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Santa Fe Island
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Santa Fe Island
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Santa Fe Island

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Santa Fe Island
4.5
About
Suggested duration
2-3 hours
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Tours & experiences
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The area
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Attractions
6 within 10 kms
El Garrapatero
702
2 kmBeaches • Parks
Charles Darwin Research Station
3,372
Nature & Wildlife Areas
Playa de La Estacion
146
Beaches
Highland View Galapagos
24
Farms
El Trapiche Ecologico Galapagos
9
Farms
Isla Sombrero China
2
Nature & Wildlife Areas
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
4.5
94 reviews
Excellent
78
Very good
11
Average
1
Poor
1
Terrible
3
mingfatsai
Grand Island, NE4,611 contributions
Amazingly Cordial Sea Lions
Jun. 2021
A great island to interact with sea lions on the beach. You are not permitted to touch them or approach them closer than six feet, but sit calmly and watch how closely they approach you! It is an incredible interactive experience. The adult sea lions may give you nothing more than a casual glance and you want to keep a distance from territorial bulls, but the juveniles and pups will delight in your presence and welcome you with open flippers. You too will delight as they gambol toward you as fast as there undulating bodies permit. We also spotted a hammerhead shark hunting in the bay fronted by the sea lion beach. Snorkeling is so so.
Written June 23, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
301lisa33
Coventry, UK1,875 contributions
Decent destination
Nov. 2019
This island is quite accessible being close to Santa Cruz. It provides an opportunity to see sealions and hawks and other Galapagos delights
Written May 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Robin P
Sydney, Australia363 contributions
So Loved those Sea Lions!
Nov. 2019
Santa Fe Island is a two-hour boat trip, through the bluest ocean, from Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz. Arrival on Santa Fe Island involves a wet landing– lots of sharp rock etc on sea bed so advice is wear water shoes to wade thru the water to reach the beach. Welcoming us on the beach was a colony of sea lions with many babies. Three bulls (huge guys) in the water close to the beach making a lot of noise to intimidate each other. These animals have decreased in numbers due to el nino effect. The beach used to be awash with Sea Lions, but it is far less crowded now.

Told to keep a 2 meter distance from them, I began photographing and then felt something nibbling my ankle (we were barefoot on the beach), looking down it was a curious baby sea lion – what a privilege to be so close to these wonderful animals, I didn’t want to wash my foot!! An amazing experience!!! As we walked around this island, we saw several mothers under bushes with their newborn babies. They will stay like that, isolated from the group, for a few days to ensure bonding and give baby a chance to grow a bit which they do very fast.

I saw yellow iguanas sunning themselves on rocks surprised at how small they are); a Galapagos hawk hovering around the area of the sea lions, looking for a meal of newborns!

So many bird varieties with nesting pair of seagulls (far more beautiful & different then what we have at home) just sitting on the ground, one nesting, mate grooming her with not a worry as we walked close by with couple of iguanas on the other side of the Cactus. Giant Cactus have prickles on them when young and small, to protect them from the Iguanas. Their trunk becomes smooth as they mature and when they die of either old age or some
weather event, their cactus is a delicious meal for the iguana.

