Galapagos Unbound

10 days
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5/5 Excellent
81 reviews  
100%
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Small Group Tour
This Galápagos Islands adventure tour, "Galápagos Unbound,” is a unique, multisport tour that includes sea kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, and amazing wildlife viewing. Unlike most tours of the Galápagos Islands, ROW’s journey transports small, personal groups to visit sites that are not on the main tourist routes and allows you to navigate your own adventure. ...
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$6,138
From$4,990
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Overview

Trip type
Small Group Tour
Lodging level
Premium - 4 star
Physical level
Moderate
Trip pace
Balanced schedule

Highlights

    • Explore Galapagos Islands which is a top nature spot in the world
    • Experiencing camping in the island of Galapagos not the usual of just touring it with cruise
    • Get up close and personal with both the local people and the wildlife
    • Visit sites that are not on the main tourist routes
    • Play in the water with sea lions
    • Get within a few feet of blue footed boobies, marine iguanas and the giant Galapagos tortoises
    • Watch pelicans and boobies dive for fish
    • Snorkel in transparent water rich with sea-life and even swim with sharks, if you dare.

What's this trip about?

    This Galápagos Islands adventure tour, "Galápagos Unbound,” is a unique, multisport tour that includes sea kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, and amazing wildlife viewing. Unlike most tours of the Galápagos Islands, ROW’s journey transports small, personal groups to visit sites that are not on the main tourist routes and allows you to navigate your own adventure. You’re not confined to viewing the archipelago from the deck of a large ship or from well-wrung trails. Rather, you leave the crowds of visitors behind to enjoy the peace of walking, snorkeling and paddling your way through this island paradise. You even spend two nights camping on the islands within the Galápagos National Park—a one of a kind experience as we’re the only tour company with this incredible privilege!

Details

Itinerary focusActive and Outdoor Sports
Group sizeIntimate group - 12 max
Age range7 years and up
Flights and transportAll internal ground transport included
Start CityQuito, Ecuador
End CityQuito, Ecuador

Travel Themes

  • Nature & Wildlife
  • Rafting, Kayaking, Canoeing

Destinations

  • South America
  • Ecuador

Attractions

  • Charles Darwin Research Station
  • Galapagos
  • Guayaquil
  • Isabela Island
  • Quito
  • San Cristobal
  • San Francisco
  • Santa Cruz Island
  • Santo Domingo

Activities

  • Adventure & Adrenaline
  • Bird watching
  • Caving
  • Hiking
  • History
  • Kayaking
  • Land expedition
  • Nature
  • Snorkeling
  • Swimming
  • Wildlife viewing

Trip includes

    • All meals as mentioned I the itinerary
    • All Accommodations as mentioned in the itinerary

Popular Trips

Itinerary

Day 1 : Arrive in Quito

Fly into Quito where your Galapagos Unbound adventure begins, with one of our representative meeting you at the airport and transferring you to your hotel for the evening.

ACCOMMODATION : Casa Ilayaku

Day 2

Meals Included : Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After breakfast, spend time exploring the UNESCO World Heritage-listed streets of Quito, including its colonial-era temples and the monasteries of Santo Domingo and San Francisco. Visit the St. Augustine Convent an...

Day 3

Meals Included : Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

From Quito, take a morning flight to San Cristobal, the first of the Galápagos Islands on our trip. Next we take a catamaran to our secluded beach camp to settle in and enjoy watching sea lions, blue footed boobies...

Day 4

Meals Included : Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Today we will take our kayaks and paddle from our camp for roughly three hours, depending on the weather conditions. Our support boat is always close at hand if you need assistance or tire of paddling. We arrive at...

Day 5

Meals Included : Breakfast & Lunch

This morning we leave for the airport very early so breakfast will be when we get to town, don't worry though we will have lots of hot drinks and snacks on the boat. We fly to the island of Isabela and check into our beach...

