How Much Our 2-Week Trip to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands Cost As A Family of 6

How much does a bucket list trip to mainland Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands cost for a family?

Well, that depends. How long do you plan to stay? How many people are in your family? Are you splurging on accommodations? Are you planning epic tours and activities?

Obviously every family’s experience and budget it going to be different, but I always find that it’s helpful to see what someone else’s trip cost just to get an idea of what prices are like.

Maybe we splurged in an area you would prefer to save. Maybe you’ve got more points and miles to burn than we did. That’s totally fine! There are so many ways to make this trip more affordable for families!

I'll share the cost of our recent 2-week family trip to Ecuador below, with a breakdown of each category so you can see where you might replicate our trip or choose to do something differently.

This was one of our most memorable trips with so many wildlife sightings, learning about other cultures and environments, experiencing different geographical landscapes of Ecuador, and we just had fun together as a family! In that sense, our trip was priceless!

But if you're looking for a real budget from a real family, for this type of trip, you've come to the right place! Here's what it cost for a family of 6 to travel to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands in summer for 2 weeks.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on a link and make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

How Much a Bucket List Trip to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands Cost as a Family of 6

The total cost of our Ecuador & Galápagos Islands trip was $10,452.74 US dollars. That works out to $1742.12 per person for 13 days.

I also want to note that visiting the Galápagos Islands was easily the most expensive part of our trip because of the flights to get there, the entry fee to get into the Galápagos Islands, and the tour we took there. I think the only way to make this part cheaper would be to book the flights from mainland Ecuador to the Galápagos on points, which is totally doable! If we had been able to do that, it would have saved us around $2000 from the total cost of the trip.

This was my 4th time visiting Ecuador, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful and underrated places on earth. This was my 1st time in the Galápagos Islands, and I truly fell in love with this magical place. I feel that it was worth the extra cost for our family.

I hope this post helps you wrap your head around how much to save for a similar trip, or just to be mentally prepared for how much you’ll spend.

Here are a few other trip cost posts if you’re curious:

Flights to Ecuador

The cost of flights lately has been pretty expensive, so our current strategy is to book flights for our international trips on points and miles.

For this trip my husband and I combined our Capital One Miles and transferred them to Avianca. We booked round trip frights from Chicago (ORD) to Quito (UIO) for 160,080 miles for our family of 6, and taxes and fees cost an additional $886.92.

I thought this was a very reasonable points “price” for 6 roundtrip tickets to South America, coming out to 26,680 points per person.

I want to make note of something, though. I didn’t realize before our flight that Avianca is a very bare bones type of airline, similar to the budget carriers here in the United States like Allegiant or Frontier. The flight attendants were very kind and welcoming, but do not expect meal, snack, or beverage service. You will have to pay for any meals or refreshments you have on board.

In addition, our flight schedule was pretty tough, which is one of the reasons the points price was so low. We departed Chicago at 11:20 p.m. and landed in Bogotá, Colombia around 5:30 a.m. with a quick layover before our final flight to Quito.

On our flight, Avianca did not provide blankets or pillows, and the seats did not recline. It’s just something to make note of in case you want to bring your own comfort items to sleep a little better on an overnight flight.

So bring your own snacks, fill up your water bottles, bring a travel blanket or neck pillow, and you should be just fine! I’m ok with making the tradeoff of cheaper flights and a budget experience in order to be able to book more trips throughout the year.

Flights to the Galápagos Islands

We decided to add a trip to the Galápagos Islands to our Ecuador trip, but the only way to get there is by flying, since the archipelago is located 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador.

There are 2 options for flying into the Galápagos Islands from Quito:

Baltra (right next to Santa Cruz, the most populated island & tourist hub)
San Cristobal (a smaller, less populated island

There is a 3rd Island you can stay on called Isabela Island. The airport there only handles inter-island puddle jumper flights, not flights to and from Quito.

We only had 4 nights total, so here was our schedule:

Fly into Baltra (Santa Cruz)
Stay 2 nights on Santa Cruz
Take a ferry from Santa Cruz to San Cristobal (takes about 2-3 hours)
Stay 2 nights on San Cristobal
Fly back to Quito from San Cristobal

Logistically this worked perfectly since we didn’t have to “back track” with the inter-island ferries.

Our flights cost $1059 from Quito to Baltra, and $1034.04 from San Cristobal to Quito, so $2093.04 for round trip flights for a family of 6. We paid for these flights in cash, not points, with Avianca, though there is the option to book these flights on points!

