Santa Cruz is the main tourism hub for all of Galápagos, given its proximity to the airport on Baltra to the north. It is the only island in Galápagos where tourists can readily experience the interior and higher elevations of a Galápagos island. Santa Cruz has the longest paved road in Galápagos, which runs north-south across the island, taking people from the airport ferry at Itabaca Canal on the north coast into the highlands and through a few smaller towns on its way down to Puerto Ayora, the island’s largest city located on the southern coast of the island in Academy Bay.
Top Places to Visit on Santa Cruz
Puerto Ayora
Situated in Academy Bay on the southern coast of Santa Cruz, Puerto Ayora is a port town where sailboats fill the bay, sea birds fill the air, and marine iguanas dot the shore. Puerto Ayora is the heart and soul of the Galápagos Islands’ human population and is the main tourism hub in the archipelago.
Known for its quaint hotels with creative architecture and small restaurants with delicious seafood, Puerto Ayora is the base point for most tours and offers the most services in Galápagos, including a hospital, banks, post office, radio station and a LATAM airline office. Most travelers to the Galápagos will make a stop in Puerto Ayora during their trip.
Puerto Ayora also offers the most options for tourists who prefer to sleep ashore. There are a variety of day tours available allowing visitors to design their own Galápagos experience. Day-trips to a number of the islands, kayaking, tours of the highlands, hiking, dive trips, mountain biking, and horseback riding are just a few of the activities visitors can arrange in Puerto Ayora. It is also home to the headquarters of the Galápagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Research Station (see visitor site).
Bellavista
The village of Bellavista is located 7 km inland from Puerto Ayora. It is the second largest population center on the island. Once a farming center, it is now also the center of a housing boom with more residential properties for many who work in Puerto Ayora. The town is the starting point for hikes or horse rides to Media Luna and Cerro Crocker at the top of the island. Various farms around both Bellavista and Santa Rosa have restaurants and some have opportunities for visitors to go underground into lava tubes.
Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa is a smaller community in the highlands of Santa Cruz. It is the center of a farming community. The town is the starting place for hikes to the Tortoise Reserve (either La Caseta or El Chato) and the road out to Salasaca where there is a road down through private property to El Chato. Various farms around both Bellavista and Santa Rosa have restaurants and some have opportunities for visitors to go underground into lava tubes.
These eerie formations offer a fascinating look into the volcanic belly of the island. The lava tubes were formed when surface lava cooled and solidified, while the underground hot lava continued to flow, eventually leaving an emptied cave. Some of these mysterious tunnels can be explored with torch and headlamp. Access to most of the lava tubes is on private land where a small fee is charged. The larger, more complex tubes require descent by ladder.
