19 Amazing Things To Do in Isabela, Galapagos
All The Activities
- Last Updated: September 22, 2024
Isabela Island in the Galapagos is the biggest and most unexplored island of the three main islands in the archipelago.
Literally, more than half of the island is off-limits for the common tourist unless you are part of a scientific expedition or you’re on a cruise. If you’re land-based and have no connection with any scientific organization you can’t go to most places. If you’re on a cruise you can stop at some spots you wouldn’t stop if you were on foot. This is the island with the best volcano hikes and the most epic snorkeling spots. So if you have to choose an island you can’t miss this is it, Isabela.
Here I’ll list 19 amazing things to do in Isabela, Galapagos. Most of the adventures I’ve done them myself and I’ve written detailed articles about them, which I will link together.
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Things To Do in Isabela
General Info
Isabela, like all the other islands, is part of the Galapagos National Park, and therefore it has a number of things you should know:
- Most of the activities have to be done on a tour with a Naturalist guide.
- All the agencies have the same prices (although you can barter if you book more than one tour).
- Most beaches have opening and closing times (turtle nesting reasons).
- You should book your tour at least one day in advance (or you might risk not having a place on the best ones).
- Bring Seasickness Medication for the tours on the water.
- Always use strong sunscreen (Sun in the Equator line burns more).
- Have mosquito repellant with you, especially at sunset. There are horseflies in the Galapagos.
- You can’t fly a drone here unless you have a special permit from the National Park.
- You can’t rent a motorcycle or a car, everything has to be done by taxi, bus, boat, bicycle, or on foot.
- You can’t and shouldn’t touch the animals on the island.
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Things To Do in Isabela
Book Your Tours with Viator
1. Sierra Negra and Chico Volcanoes
The Sierra Negra Volcano Tour in Isabela island is the best volcano hike you can do in the Galapagos and one of the best things to do in Isabela island.
You will walk on the rim of the massive Sierra Negra volcano’s caldera, whose last eruption happened just in 2018, and visit the Chico Volcano, a little offspring of Sierra Negra with a view to the Northwestern part of Isabela Island.
This tour has to be done with a Naturalist guide from the Galapagos National Park. You can book a tour with an agency and they hire the guide. You can’t simply hike your way up, unfortunately.
Along the hike, the landscape changes at least three times. From foggy and green, to dry and orange, and then to red and black. At the last stage, everything around you looks like an apocalypse. It’s an impressive and desolate place created by the destructive force of nature.
View the full blog post here: SIERRA NEGRA VOLCANO TOUR
To book this tour: Check the local company Coral Blanco Tour Operator (click on the icons), or book it online on Viator with any of the tours underneath:
2. Concha de Perla Lagoon
The Concha de Perla Lagoon in Isabela is a beautiful lagoon full of mangroves that you can visit just a short walk from Puerto Villamil town. You don’t have to pay for the entrance and is great for a family escape or snorkeling adventure.
You will definitely see marine iguanas on the wooden deck before entering the water and exotic beautiful fish. With luck, you might spot some turtles and perhaps some reef sharks and rays.
View the full blog post here: CONCHA DE PERLA LAGOON
3. Wall of Tears
The Wall of Tears on Isabela Island is a controversial attraction. It is a stone wall built between 1946 and 1959 by inmates of the former Isabela Penitentiary Colony. Here hundreds of prisoners were forced to work under extreme circumstances. They built this wall for no other purpose than to be punished. While enduring this hardship many people died.
Although it’s a hard place to visit, due to its history, the landscape surrounding it is particularly beautiful. Definitely, a place to visit. If you like hikes and views this is where to go, from here you can go onto the “El Radar” viewpoint and have a beautiful view of Isabela beachfront.
View the full blog post here: WALL OF TEARS IN ISABELA
To rent a bike: Check any of the many local bike shops in Puerto Villamil.
4. Cerro Orchilla Hill Viewpoint
Cerro Orchilla Hill is one of the highlights of the way to the Wall of Tears. It is a beautiful hill that overlooks the southern part of Isabela island. From there you can see Puerto Villamil town, the shore, and many small volcanic hills surrounding it.
If you don’t have the time or energy to go to the Wall of Tears this is a very nice alternative to see the green landscape of Isabela from above. It’s free to go and you can easily stop at the Playita beach on the way here or explore the Humedales – Wetlands park.
I went here on my way to the Wall of Tears. Pay attention if you park your bike down there on the bicycle park if there are any thorns on the floor cause I accidentally punctured my tire that way.
View the full blog post here: WALL OF TEARS IN ISABELA
5. El Radar Viewpoint Hike
The El Radar Viewpoint hike in Isabela Island is a short but beautiful hike you can do after arriving at the Wall of Tears.
The Wall of Tears is a stone wall built between 1946 and 1959 by inmates of the former Isabela Penitentiary Colony. Here hundreds of prisoners were forced to work under extreme circumstances. They built this wall for no other purpose than to be punished. While enduring this hardship many people died.
On your way to El Radar Viewpoint, there are other beautiful viewpoints like the Wall of Tear’s viewpoint, some meters after the wall.