Day 6

Meals Included : Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Rising early, we head to the interior for a very different view of the Galápagos Islands. We drive just under an hour up to the highlands and begin our hike of Isabela’s Sierra Negra. This active volcano last erupt...

Day 7

Meals Included : Breakfast & Lunch

In the morning, weather permitting, we take a boat for roughly an hour to Los Tuneles*: a most curious and remarkable lava formation which consists of arches and caves. We walk along the shore and also snorkel in crystal c...

Day 8

Meals Included : Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

We wake early and set off for the day’s adventures by sea. We take a chartered speed boat* to Isla Santa Cruz, the urban center of the archipelago and the home of the Darwin Research Station, the National Park Head...

Day 9

Meals Included : Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Today our drive to the highlands takes us to a stunning family-owned farm filled with fields of sugar cane and coffee. There, we’re greeted by one of the family who serves as a guide and shares with us the family’s...

Day 10

In the morning we transfer to the airport on Baltra where the original runway was built during WW II by the United States Navy. Late morning or early afternoon, we fly about two hours by jet back to the mainland city of Quito

Transfer to the international termi...

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Dates & Availability

Price From $4,990
Price per day$499
Single supplement (single occupancy)$750
Last Updated: 7/9/2021

Check Current Availability, prices, specials with ROW Adventures.

The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.

Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.

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ROW Adventures Reviews & Ratings

5/5  Excellent
Excellent
80
Great
1
Average
0
Disappointing
0
Terrible
0
S

Sheila

Nov 2019

Written on

Fantastic Galapagos Trip!

My friend and I were on the late May 2019 Galapagos Unbound trip - fantastic! Our trip leader was amazing and all the Galapagos guides were super friendly and knowle...

M

Mogs

Oct 2019

Written on

Galapagos Unbound - Wonderful

My memories of this trip are of snorkeling with sea lion pups and giggling so hard I inhaled seawater - it was totally worth it! The guides were smart, knowledgeable...

M

Mark

Oct 2019

Written on

Galapagos Unbound - Outstanding

This is a perfect way (much better than living on a boat) to see the islands which are spectacular. The guides were helpful and informative, the kayaking was super-c...

P

Phil

Oct 2019

Written on

I had a fabulous trip

My wife and I had a fabulous trip last February with Row Adventures. Row covered everything from day one to the end. The guides (Patricia Barberan especially) were g...

E

Emily

Aug 2019

Written on

Guides were excellent on each island

This trip offers such an immersive look at life in the islands - both for the wildlife and for the local human populations! I was overcome with the animals, they are...

Write a Review

Other ROW Adventures Reviews

A

Andrew

Mar 2020

Provided byROW Adventures

Great trips--great company

I have travelled with ROW numerous times, including four trips on the Rogue River. Every trip has been wonderful and every person associated with ROW has been nice, ...

P

Pip

Mar 2020

Provided byROW Adventures

most memorable holiday

Wow, wow, wow, wow. As a family group of six adults we have just returned from four day Whale Camp at Magdalena Bay. We were so well looked after by Monica, ‘Sherman...

J

Jackie

Dec 2019

Provided byROW Adventures

My dad and I had a wonderful time, and would not hesitate to recommend ROW!

My dad and I booked this trip as a special experience to share together, and we knew we wanted to go with ROW because we had taken a family rafting trip with ROW 20 ...

Write a Review

Travelers also viewed

Tour Operator

ROW Adventures

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Connecting people to culture, wildlife, and nature

If there is water, there is ROW Adventures! While we started out as a Northwest whitewater rafting company in 1979, we have since expanded our reach to include tours on five continents and over 25 countries. Our ultimate focus is providing life-enriching journeys around the world that not only benefit you, but also our guides, and the people and places we visit. Rated by National Geographic Adventure as one of the “Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth,” and voted “World’s Best Tour Operator” by Travel & Leisure magazine readers, we continue to pioneer new trips and ways of adventuring in both popular and remote places of the world.

