You’ve decided to book a Galapagos vacation of a lifetime, and now comes the big decision: which itinerary should you choose? Galapagos Inner vs. Outer Loop—how do you decide?
Each cruise itinerary departs from and returns to Baltra, where the main airport is located. You’ll also enjoy an expedition day at the Charles Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz Island, no matter which sailing you choose.
Itineraries also follow a similar daily pattern, visiting at most two islands or sites per day for hiking and snorkeling, then cruising overnight so you arrive in the morning refreshed and ready to begin another exciting day of exploration.
Each Galapagos cruise itinerary has been specially crafted to showcase the islands’ flora, fauna, and history that can’t be experienced anywhere else. No matter which loop you choose for your Galapagos Islands vacation, you’ll leave with incredible memories—and more photographs than you will know what to do with.
Galapagos Inner Loop Itinerary
Celebrity Flora
Sail Inner Loop Galapagos cruise itineraries aboard the premium mega-yacht Flora, Celebrity’s beautiful expedition ship specifically designed for sailing the Galapagos. This itinerary explores Santiago and Rabida islands before sailing the west coast of Isabela and returning to Baltra via Bartolomé, Santa Cruz, North Seymour, and San Cristobal.
The variety of landscapes and wildlife is incredible. Egas Point on Santiago offers a black-sand beach, blue-water grottoes, and sights of craggy iguanas, sea lions, Galapagos hawks, and Galapagos fur seals. On a snorkeling excursion, you’ll be surrounded by colorful fish, sea turtles, and sea lions.
Rabida Island, Galapagos
Rabida Island is famous for its red sand, a contrast against the sapphire water and lush green foliage. You should spot pelicans and sea lions here, too. When the sea lions have pups that have matured a little, you’ll often find boisterous “teenagers” zooming up to you in the water, wanting to play.
At Elizabeth Bay, hop into the ship’s pangas, or Zodiac inflatables, and explore this sheltered bay’s unique red mangrove ecosystem and its varied marine wildlife.
Isabela Island, where Elizabeth Bay is located, is a stark landscape of relatively young volcanoes and rippling lava fields. Still, all sorts of species thrive here, from marine and land iguanas to pelicans, boobies, flightless cormorants, and Galapagos penguins.
Santiago Island, Galapagos
Santiago Island is another location of dramatic lava flows, with a chance to snorkel from the coralline beaches among playful sea lions. The nearby islet of Bartolomé is where you’ll see the famous Pinnacle Rock, which appears in many photographs of the Galapagos.
Pinnacle Rock
Hike up the marked trail and multiple steps to the viewing platform for that iconic shot. The snorkeling here is exceptional, too, with a chance to spot sea turtles, stingrays, and blacktip sharks.
Las Bachas, Santa Cruz Island’s white-sand beach, is one of the largest nesting areas of the Pacific green sea turtle. A short walk along the beach leads you to two salt ponds where you’ll often see flamingos feeding. En route to North Seymour, you’ll sail past sheer-sided Daphne Major, a nesting site for blue-footed boobies, so have your binoculars ready.
North Seymour is famed for its colony of frigatebirds, distinguished by their scarlet throat pouch, which they inflate during the mating season to impress a potential partner. At Punta Pitt, meanwhile, on San Cristobal island, you could see all three species of boobies together: red-footed, blue-footed, and Nazca.
Blue-footed Boobies in North Seymour Island, Galapagos
Your Inner Loop voyage ends at Puerto Ayora. After visiting the Charles Darwin Research Center to learn about the Galapagos giant tortoise, explore the buzzing little town packed with souvenir shops, art galleries, and cafés. Here, sea lions lounge on benches and iguanas bask in the sun, oblivious to the human activity around them.
Galapagos Outer Loop Itinerary
Sea lions in Espanola, Galapagos
Celebrity Flora’s Outer Loop itinerary from Baltra sails south to Española and Floreana islands before setting a course north between seahorse-shaped Isabela island and its smaller neighbor, Fernandina. The voyage then heads back toward Santa Cruz island, with stops along the way for more hiking, snorkeling, and wildlife observation.
