El Garrapatero Beach

In Santa Cruz, Galapagos

El Garrapatero beach is one of the most remote beaches on the island of Santa Cruz. This white-sanded beach has a lagoon next to it usually with many flamingos. On the beach you can swim, kayak, sunbathe and relax (if you’re lucky not to have horseflies around you).

Where is El Garrapatero Beach?

El Garrapatero beach is located 20 km northeast of Puerto Ayora town on Santa Cruz island. To reach it you have to take a taxi and then walk a short path to the beach. It’s better to go with friends or try to find some other solo traveler to go with you since the ride can cost you up to 50$ USD.

Location of El Garrapatero beach

How To Get to El Garrapatero Beach?

You can reach El Garrapatero beach by taxi followed by a short walk.

• • Taxi Duration: 30 minutes
  • Taxi Distance: 20 km
  • Walking Duration: 10 minutes
  • Walking Distance: 500 m
  • Price: 10-20$ USD (per direction). You can ask them to pick you up later and the price can go up to 40-50$ if they have to wait for you at the parking lot.

There might be the possibility to go by taxi-boat but I can’t find information on that apart from that it takes 20 minutes each way. You can also go by bike and hire a taxi to drop you at the highest part of the way it should cost you 3$ USD and you’d just need to go downwards after.

El Garrapatero Beach: General Details

• Opening hours: From 6h to 17h.
• Kayak Price: 10$ USD for 1 hour.
• Facilities: There are camping facilities with a grill but no bathroom or kiosk.
• What can you do:
  • Swim, surf, kayak, sunbathe and relax.
  • Watch flamingos
• What you can’t do:
  • Leave garbage on the beach.
  • Touch any animal.
  • Overextend your stay (you must leave when the ranger tells you to).

What to Bring to El Garrapatero Beach?

Clothing & Accessories:

• Tshirt: Breathable Tshirt (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

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Panorama of El Garrapatero beach

What Can i See at El Garrapatero Beach?

At El Garrapatero beach you can find with luck some marine iguanas but on the little lagoon next to it you can usually find flamingos. If you wish to see baby black-tip reef sharks, many marine iguanas, and pelicans then I advise you to go to Tortuga Bay. For your safety and the animals, don’t touch any of the animals or corals as they are all living things and can get damaged if you do so. If you want some more information please check the official Santa Cruz island website.

Panorama of El Garrapatero beach with kayaks

My Experience at El Garrapatero Beach

This was my fourth day on Santa Cruz island and I had just had food poison on the evening before so I wasn’t feeling good at all and had to cancel an already paid snorkeling tour to Pinzon and La Fé so I decided at least to enjoy something on the island and not lose the entire day in bed. I then wrote to a friend of mine and we took a taxi to El Garrapatero beach. After the taxi dropped us off we had to walk for around 10 minutes to reach the beach.

The start of the walking path to the beach

The paved path to El Garrapatero beach

Once we got there we soon realized there weren’t many shaded places and the ones available were full of tourists, but we went there anyway. It was too hot to stay without shade and I wasn’t fully recovered yet. On the left side of the beach, we could see a person renting kayaks but we just stood under our tree resting, and then we went for a little swim. It had many little rocks and a long way of burning sand to get to the water but the water was great once we got there. Unfortunately, we didn’t know there was a lagoon with flamingos next to the beach so we didn’t go there. If you want to see the flamingos, right when you enter the beach, at the wooden sign go to your right side and then walk back like 150 meters and you should find it. And that’s about it. After a while we got annoyed with the horseflies biting us and we left the beach and waited 10 minutes for our cab to arrive as we had arranged with her.

The wooden information board at the entrance of the beach

Garrapatero Beach in Santa Cruz

What about you, have you already been to El Garrapatero beach in Santa Cruz?  Leave me a comment down here if you have and what was your opinion. Thanks for reading through and I hope you have fun on the beach!