From all of them, you can have a beautiful view of Isabela island’s beachfront and its green landscape.
View the full blog post here: EL RADAR VIEWPOINT HIKE
6. Puerto Villamil Beach
The Puerto Villamil beach or Playa Isabela in Isabela island is a gorgeous 4 km beach that runs alongside the entire seaside of this cute little town.
This white-sanded beauty with turquoise water is the perfect place to relax on Isabela island. Here you will see many pelicans fishing and marine iguanas and on the east side, there’s a great place to surf.
View the full blog post here: PUERTO VILLAMIL BEACH
7. Isabela's Downtown
Spend some time exploring Puerto Villamil’s downtown (Isabela island’s capital). The best thing about Puerto Villamil is that it has a huge white beach running along the entire town and compared to Puerto Ayora town in Santa Cruz, this is the place you wanna go to relax. There aren’t half as many tourists as in Santa Cruz and you can have a pretty chilled time here.
The restaurants are all very similar and local, there are just a couple of international food restaurants and the rest serves you fish and ceviche and local specialties. There are some bars on the beachfront if you want to go for a drink at night while watching the waves breaking on the sand and everything is very easily reached due to the town’s small size.
In the backyard of Puerto Villamil, there are some lakes where you can find flamingos and there is a small stadium in town where sometimes they make live events.
8. Los Humedales - Wetlands
Los Humedales or the Wetlands is a natural park full of different types of mangroves and lakes and it stands on the way to the Wall of Tears. Here you can find many animals including flamingos and giant tortoises.
In Los Humedales park there is another attraction which is a beach called Playa del Amor or Love beach where marine iguanas go for some intimacy.
It’s a free park and you can go here on your way to The Wall of Tears, Cerro Orchilla Hill, and El Radar hike.
View the full blog posts here: WALL OF TEARS IN ISABELA and EL RADAR VIEWPOINT HIKE
9. La Playita Beach
La Playita beach is the main alternative to Puerto Villamil’s beach and it stands right at the beginning of Los Humedales Park and some meters after the main beach. Here you can come at the end of your Wall of Tears bicycle ride or to say that you went to a different beach in Isabela.
Honestly, it is nice and it has more like a bay feeling but with a giant beach like Puerto Villamil’s beach next to the town where there aren’t almost people you don’t necessarily need to find a remote beach on this island. In any case, if you look for alternative beaches this is it.
View the full blog posts here: WALL OF TEARS IN ISABELA or PUERTO VILLAMIL BEACH
Other Things You Might Like in
Santa Cruz and San Cristobal Islands
10. Los Tuneles - Cabo Rosa
The Los Tuneles or Cabo Rosa tour in Isabela island is the coolest snorkeling tour you can do in the archipelago and one of the best things to do in Isabela, Galapagos. You will see so much wildlife you won’t believe it.
We saw on the surface blue-footed boobies, penguins, sea lions, marine iguanas and orange crabs and underwater reef sharks, turtles, a sea horse, a sea lion, an eagle ray, a stingray, an octopus, a lobster, and beautiful schools of fish.
Apart from the wildlife, the lava structures underwater are mind-blowing, you can dive through infinite tunnels and caves, and to top it we saw like in Angelita’s cenote in Mexico, an hydrogen sulfide cloud. What an experience!
View the full blog post here: LOS TUNELES TOUR IN ISABELA
To book this tour: Check the local company Coral Blanco Tour Operator (click on the icons), or book it online on Viator with any of the tours underneath:
11. Trillizos Volcano
The Trillizos Volcano Tour is the most secret and adventurous tour you can do on Isabela island. You will literally enter inside an artery of the main Sierra Negra volcano. Once inside you will encounter the hole from where the lava was expelled many years ago and a room full of Quartz stone, among other surprising things.
If you want to have the feeling you’re in a Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, or Tomb Raider movie, this is definitely the tour for you.
According to Jhan the son of Ulise, our guide, previously they didn’t know the hole was there, so their cows used to fall inside once the vegetation was too thick and then they would go down and collect the meat leaving the bones behind (you can still find them there).
The entire cave is not completely explored. Only a couple of rooms are. If you look in Google Maps and follow the lines of the Trillizos volcano until the Sierra Negra one you can actually see there might be other caves all the way through, completely unexplored.
View the full blog post here: TRILLIZOS VOLCANO TOUR
To book this tour: Contact the owners, Ulise and Jhan directly (click on the icons).
12. Las Tintoreras
Las Tintoreras islet is the most famous tour of Isabela island and it’s the only one you get if you come from Santa Cruz on a daily trip to Isabela.
It is an area on the water, 10 minutes by boat from Puerto Villamil’s town that was formed when the lava of Sierra Negra’s volcano got in contact with the oxygen forming a solid outer shell, like a lava tunnel’s carcass, and because it is on the water it formed some canals where daily hundreds of baby reef sharks (tintoreras) tend to go to. Here you will also see blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, and with luck some penguins.
After the land tour, there is some time for snorkeling where you might find turtles, rays, and sea lions.
