Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos

Santa Cruz is the second largest Galapagos island, and its most densely populated - thanks to the fact that volcanic activity is long extinct here. Located right in the centre of the archipelago, the name Santa Cruz means “holy cross”, and settlement of the island began in the 1920s and 1930s with the arrival of American and Europeans who were attracted by variety of the island’s geography and wildlife. As well as the main port of Puerto Ayora, the small towns of Bellavista and Santa Rosa were formed in the highlands, where more humid conditions were good for crops like avocados, bananas, coffee, and citrus. Unfortunately all this has left the landscape permanently changed by all these non-native species and by the associated human activity.

Santa Cruz is now the main tourism hub for the whole Galapagos archipelago, thanks to its proximity to the airport on Baltra, just to the north. It is the only island in Galapagos where tourists can easily experience the interior highlands of a Galapagos island. Santa Cruz has the longest paved road in the Galapagos, running north-south across the island to take people from the airport ferry which docks on the north coast to Puerto Ayora on the south coast. With quaint hotels and small seafood restaurants, Puerto Ayora is the starting point for most tours and it offers the biggest range of services to be found anywhere in the Galapagos. Facilities include a hospital, banks, a post office and a radio station. Most of your Galapatours adventures will start here! Because of its large population and it's busy nature it's often assumed by visitors to be the capital of the islands, but in fact that is located on San Cristobal.