Puerto Villamil guide

By David Brito, Galapagos Dana Tours · Mindo, Ecuador · Updated 5 October 2026

Puerto Villamil is the town on Isabela, the biggest island in the archipelago and the one with the smallest population of the three inhabited ports, roughly 2,500 people. It has a different texture from the other two: sand streets, a beach that runs for kilometres, and a pace that only loosened into tourism in the 1990s, when a small runway opened for inter-island light aircraft. Today it is the base for two of the best day tours in the archipelago, Los Túneles and Sierra Negra, and the most relaxed place to do nothing in all of Galápagos.

Getting there

No airport serves Isabela commercially; you arrive on the ferry from Puerto Ayora, two to two-and-a-half hours across, departing 07:00 and 15:00 (the return runs 06:00 and 15:00). Two arrival costs surprise people, so budget both: the ferry tourist fare is $50 per leg since August 2026, and stepping off in Villamil you pay Isabela’s local intake fee, $10 for foreigners, collected at the pier. It is not charged on Santa Cruz or San Cristóbal. Details in our ferry guide. One more practicality: Isabela has no banks or ATMs, so bring all the cash you will need from Puerto Ayora.

The free side of town

Villamil is the rare Galápagos town where the best sites cost nothing:

• The beach in front of town is the longest stretch of white sand in the archipelago, and you share it with marine iguanas rather than crowds.
• The wetlands complex behind the beach is a chain of brackish lagoons connected by boardwalks, with flamingos, pintail ducks and four mangrove species. It is also the only place on the planet where the critically endangered mangrove finch survives.
• Concha de Perla, a shallow natural pool reached by a wooden boardwalk near the pier, is the free snorkel site: sea lions, turtles and schools of fish in calm water (best at low-to-mid tide; a rope marks the boundary toward Tintoreras). Our Concha de Perla guide has the practical details.
• The Arnaldo Tupiza breeding center keeps the island’s native tortoise species (Isabela has five, one per volcano), adults and a nursery, a short walk from town.

Biking is the local transport of choice, and the classic ride is the flat road out to the Muro de las Lágrimas, the Wall of Tears, a lava-block wall built by prisoners of the penal colony that operated here from 1946. It took more than fourteen years of forced labour to build, and the viewpoint above it explains why the name stuck.

The two paid highlights

Sierra Negra is the walk people come for: one of the widest active volcano calderas on earth, a 16 km round trip on foot from the trailhead with a mandatory naturalist guide, typically $30-50 (check current rates). On clear days the crater floor reads like a grey sea; in the wet season it is cloud soup, so start early.

Los Túneles, our pick for the best snorkel tour in Galápagos, runs by boat to a lava landscape of arches and channels where the water goes glassy: seahorses (the best site in the archipelago for them), whitetip sharks resting in the tunnels, turtles and penguins in season. Tours run roughly $150 per person (check current rates). We cover it in our Los Túneles guide.

Las Tintoreras, the islet chain in the bay with whitetip sharks in a lava channel, is the shorter and cheaper water option, and kayak trips from the beach reach the same bay at sunset.

How many nights

Two nights is the minimum for Sierra Negra plus a free day; three lets you add Los Túneles without a schedule panic. Ferries only run twice daily, so a “day trip” to Isabela from Santa Cruz is not a thing. Build Isabela as a block of days, not an excursion. If the logistics stack up faster than you want, Galapagos Dana Tours books the tours and the ferries together; and for the end of the trip, Las Terrazas de Dana Boutique Lodge & Spa, our lodge in Mindo Cloud Forest, is the decompression stop we recommend to every guest (see combining Galápagos and Mindo).

Frequently asked questions

How do I get to Puerto Villamil?

By ferry from Puerto Ayora, two to two and a half hours, departing 07:00 and 15:00, or on a small Emetebe plane. There are no commercial flights from the mainland to Isabela.

Is there an ATM in Puerto Villamil?

No reliable one. Bring all the cash you will need from Puerto Ayora, including the US$10 arrival fee paid at the pier and the tours, which are priced in cash.

How many nights should I stay on Isabela?

Two at least, for Sierra Negra plus a free day; three to add Los Túneles without rushing. A same-day round trip from Santa Cruz is not realistic with two ferries a day.

Sources

• Inter-island ferry routes and timetables, Ferry Galápagos
• Inter-island ferry fares from 11 August 2026 (Ministry of Transport resolution), Bitácora EC
• Visitor sites of the Galápagos National Park, Galápagos National Park Directorate

Last verified: October 2026