ROW offers a wide variety of trips that cater to many different activities - rafting, kayaking, hiking, biking, fishing, multisport, etc. – interests – family-focused vacations, lodge-based tours, wildlife viewing, custom itineraries – and locations – camping in the Galapagos Islands, hiking in Machu Picchu, ecolodges in the Amazon, safaris in Africa, yachting in Europe, wildlife viewing in Antarctica, sea kayaking in Baja, kayaking with orcas in British Columbia, and more.

At our core, we are all about “sharing nature, enriching lives.” We strives to connect you to the places we visit in a meaningful and personally relevant way, inspiring you to be a part of the culture and lifestyle, and creating a safe-space for you to grow and gain new insight through your travel experiences.

The driving force behind our company is a team of people passionate about travel and customer service. Setting the pace and tone are the original ROW owners and founders Peter Grubb and his life partner Betsy Bowen. With our superlative team who have an average of eight years of guiding experience, many with extensive wilderness medical training, and natural and cultural history interpretation training in order to share a deeper understanding and appreciation for the incredible places you visit, we continue to set the high watermark in adventure and guest service.

ROW has a high guide-to-guest ratio, allowing our guides to be more involved with you – joining in on meals, ensuring your comfort, answering questions, telling stories, entertaining, and sharing in on the fun and adventure. And not only are our guides there to lead the adventure, they also do all of the heavy lifting, food preparation, gear transfers, camp setup, and more, so that you can focus on your vacation.

Our guides prepare each meal for you using fresh, healthy ingredients, and there is beer and wine to boot. Luxury camping, with spacious tents, dining tables, chairs and sun showers, provides a high level of comfort even when you’re exploring remote wilderness areas. ROW provides all camping gear including tents, sleeping bags, and thick foam mattresses, and watercraft for our trips; you just need to bring clothes, yourself, and enjoy being on your adventure! And of course, we are passionately dedicated to “Leave No Trace” camping ethics and supporting a variety of conservation efforts around the world. 

We have it all covered, and we are here to provide you with the best travel experience out there. But don’t take our word for it; check out our reviews, join us for an adventure, and go home with incredible experiences and lifelong memories!

Tweets by ROWadventures

Why we love this operator
They’ve been recognized by major travel publications for their pioneering adventure travel expertise that spans back to their founding in 1979.
What they’re known for
Industry-leading adventures for outdoor enthusiasts that want a comfortable but exciting experience and all equipment included.

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Logistics

What's excluded

    • Flights
    • Park fees
    • Items of a personal nature.

Accommodation

,Full service of our Adventure Consultants Professional Galapagos Naturalist Guide Double accommodation in hotels and for camping All necessary kayaking, camping and snorkeling equipment All transportation as noted on the itinerary All meals and drinks as noted on the itinerary
Cancellation policy

Cancellations And Refunds

If you find it necessary to cancel your trip, you should notify ROW Adventures in writing, by e-mail or fax immediately.  If written cancellation is received (call to verify) before the final balance is due, you will be given a refund less the amount of the deposit.  Deposits are not refundable.  If cancellations are made on or after the final due date, no money will be refunded.  If you are unable to go on the trip, you are welcome to find a replacement for yourself.  Please understand that once you’ve signed up, we lose the right to sell your reserved space to other individuals or groups.  Therefore, we regret that we cannot make exceptions for personal emergencies

Travel Insurance
We strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance alongside your travel package to safeguard against unforeseen circumstances such as medical expenses, trip cancellations, and other contingencies. It offers you peace of mind and ensures you are prepared for unexpected events that may occur before or during your journey
Visa requirements
Visa requirements vary depending on your country of origin and your country of destination. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the relevant requirements. For a handy tool that can help you quickly find the requirements, please visit this link .
Meals Included
  • 7 Breakfasts
  • 7 Lunches
  • 5 Dinners
Age Requirements
7 years and up
Additional Information
Trip ID
rowadv-GalUnbRow

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