Highlands Tour

In Santa Cruz, Galapagos

The Highlands Tour in Santa Cruz island is the tour you must if you wish to explore its deepest interiors. You will venture to the middle of the island and visit “Los Gemelos”, which are ancient lava-made crater pits, followed by a visit deep inside some impressive lava tunnels and end up at the tortoise reserve “Las Primícias”.

Lava Tunnels in Santa Cruz island

Highlands Tour in Santa Cruz: General Details

This tour can be done with a travel agency and probably with any taxi on the island. If you go by taxi ask them to wait for you and at the tortoise reserve say you don’t have a naturalist guide so they appoint you one. I imagine you can also go by yourself with a bicycle but it’s pretty much going up and down the hills of Santa Cruz and it will take you ages to reach the three places (around 30km’s each way, 600m ascent and 378m descent).

• Tour Highlights: Pit Craters “Los Gemelos”, Lava Tunnels, Giant Tortoise Reserve “Las Primícias”, .
• Tour Duration: 3 hours of duration
• Tour Price: 35-50$ USD per person.
• Tour Agency/Guide: Galapagos Dreams.

Map of the Highlands Tour in Santa Cruz island, Galápagos

How To Do the Highlands Tour in Santa Cruz?

This Highlands Tour, or in Spanish “Tour de la Parte Alta” is possible to be done by yourself with a taxi driver or a bicycle. However, you will take your time as it is 30 km away from Puerto Ayora. You don’t necessarily need a travel agency to book this tour as the pit craters are an open-air museum and the lava tunnels and the giant tortoise reserve are private family-owned farms. If you don’t like crowds I advise you to do it by yourself leaving Puerto Ayora at around 12h thus avoiding the 9h and 14h tours. When you go by yourself you will have to pay for the entrance to the reserve which should be around 6$ USD and the tunnels are included in the price. If you prefer the commodity to have everything organized by an agency do book it with Galapagos Dreams for at least with me they were fantastic.

Make Sure to Reserve Your Spot for a Highlands Tour

Giant Tortoise at Rancho “Las Primícias” in Santa Cruz island, Galápagos

What to Bring to the Highlands Tour in Santa Cruz?

Clothing & Accessories:

• • Tshirt: Breathable Tshirt (Tech or Merino), or a Lycra
  • Jacket: Waterproof Jacket
  • Shorts: Shorts
  • Shoes: Hiking Shoes
  • Hat: Cap
  • Sunglasses

Useful Extras:

• GoPro/Camera
• First-Aid Kit
• Sunscreen +50 SPF
• Food / Snacks
• Thermos or Water-filtering Bottle

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 Santa Cruz

This was my first day on Santa Cruz island and I did this tour with an organized group. I booked this tour with Galapagos Dreams and it started at 2:30 pm, right after visiting the Charles Darwin Foundation.

Los Gemelos Pit Craters, open-air collapsed lava tunnels.

The Pit Craters “Los Gemelos”

Since this was a tour organized by my hotel, they picked me up in a van that later joined a bigger bus with around 10 people inside. We started the tour heading to the furthest point on the tour, the lava-made pit craters of “Los Gemelos”, The Twins. Here one can see two valley-shaped pits covered with vegetation. These are amazing formations that resulted from the collapse of ancient lava tunnels. When the lava cooled down and contracted it left behind unstable structures that with time collapsed and let the vegetation take over. Regarding the logistics, the guide explained the science behind this place but there were too many people in front of me so it wasn’t possible to hear everything and we were maximum 20 minutes in this place. If you come by yourself you can have all the time you want here and you save some money.

Information board at the entrance of Los Gemelos pit craters

Los Gemelos Craters in Santa Cruz

The second lava pit crater

Entrance to the Lava Tunnels

Going down into the tunnels

Inside the lava tunnels of Santa Cruz island

Exploring the Lava Tunnels

After the pit craters, the group got back on the bus and moved on to the lava tunnels. As in the Highlands Tour of San Cristobal island, you can understand how the island was formed and see a multitude of landscapes. Identical to the pit craters, these tunnels were also formed after the lava flowing from the volcano cooled down. The part of this lava that got in contact with the oxygen, created a solid outer shell. That outer shell is the structure that today you get the chance to walk inside. Once you arrive you go down through a set of stairs and enter a massive nature-made tunnel. You walk for around 10-15 minutes maximum and the guide stops, explains all about the tunnels, and then you start heading back to the entrance. You have time to take enough photos, it’s not narrow so you shouldn’t feel claustrophobic and it didn’t look dangerous at all, just try avoiding the water puddles on the floor and be careful going up and down the entrance stairs.

A perfectly round lava tunnel in Santa Cruz Island

An uneven and massive section of the lava tunnel in Santa Cruz

People inside the lava tunnels of Santa Cruz island in the Galápagos

Visiting the Giant Tortoise Reserve “Las Primícias”

The last part of the Highlands Tour is the Giant Tortoise Reserve “Las Primícias”. If you choose another travel agency to go on this tour you might end up in the “El Chato” Reserve instead of this one. The main difference (as I could see from a quick google search) is the size of the lava tunnels. They look relatively narrower than the ones in Las Primícias. At Las Primícias they have a restaurant, a gift shop, and a bathroom. Part of the group stood there eating something but pay attention cause the snacks or drinks are not included in the tour price. Here is the place you spend more time on the tour, probably some reasonable 30 to 45mins. You can see many giant tortoises wandering around and there isn’t much control over how close you can get from them, although it should always be around 2 meters so you don’t stress them. At the end of the walk, you can take a tourist photo with a giant tortoise’s empty shell and pretend you’re a tortoise or watch some other exemplars that they have at an open-air museum next to the restaurant. This is a very typical place for locals so expect it to be crowded especially if you come around 17h (like we did) or 11:30h if you start your tour at 9h.

Entrance to Las Primícias giant tortoise reserve

Hidden giant tortoise at rancho Las Primícias

Giant tortoise skeleton at the museum of Las Primícias Reserve

Giant Tortoise at Las Primícias Reserve

Muddy tortoise at Las Primícias

Sunset at Las Primícias Giant Tortoise Reserve in Santa Cruz island

And that’s about it, after Las Primícias we went back to Puerto Ayora and the Highlands Tour in Santa Cruz was over. What about you, have you already done the Highlands Tour in Santa Cruz island?  Leave me a comment down below if you did and if you did what was your impression? Thanks for reading through and I hope you have fun exploring Santa Cruz. I’ll drop a couple of my other favorite photos from this tour down below, enjoy!

Photo Gallery

The Pit Craters “Los Gemelos”

Exploring the Lava Tunnels

Visiting The Giant Tortoise Reserve “Las Primícias”