Highlands Tour in San Cristobal

Highlands Tour in San Cristobal: General Details

This tour can be done with any taxi on the island. If you go by taxi anywhere they will ask you if you have already done the tour while on the island. So you have plenty of taxis to choose from.

I imagine you can also book a tour with a Naturalist guide and pay a little more or go by yourself with a bicycle but it’s pretty much going up and down the hills of San Cristobal and it will take you ages to reach Puerto Chino.

• Tour Highlights: Crater Lake “Laguna El Junco”, Tortoise Reserve “La Galapaguera”, Puerto Chino beach.
• Tour Duration: Around 4-5 hours of duration (7 hours if you take the normal tour with a lunch break)
• Tour Price: Around 60-70$ USD per taxi.
• Tour Agency/Guide: Any taxi driver around town.

How To Do the Highlands Tour in San Cristobal?

You just have to call for a taxi on the street and ask them how much they charge for the tour or ask in your hotel/hostel if they know someone that they recommend.

If you share it with some friends it’s relatively more affordable and I would suggest you the second option and book it with a Naturalist guide or someone with a bit more knowledge than the taxi drivers (it can go up to 100$ USD in that case).

We did it with a local friend of a contact of mine and it was totally worth it. They are obliged to close the beaches at 18h so you have to be out of the gate by that time and skip the sunset but luckily our guide gave us a bit more freedom and allowed us to stay longer and enjoy the sunset.

He also gave us a lot of information regarding the tortoises and the El Junco crater and he entered with us to all these places (things that in theory the taxi drivers can’t do).

What to Bring to the Highlands Tour in San Cristobal?

This is a general gear list with partner links. These are suggestions, not products I have tested.

Clothing & Accessories:

• T-shirt: Breathable T-shirt (Tech or Merino), or a Lycra
• Jacket: Waterproof Jacket
• Shorts: Shorts, and Swimming Clothes
• Shoes: Hiking Shoes, and Flip Flops
• Hat: Cap
• Sunglasses
• Dry-fast Towel
• Earth Pak Waterproof Dry Bag
• Change of Clothes

Useful Extras:

• GoPro/Camera
• Snorkeling Gear: Mask, Tube, and Fins
• Mosquito Repellent: The beaches on the Galapagos islands, especially at sunset, have a lot of mosquitos and usually also horseflies or “Tabanos” as they are called in Spanish and they are silent and leave you with a huge unpleasant swollen bite.
• Sunscreen +50 SPF
• Food / Snacks
• Thermos or Water-filtering Bottle
• First-Aid Kit

Check out my complete guide on What’s in My Backpack - From photography gear, and clothing for Hiking, Mountaineering, Scuba Diving, Rainforest, and City-Street Photography.

My Experience on the Highlands Tour in San Cristobal

I already did the Highlands Tour three times between 2022 and 2026,  as it’s literally the most complete tour you can do on the island to know its interior. 

The first time I did it while exploring Ecuador in 2022, the second time in 2024 with my at-the-time Ecuatorian girlfriend and her friends, and the last time in January 2026 with my mother and my no-longer girlfriend but wife.

All of the times I went there, I got different experiences and was able to explore a bit more than the previous time.

The first time, the El Junco crater lake was all covered up with fog. The second time it was a bit clearer, and this last time with my mother.

There were almost no clouds to be seen, so there were dozens of frigatebirds flying around, and I got to hike around the lake and see the views from the other side of the lake, to the northeast side of San Cristobal, you could even see Cerro Brujo and Punta Pitt, which is really far away from where we were, absolutely beautiful.

At the tortoise breeding centre, we could find some “cucuve” mockingbirds and finches, as well as bigger tortoises up close, and the first one being born in the centre - kind of a superstar there.

In Puerto Chino, we could see many sea lions, and one of them, a massive one, started rolling on the sand, and it completely stole the scene, looking like a living croquette eheh. 

Below is my description of the first time I did the Highlands Tour:

This was my second day on San Cristobal Island, and I did this tour together with two other friends of mine after I did the Cerro Tijeretas and Playa Baquerizo hike.

To start the tour we talked with my contact and he called his friend to do the tour. As it was running late it shouldn’t be possible to do all three highlights of the normal tour but we managed to do them and even take a lot of photographs around all three spots.

Visiting the Crater Lake “El Junco”

After picking us up we drove around 20 minutes and parked at the parking area straight at the base of the wooden staircase that takes you up to the crater.

We then climbed for around 10 minutes and reached the rim of the crater of the extinct volcano. 

Once we arrived we couldn’t see anything as it seemed we were on a different island, like in Hawaii or Azores. The vegetation was very lush and there was a lot of fog at the top.

After around 5 minutes the fog went away, thus revealing the beautiful lagoon that formed itself inside the crater. It’s the only freshwater source in the Galapagos Islands.

El Junco Lagoon is therefore home to many different types of birds, including the frigatebirds (tijeretas) that feed on its waters.

Visiting the Tortoise Reserve “La Galapaguera”

To enter “La Galapaguera” you don’t have to pay anything, there is a guard at the entrance and you just enter.

There is a small dirt path that you have to walk and after around 2-3 minutes you see already the first giant tortoises. 

I recommend you do this tour in the morning or at lunchtime to see the turtles eating and moving around.

When we went mostly all of the giant ones were already sleeping and not moving.

After that, you see the breeding place for the baby ones and the juvenile area which is quite impressive.

The turtle eggs are brought here at birth to significantly increase their chance of survival and not being eaten by predators.

Another interesting fact, one of the main differences between turtles and tortoises is that tortoises are purely land animals and can’t swim, and another curious fact is that there are two main types of giant tortoises:

The dome ones, with a curvy round shell, exist usually in areas where food is vast, and the saddle ones whose shell resembles a saddle and their neck extend a lot vertically in order to reach fruits in places where there isn’t so much food available at ground level.

Visiting Puerto Chino Beach

And to conclude our tour we went at sunset time to Puerto Chino beach.

We didn’t have much time before 6 pm (the time when the beach officially closes, yes, that’s a thing in the Galapagos, and actually 6 pm is quite good compared to Tortuga Bay in Santa Cruz Island or any other island which closes at 5:30 pm) so we could only choose either to go to the viewpoint at the east side of the beach or go swimming.

I wanted to take some photos so I went to the viewpoint but the water was very tempting.

The problem with the sunset is that the beach gets full of mosquitos so bring repellant.

On our way back we found the gate already closed and it almost gave us a problem (for disrespecting the national park’s rules our guide was gonna need to pay a huge fine), luckily our guide knew the guard on that night’s shift and his colleagues had forgotten about him there so we gave him a ride almost until Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and he opened the gate for us.

And that’s about it after Puerto Chino we went back to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and the Highlands Tour in San Cristobal was over.

What about you, have you already done the Highlands Tour in San Cristobal Island?  Leave me a comment down here if you did and after you did it with your impression.

Thanks for reading through and I hope you have fun on this tour!

I’ll drop a couple of my other favorite photos from this hike down below, enjoy!

Photo Gallery

Visting Puerto Chino Beach