species has had. We know—we’ve been leading expeditions here for more than 50 years. Don’t miss out on Galápagos this fall—choose our Wild Escape for a quick getaway, or stay longer.
In Galápagos, one thing is certain: expect the unexpected! Surrounded by wildlife on land and at sea, you never know what might happen. And that’s been the draw since Darwin landed in 1835.
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Galápagos
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Length
10 days
From
$7,560
Prices are per person
Galápagos
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Galápagos
Peru
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Length
16 days
From
$13,760
Prices are per person
Galápagos
Peru
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Galápagos
Peru
Wild Escapes
Special Offers
Length
10 days
From
$7,330
Prices are per person
Galápagos
Peru
Wild Escapes
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Galápagos
Wild Escapes
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Length
7 days
From
$5,900
Prices are per person
Galápagos
Wild Escapes
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Travel to the Galápagos is on! Here are some things you might be wondering if you're considering a trip to the world's most interesting islands.
Dive in and experience Galápagos with all your senses. Choose how you want to explore—hike, paddleboard, kayak, snorkel, or arrange to dive (on select departures). Take a long hike or just relax on the beach. Our generous staff-to-guest ratio means you can always find a naturalist whose interests and approach you share whether you want to focus on birding, human history, photography, the undersea, or more. Since the first international tourist expedition cruise to the Galápagos Islands in July 1967 with Lars-Eric Lindblad, we’ve introduced generations of guests to these strange and wonderful islands, the world’s first UNESCO World Heritage site.
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For this extremely rare and special encounter with Galapagos penguins, you have to be in the right place at the right time and, of course, traveling with the right people.
Socrates Tomala, Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor, November 4, 2021
more daily expedition reportsFrom climate conditions, to water temperature, to packing the right footwear. Find answers to the questions our Expedition Specialists get most often.
Read moreHenry David Thoreau called it the “tonic of wildness.” It’s what a cruise to Galápagos, with its beauty and wildness, gives you—a spirit lift. To compound this healthful effect, we provide a quality of shipboard life and a philosophy of wellness to relax and rejuvenate body, mind, and spirit.
This is the best trip we have ever taken. We have been all over the world and nothing else compares.
Barry Z.
Lindblad Expeditions supports stewardship efforts in the places we explore, and one way we do that is through the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic (LEX-NG) Fund. Traveler contributions to the LEX-NG Fund in Galápagos currently support our regional partners—the Charles Darwin Foundation, Galápagos National Park Directorate, Island Conservation, and the Scalesia Foundation—in their efforts to research and conserve the unique wildlife of the islands and promote education in the region.
11/28/2021
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National Geographic Endeavour II
Today National Geographic Endeavour II is visiting Espanola Island. Here in this beautiful place we have plenty of activities to do. We started the day with deep water snorkeling on Gardner Islet before heading to Gardner Beach, which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the entire archipelago. After a delicious lunch, naturalist Socrates Tomalá was in the lounge for a photo talk where we learned how to take the best photographs during our hikes here in the Galapagos. Later we hiked on Punta Suarez, an amazing place to photograph sea birds, including the waved albatross and Nazca booby. After a shower back onboard, it was time to head to the lounge for naturalist Javier Carrion’s interesting presentation about adaptive radiation. Then, our expedition leader Juan Carlos gave us information about tomorrow’s activities. We cannot wait to keep exploring this amazing place.
11/27/2021
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National Geographic Islander
Today we had a very early wakeup call to start our amazing expedition, and we couldn’t be happier. First, we enjoyed a Zodiac ride along the coast of Bartolome Island looking for penguins. We had a very unusual encounter with a Galapagos sea lion feeding from a tuna on the rocks, literally tearing it apart. We were all very amazed and spent some time just watching him eat his very fresh breakfast! A white tip reef shark was around as well, trying to get the leftovers that were dripping into the sea. A Sally Lightfoot crab was also nearby, ready to get its portion of the meal. Penguins were swimming by during the feeding session, too. At 7:00 am we started our walk up to Bartolome’s viewpoint, where we all took great photos of the morning landscape from the top of the island. Back onboard, we had breakfast and prepared for the rest of the morning. Beginning snorkelers went to the beach to learn and refresh their skills, while the deep-water snorkelers were lucky enough to swim with different species of fish, sharks, penguins, marble sting rays, sea turtles, and more. It was already an amazing day, and we still had the afternoon! In the afternoon we had more great activities; the Global Explorers introduction, photography tips from our photo instructor, and after these, a visit to Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz Island. We started with a Zodiac ride around the Mangrove Ecosystem where we spotted baby black tip and white tip sharks, spotted eagle rays, blue-footed boobies and brown pelicans. We ended this fabulous day walking around the arid zone of this island where we encountered marine iguanas, Galapagos land iguanas, shore birds and the best sight of the day – three American flamingoes flying overhead while we were watching the sunset.
