cheerful

Anybody has stayed in some hotels on Puerto Ayota (Santa Cruz in Galapagos)? Paritcularly Hotel Fernandina and Grand Lobo de Mar? Any comments? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

Patty

I'd like to know too. I'm thinking of staying at the Lobo de Mar myself. When are you planning to go?

cheerful

No clear plan yet, latter part of the year. Let me know if you have any information! Thanks!

Patty

I plan to stay at the Lobo de Mar in May. I may also end up staying one night at the Fernandina as my cruise package includes one hotel night and I was told that's the hotel they normally use. If so, I'll be able to give a first hand comparison of the two after I return. The agent I'm working with said that Lobo de Mar was better.

jojosm33

I stayed on Puerto Ayora when I got off my cruise. I stayed at the Hotel Silberstein. My only regret is that it didn't have A/C, this was in May. It had nice grounds, a pool, was not on the water, but across the street. It was only a 5 min walk to the Darwin Research Center, so I went back and hung out with a tortoise! No guide around, so I went where I wanted to. I strolled around, did shopping, went to the internet cafe. Not much english here compared to on the boat! I managed though. Very safe place, very young children play in the streets with no worries. Have a great time!

Patty

I ended up spending one night at the Silberstein and 2 nights at the Lobo de Mar. Like the previous poster mentioned, the Silberstein has cute grounds and a nice breakfast buffet was included. But the two problems were - no A/C in the section where we stayed and no hot water at least on the night we were there. There were 8 of us occupying 4 rooms and no one had hot water that evening or the next morning despite repeated inquiries to the front desk. I also think the Silberstein's room rates are high for what they offer (the one night was included in my package) and wouldn't choose to stay there on my own.

At the Lobo de Mar, we had a slight problem at check-in (we had prepaid and there was a question as to whether we needed to pay there) and they tried to put us in one of the old, non-A/C rooms at first which I quickly put a stop to. The clerk apologized for the "confusion" and moved us to a 2nd floor room in the new section with a balcony overlooking Puerto Ayora harbor. The hotel is in fairly good condition and is priced reasonably. My only complaint would be the included breakfast which consisted of instant coffee, toast, and a fried egg. I'd plan on having breakfast elsewhere. I never saw a single person eating any other meals in their restaurant. There's a pool in the courtyard with a few lounge chairs and they have 2 computer terminals for internet access. The location is right in town next to the TAME office.

I very much enjoyed staying on the island after our cruise. It's a very laid back, low key place. We walked to Tortuga Bay and spent one morning there and took a half day snorkel trip the next day. We also looked into day tours to other islands. The only one offered on the day we wanted to go was to Bartolome. It would have required an hour bus ride to the north side of Santa Cruz and a 2.5 hour boat ride each way. The thought of spending 7 hours of travel time was too much, not to mention the tour left at 5:00am! I wouldn't recommend using Puerto Ayora as a base and doing day tours as your main Galapagos experience, but it's a good place to relax, go diving, or explore the interior of Santa Cruz.

The town is well set up for the tourist traffic. There are internet cafes on every corner, a Banco de Pacifico ATM, and you can get your laundry washed, dried, and folded in about 5 hours for $1 a kilo. The bus/ferry to the airport operates according to the flight schedule. Taxis are pickup trucks and fares are $1 around town. We learned this the morning we moved from the Silberstein to the Lobo de Mar. As we were schlepping our bags down the road, a woman on a bicycle rode by us and shouted "Taxis are only a dollar!"

I thought there was more English spoken here that on mainland Ecuador but a little Spanish certainly helps.

SemillaVerde

Hello, our family run guesthouse is just outside of Puerto Ayora, and we are offering something quite different from the rest, with all the home comforts essentials but none of the crowds. I don't want to be too biased, so please check it out for yourselves www.gps.ec