Transportation

Next we had to figure out how to get around once we were in Ecuador. We stayed with friends from college when we were in Quito, and they had a vehicle large enough to fit our family, so they took us around for sightseeing purposes.

When they weren’t available, we hailed a taxi or hired an Uber XL. If it’s a short distance you can expect to pay $5-$10 for an Uber or Taxi, whereas longer drives within Quito of 30-40 minutes will cost around $20-$30 if you have a big family like ours.

We paid for any taxis in cash, so we didn’t keep track of those (I’ll get to cash in the miscellaneous section), and we hired one Uber to get from the “suburbs” of Quito to the historic center for $20.07.

To get from Quito to other cities around Ecuador, my friend recommended a private driver to us. Here is his Facebook page and his WhatsApp contact information is there! I just reached out on WhatsApp and told him our dates and destinations, then asked for a price. Javier was amazing, professional, and so so helpful.

The cost for our transfers were:

Quito to Tambopaxi Lodge in Cotopaxi National Park: $200
Quito to El Jardin Lodge & Spa in Misahualli (Amazon Rainforest): $400

We also added a tip for all of our drivers.

Another transport we had to take was the ferry from Santa Cruz in the Galápagos to San Cristobal in the Galapagos. That was $210 for our whole family.

We also paid for plenty of taxis in the Galápagos Islands, all in cash, but did not keep track of how much we spent for those. Each of those taxi rides were around $2, unless it was a longer drive from one end of the island to another.

I would estimate our total for transportation to be: $950

Hotels and Accommodations Costs

Total Accommodations Expenses: $2672.78

Hotels are always tricky when you have a family of 6 like ours. I booked kind of last minute, and thankfully most of the hotels we stayed in were perfect. Our Airbnb in the Galapagos was my least favorite, simply because the location was too far outside of town and it was hard to get a taxi.

Something to note is that one of my best friends from college is currently living in Ecuador, so when we were in Quito we stayed at their house. That accounted for 3 nights of our trip, so add in the cost of 3 additional hotel stays to our total if you plan to recreate this itinerary.

Tambopaxi Lodge

We stayed at Tambopaxi Lodge for 1 night. We chose this property because I loved the idea of a cozy lodge stay in the mountains with a view of Cotopaxi Volcano. I did something similar to this when I was in college, and wanted to recreate that experience with my kids.

Tambopaxi Lodge is located inside Cotopaxi National Park, so be sure to arrive for check in between 1 and 4 p.m. because the national park closes at 4 p.m. We had a little bit of a snafu with that, but it ended up working out in the end. If you know you’ll be later than 4, contact the lodge ahead of time for special permits to get into the national park after closing time.

We booked the Colibrí (Hummingbird) room which sleeps six people and has a view of the volcano. The room has 2 sets of bunk beds plus a full or queen size bed (can’t remember which size).

The cost of this room for 1 night was $331.36.

Torre Mar (Santa Cruz in the Galápagos)

Torre Mar Galapagos Boutique Suites was our first stay in the Galápagos Islands, It’s located on the Island of Santa Cruz near the main town of Puerto Ayora. The location was absolutely perfect, within walking distance of the port and all of the restaurants and shops.

We stayed here for 2 nights. We booked the Deluxe Bungalow with Garden View which sleeps 6 people.

It ended up being 2 separate rooms joined by a garden path, but we were the only ones with access to the garden path. One of the bungalows had 2 bedrooms, making it perfect for the kids, while ours was more of a studio setup with a king size bed. Both bungalows had their own kitchens and bathrooms.

The cost for the Deluxe Bungalow with Garden View for 2 nights was $666.42, booked through Booking.com. We actually only ended up paying $366.42 since my Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 travel credit automatically applied when I booked this stay.

San Cristobal Airbnb

Our 2nd stay in the Galapagos was in San Cristobal. We ended up booking kind of last minute, so all we were able to find to fit our family of 6 was an Airbnb outside the main town in San Cristobal.

We booked Enchanted Haven in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, and it was an excellent stay. We booked 2 nights for $365 total.

My only complaint with this stay was that it was a bit outside of town, but it was located on a main highway, and tough to hail a taxi to get into town. We usually ended up having to text taxi drivers we had used previously, which was always hit or miss.

I think next time I would stay closer to town for sure!

El Jardin Lodge & Spa

El Jardin Lodge & Spa was one of our planned splurges on this trip. We stayed 2 nights at this jungle lodge in Misahuallí, the gateway to the Amazon Rainforest. All meals are included in your stay, as well as a private tour of monkey island!