Next, we did some more swimming in these glorious waters – snorkled and I saw a sea lion and shark below, sea turtles swimming and beautiful colored fish. What a glorious uncrowded, unspoiled part of our world this is. I chose to wear a short wetsuit (which reaches the knees) – these + flippers can be rented from your hotel and snorkels were given to us on the boat. There were several very sun burned backs from the sun on those who chose not to wear a wetsuit.
Review of: Full-Day Trip to Santa Fe Island from Puerto Ayora, Galapagos
Written March 27, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Eve G
Loganville, PA14 contributions
Snorkeling on the boat “Patricia”. DON’T!!!!
Nov. 2019 • Family
Let me start off my saying that the Galápagos Islands are absolutely amazing and well taken care of. This has been our dream vacation ever since my husband was a small boy. We had a blast and loved the local community; however, we took a snorkeling tour to Santa Fe from a shop located next to the docks (Santa Cruz Island). There are only 3 boats allowed to tour Sante Fe. DO NOT BOARD ON THE BOAT CALLED PATRICIA (Pictures below). They are thieves!! They go through your luggage while you are swimming and skim your credit/debit cards!!! We had $15,000 taken and another passenger on our boat had $3,000. We filed a police report and will follow through with charges.
Written December 5, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Daditude
Golden Valley, MN61 contributions
Decent snorkeling, small Island
Aug. 2018
Took a 35 minute boat ride from Sante Cruz Island to Sante Fe island. It was a relatively short trip compared to the trip to other islands. The Island is quite small with limited trails. The best part is the snorkeling with lots of sea Lions. There was not as many species of fish as I experienced on the other Galapagos Islands.
Written July 5, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
diannj1960
Allen, TX98 contributions
Bartolome island
Jun. 2019 • Couples
Climb to the top of the island- but only if you are in Good shape. There are 375 stairs to climb and that doesn’t include the steps you take in between the stairs. However the view is very beautiful from the top.
Review of: Day Trip to Bartolome Island from Puerto Ayora
Written June 10, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Boomer
Prescott, AZ401 contributions
Easy hike
Apr. 2019 • Friends
It is a wet landing. Many many sea lions everywhere. 7500 iguanas live here so you will see many. Also the only place I saw a Galápagos hawk.
Written April 22, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TimWandMelG
Austin, TX278 contributions
Be careful what Tour Operator you choose - avoid BM Tours
Dec. 2018 • Couples
There are some pretty unscrupulous Tour Operators out there and some of them are linked with companies you would expect to be able to trust e.g. Expedia. We booked two tours with BM Tours (an Expedia partner). They took our money and then eight months later stated that the tour to Bartolomeo was cancelled. No reason was ever given from BM Tours or Expedia despite repeated requests although we later found out the truth - they never had the ability to fulfill the tour in the first place! The situation in the Galapagos appears to be that anyone can set up as a Tour Operator. They create a website, sell services, take money, but there are truly only a very limited number of people on the ground providing the actual service that has been bought. Those people have their own preferred Operators to work with and once all the seats are full the remaining ‘Operators’ cancel their bookings. Given these tours can cost a significant amount of money (hundreds of dollars) you have to be very careful. Our trip to Isla Santa Fe did go ahead and was advertised as a “boat trip to Isla Santa Fe to see the land iguanas trail and giant cactuses and hawks”. It was arranged through Expedia and BM Tours. Almost everything in this description was incorrect. We did not see the land iguana trail, giant cactuses or hawks because you are not allowed to land on the island! This is not the boat operators fault. They have no idea what the Tour Operators are advertising and selling. They just have their standard service. What we got was an entire day on a boat with two 30 minute snorkeling sessions at the island. The day started at 06:00 in the hotel lobby and ended at 17:00 back at the pier. The boat journey each way was two hours and we had a snorkeling session followed by a journey around the island followed by another snorkeling session. Hundreds of dollars to see some small fish!
Written January 27, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Diane H
3 contributions
So much more...
Jan. 2019 • Couples
Fantastic trip! Spent 6 days here, arring with an airbnb booking and no other plans. Wound up doing two day boat trips and also this island explorations. We are really excited to return and explore other islands! Highly recommend the diy approach!
Written January 16, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Martinvie
11 contributions
Beware of the boat you choose and tour operator
Dec. 2018
This visit was a nightmare for us.
As you can read below some tour go there in 40minutes and other in 2 hours
We were with La Galicia boat and tour operador los lobos de galapagos.
Please don t use them it is a robbery travelling time 2 hours only one engine working max speed 9 nodes
So every one vomitting and sea sick.
Only one hour snorkeling and five hour crusing. Lack of safety.
There it is amazing of course but with this boat it is dangerous and i will never do it again
So ask a 45 minutes trip with good boat sonyou are sure to spend an amazing tour.
Written December 31, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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SANTA FE ISLAND - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about Santa Fe Island