Gardner Bay at Española offers sparkling white-sand beaches that invite swimming and snorkeling, along with colonies of sea lions. At Punta Suarez, also on Española, you’ll be awed by the graceful beauty of the waved albatross that nest here, with an astonishing wingspan of up to eight feet. Come before January and after March to admire these beautiful birds.
On Floreana Island, stop first at Cormorant Point, with its green-tinted sand colored by olivine minerals in the rock, and the brackish lagoon where flamingos feed. The Galapagos beach here is a prime nesting spot for sea turtles, so there’s a great chance of spotting some.
At Post Office Bay, you can “mail” a card home by placing it in a barrel in the hope that a future visitor will pick it up and deliver it, in the time-honored method used by sailors in the past.
Floreana also has a fascinating human history dating back to the 1930s, a scandalous story of love, survival, affairs, rivalry, and eventually, murder. The story has recently been made into a movie.
Moreno Point in Isabela Island, Galapagos
At Isabela Island, the largest of the Galapagos Islands, stop at Moreno Point, where marine iguanas, sea turtles, sharks, stingrays, and flightless cormorants congregate on land and sea. In Urvina Bay, walk over the remains of an underwater reef, uplifted after a volcanic eruption in the 1950s. Isabela is the “youngest” of the Galapagos Islands and is still volcanically active.
Pear cactus in Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
At Vicente Roca Point, explore volcanic cliffs and many species of indigenous wildlife. See land iguanas, sea lions, Galapagos cotton plants, and giant prickly pear cactus at two stops on Santa Cruz Island before spending a day at bustling Puerto Ayora.
Here, you’ll visit the fascinating Charles Darwin Research Center and learn about the conservation of the Galapagos giant tortoise. Visit the fish market where sea lions and pelicans wait alongside the fishermen’s stalls for tidbits.
Read: Why Are the Galapagos Islands Important?
Galapagos Inner Loop vs Outer Loop
Marine iguana
When deciding on Inner Loop vs. Outer Loop Galapagos itineraries, consider if there are any particular species you’ve set your heart on seeing, as well as any outstanding geological features.
The reality, of course, is that all the islands are spectacular, as is all the wildlife in the Galapagos—in the air, on land, and underwater. So neither loop is better than the other. There are only a few species that are specific to a certain island or area.
Waved Albatross in Espanola, Galapagos
One is the waved albatross. If seeing this magnificent bird is on your bucket list, choose the Outer Loop with a stop at Espanola, where a large colony of these incredible Galapagos birds resides between April and December.
The Outer Loop is also best for the fascinating human history of the Galapagos, as it visits Floreana, where sailors used to shelter and where in the 1930s, various ambitious individuals attempted to set up a community.
Blue-footed boobies
You will see blue-footed boobies everywhere, but the Inner Loop offers multiple opportunities to witness their mating ritual, especially on North Seymour Island. June to August is the best time to visit to watch the birds’ curious courtship dance, after which the male presents the female with a stone or a stick.
If you want to capture the famous shot of Pinnacle Rock, a dramatic volcanic spike on tiny Bartolomé, at the end of a peninsula fringed with golden sand beaches, you’ll again want the Inner Loop.
Pinnacle Rock is also the location of some spectacular snorkeling, as you drift over an underwater canyon teeming with colorful fish, with a good chance of having enchanting Galapagos penguins join you in the water.
Quito
Think about adding on to your Galapagos adventure, too. Both the Inner Loop and Outer Loop itineraries can be combined with a few days in Quito, Ecuador’s bustling, high-altitude capital, with glorious, Spanish colonial-era architecture, colorful markets, and a thriving culinary scene.
Or you could book an even longer journey, taking in the Galapagos, Quito, and the ancient city of Machu Picchu, high in the Peruvian Andes. This itinerary takes you from Lima, Peru’s capital, to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, with a thrilling train journey up to the spectacular Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.
Galapagos
Ready to book your Galapagos vacation? See all of our Galapagos cruises on our website.