11/24/2021
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National Geographic Islander
The Galapagos is a unique group of islands, each one quite divers from one another. Some of these volcanic islands that emerged from the bottom of the ocean are very young, and others very old. The geology and the geography create the biology of these islands. Here you find hundreds of square kilometers of barren lava and rocks with no plants; but there, you find more soil, more humidity, and consequently more plants and land birds. On the same volcano, you find different ecosystems and many ecological niches where the flora and fauna involved in isolation from the rest of the world. Urbina Bay at Isabela is very lush versus Fernandina. Today we are exploring a different terrain where finches, land iguanas, and giant tortoises are living, and we see them along the trail. Our intrepid guests walked around in search of these magical creatures. Lucky us! We found them and were able to take photographs as a souvenir to help us narrate our story back home. After the walk, our young Global Explorers went swimming from the black beach that forms the bay; and later after returning to our ship, they jumped form a high deck to the water having a lot of fun. In the afternoon, our Captain Carlos motored along the coast of Isabela, arriving to explore Tagus Cove, a legendary place visited by buccaneers and pirates few hundred years ago. They left some graffiti carved on the wall more than 200 hundred years ago. There, we went to snorkel along the coast, and it is one of the favorite guest activities to do every day. Our guests love the moments in the water surrounded by sea lions, Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, sharks, marine turtles and tons of multicolor fish and sea stars. At the end, some of our guests went to walk up-hill to see Darwin Lake and explore the arid zone of Tagus, in a very invigorating hike; while others went to ride along the shoreline of the cove, on Zodiacs, to see colonies of blue-footed boobies, cormorants. and penguins. The sun came down as our incredible day ended.
11/23/2021
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National Geographic Islander
What an amazing day we had! We started with a delicious breakfast followed by Crossing the Equator activities. We all gathered on the bow of the ship, crossed the “Equator Line,” designated by a naturalist with an Ecuadorian Flag. We all had a great time together and got commemorative pins marking the occasion. We followed this with Zodiac rides along the cost of Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela Island, where we enjoyed the beautiful landscape of the area and its wildlife: Galapagos fur seals, marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, Galapagos penguins, and more. The highlight of this day was the snorkeling. The conditions were extremely good in terms of weather, sea, visibility, and wildlife encounters, even by the standards of our local naturalists. And one guest declared today one of the five best days of her life! The fantastic snorkel included hundreds of different fish, dozens of sea turtles, penguins, and even a very slow-cruising Mola Mola (sunfish). All on a sunny day with crystal clear visibility, we could not ask for more. Our young Global Explorers went on Zodiac driving lessons, follow by the adults with a talk about “Human History in the Galapagos.” After these activities we all prepared to visit the pristine island of Fernandina, the youngest of the archipelago. Here we encountered thousands of huge marine iguanas, most of them basking in the sun to warm up after foraging in the cold ocean. To end this amazing day, the crew delighted us with a fantastic barbecue out on the sky deck, with delicious types of meats, fresh tuna, great salads, desserts, and drinks. Very grateful for all of this!
11/22/2021
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National Geographic Islander
With excellent weather and calm waters, we began our first full day in the Galapagos by visiting North Seymour. It is famous not only because of its incredible geological formations, but also because this island is home to many sea and land birds, plus reptiles and sea lions. As soon we set foot on the island, we immediately noticed how the vegetation looks completely dry and some trees, like the incense or palo santo tree, appeared completely naked and without leaves, contrasting with the greenness we found months ago during the rainy season. Walking inland, we observe land iguanas and some blue-footed boobies. In nests located in bushes are many juvenile great and magnificent frigatebirds waiting to be fed by their parents. Some appeared somewhat exhausted by sun and heat. After some minutes we arrived at a sandy trail. Here the vegetation changed completely; Instead of trees, we observed bushes. We encountered many juvenile blue-footed boobies walking freely along the sandy terrain. In a few weeks, these juveniles will be able to fly away from the island for a few years and return as adults to reproduce and nest, a life process that has been repeated for millions of years. In the afternoon, after about four hours of navigation, the National Geographic Islander arrived at Rábida Island. In the distance, the island looked reddish and its hills and highlands somewhat greenish, contrasting with the blue of the sea and the sky. Our guests disembarked and enjoyed incredible snorkeling along the cliffs of the island. We observed many sea turtles, white-tipped reef sharks, and colorful tropical fish. What most caught our attention? Playful Galapagos sea lions swimming along with our guests. At 5 PM, we had our last departure to the island to enjoy a beautiful sunset. In the water, diving pelicans and sea lion were in a feeding frenzy, trying to catch some fish, which tried to escape by jumping to the surface or very close to the beach. With the last rays of sun, we returned to the ship, tired but with many memories of this day that will be memorable for many of us.
It will never leave you if you go to the Galápagos islands. You will have stories for the rest of your life—I can promise you.
Sven-Olof Lindblad