To book this tour: Check the local company Coral Blanco Tour Operator (click on the icons), or book it online on Viator with any of the tours underneath:
13. Sierra Negra Sulfur Mines
This is an epic tour I, unfortunately, didn’t have time to do but it looks absolutely stunning. Instead of seeing the volcano from a viewpoint with its red and black surfaces of lava, you get to see and smell a vivid yellow sulfur mine with constant smoke coming out of it.
It is an amazing alternative to do if you’ve already seen the volcano from the top. When I go back to Isabela this is for sure the first tour I will do. It must be incredible. And very smelly Ahah.
If you want to do the Sierra Negra Volcano tour I’ll leave you the link down below.
View the full blog post here: SIERRA NEGRA VOLCANO TOUR
To book this tour: Check the local company Coral Blanco Tour Operator (click on the icons)
14. Giant Tortoise Reserve
"Arnaldo Tupiza Chamaidan"
If you followed along on the other islands’ articles you noticed there is always a Giant Tortoise reserve, and this is the one in Isabela island. It is free and it stands ca. 15-20 minutes away from Puerto Villamil’s downtown on foot. On your way and after the reserve you can find many lakes with flamingos and other endemic birds.
These giant tortoise reserves are breeding centers where the eggs of giant tortoises that were laid around the island in the wild are protected, thus preventing the attacks of predators. Here they have a much bigger chance of surviving into adulthood and living longer than they would normally.
To come here: This is the location of the Tortoise Reserve (click on the pin):
15. Cueva de Sucre
The Cueva de Sucre is another natural attraction on Isabela island. It is the entrance to a lava tunnel, just like in Santa Cruz but on a smaller scale.
If you want to visit this cave you need to rent a taxi (22 minutes away from town) or try to plan it with a tour company to take you here maybe on your way to the Sierra Negra Volcano tour or the Volcan Trillizos tour.
It is free to enter and there is a picnic area on its compounds.
To come here: This is the location of the cave (click on the pin):
16. Surf in Isabela
As with the other islands, Isabela is also a great spot for surfing. Here apart from the main Puerto Villamil beach, which is ideal for beginners, you can go surfing in El Faro, El Hospital, Barahona Point, and Quinta Ola.
If you’re like me, no surf expert, there are many places around town that offer you surf lessons so if you’ve run out of things to do in Isabela (which is hard) you can give it a try.
17. Snorkel in Tortuga Island
Tortuga Island or Brattle Island is probably one of the places I’d visit if I’d want to see Hammerhead sharks and manta rays while on Isabela. It is a small islet located on the southeast of Puerto Villamil town and it has a shape of a half-moon clearly being the crater’s rim of an extinct volcano.
After a 45 minutes speed boat ride you reach the island and there is some birdwatching time to try and spot blue-footed and Nasca boobies, frigate birds, and other species, and then it’s snorkeling time where you will hopefully find hammerheads and manta rays, then there is some deep-sea fishing and you eat lunch at Loberia beach, after lunch and after some more snorkeling, you go back to Puerto Villamil.
To book this tour: Check the local company Pahoehoe Galapagos’s website.
18. Snorkel in 4 Hermanos and Cartago Bay
Los 4 Hermanos islands is another great place to see some hammerheads, Galápagos sharks, and even manta rays. It is located 1 hour away by speed boat to the northeast of Puerto Villamil’s town. Here like in the Tortuga Island snorkel tour you’ll have a chance to do some deep-sea fishing and fish your own tuna with the crew that will later prepare it as ceviche for lunch.
After Los Hermanos the tour takes you to Cartago Bay where you can snorkel a bit more and see some green turtles, tropical fish, rays, and sharks.
To book this tour: Check the local company Pahoehoe Galapagos’s website.
19. Dive in Tortuga Island
The Tortuga Island dive tour is the most famous and only tour you can do on Isabela island that doesn’t depend on a cruise. So if you’re land-based, want to have a deep experience in Tortuga island, and dive surrounded by hammerheads and manta rays, this is the place.
This is a small islet located in the southeast of Puerto Villamil town, roughly 45 minutes away by speed boat and it has a shape of a half-moon clearly being the crater’s rim of an extinct volcano.
To book this tour: Check the local company Pahoehoe Galapagos and Galapagos Isabela Dive Center (they have mostly good reviews, but since I didn’t do any tour with these companies I would recommend you take your own conclusions).
Things To Do in Isabela
Where to Stay
For those looking for a sophisticated and comfortable stay, The Iguana Crossing Boutique Hotel is a great option, boasting 14 elegant rooms, a sparkling pool, and a rooftop lounge. Cormorant Beach House offers an environmentally conscious retreat, where guests can enjoy the natural beauty of the island and a complimentary breakfast at a local-owned restaurant. For those who prefer more apartment-style accommodation, Aparthotel Casa Soleil offers fully-equipped apartments just 450 meters from the beach.
To learn more about the best hotels in Isabela, Galapagos, check out the full article:
All The Articles About The Galapagos
San Cristobal Island – The easternmost island of the Galapagos, the “Isla Bonita”
Santa Cruz Island – The island with the best tourism infrastructure.
Isabela Island – The most adventurous and less explored island of the main three.