We had our own private cabin with 2 levels. The bottom level had 4 beds, which was perfect for the kids, and the top level had a king size bed for the adults. We had our own private plunge pool, too! The only downside was that there was no way to get to the kids room from our room without going outside, since the stairs were located on the outside of the cabin.

It ended up working out fine, but something to be aware of if you have younger kids.

2 nights at El Jardin Lodge & Spa for 6 people was $1200.

Courtyard by Marriott Quito Airport Hotel

Our last hotel stay of the trip we booked literally the day of our stay. We decided at the very last minute to stay at the airport hotel instead of inconveniencing our friends, since our flight the next morning was at 4:45 a.m.

We also were nervous about trusting a scheduled taxi to show up and get us to the airport on time that early in the morning, although I’m sure they are very reliable.

The Courtyard by Marriott Quito Airport Hotel offers connecting rooms and is just steps from the airport.

We paid $410 total for 2 connecting rooms. I was very happy we made this decision. The rooms were very spacious, the beds were comfortable, and it was nice to save ourselves an extra hour of sleep!

Tours, Excursions, and Activities

Total Tour + Activity Expenses: $2372.82

Intiñan Equator Museum

On our first day in Quito we visited the Intiñan Equator Museum which costs $5/person for ages 13 and up, and $2.50 for kids under 12. We paid for 4 adults (we covered my friend since she drove us there, my oldest child, my husband, and me), and 3 kids for a total of $27.50. It comes with a guided tour in English, which runs for around an hour.

TelefériQo

On our 2nd day in Quito we took the cable car up Pinchincha volcano, which cost $9 for adults and $6.50 for kids. The total charge on our card was $46 for this activity.

I would highly recommend adding this to your itinerary! Once at the top there are cool photo opportunities like a swing in the clouds, alpacas, and hiking, or you can go horseback riding for an additional fee. The views from the top are amazing, and there’s a cafe you can enjoy, too.

Basilica del Voto Nacional

Entry to the Basilica for non-citizens is $4/person if you want to climb the towers, so four our family of 6 it was $24. Children under 5 are free.

Horseback Riding

We booked an hour-long horseback riding tour through the Tambopaxi Lodge. The cost for a family of 6 was $138 ($23/person).

Galápagos Transit Control Card (TCT)

To get on a flight to the Galápagos, you must have a Transit Control Card, otherwise known as the TCT (Tarjeta de Control de Tránsito).

You can fill out the form online, and each person must then pay a $20 fee for this card. The TCT is to track how long visitors are staying in the Galápagos Islands to continue protecting the local ecosystems.

For our family of 6 this cost $120.

Galápagos Islands National Park Entry Fee

To enter the Galápagos Islands National Park, international tourists must pay an entry fee of $200 for adults (13 and over), and $100 for kids (12 and under).

This entry fee must be paid in cash upon arrival to the Galápagos Islands.

For 3 adults and 3 children, our family paid $900 in cash.

El Chato Ranch

Our first activity in the Galápagos Islands was to visit El Chato Ranch to see the protected Galápagos Tortoises. The tour was about an hour long with an English speaking guide, plus we got to walk through Lava Tunnels at the end of the tour!

The tour cost $10/person, so that was $60 for our family of 6.

Note that our taxi ride cost around $50 since it’s about 45 minutes from Puerto Ayora, and our driver hung around and waited for us to complete the tour, plus we tipped him. I am including that cost in our Food & Miscellaneous category since we used cash for a lot of activities and food in Ecuador, and I didn’t keep careful track of every single transaction.

180 Tour (Kicker Rock Snorkeling)

Our most expensive, but also our most exciting tour was the 180 Tour (also called the Kicker Rock Snorkeling Tour) on San Cristobal in the Galápagos Islands.

The tour was about 6 hours long, and they provided snacks and lunch, snorkel equipment, wetsuits, and tour guides. We also left a nice tip, but again, that was in cash so I’m lumping it in with miscellaneous.

We could have paid for our tour in cash, as we technically had enough with us, and it would have been almost $100 cheaper to do so, but we decided to use the PayPal option they provided just to be sure we had enough cash for the remainder of the trip.

The total cost for this tour for 6 people was $946.

Amazon Rainforest Tour

Our Amazon Rainforest Lodge (El Jardin Lodge & Spa) did offer one included tour to Monkey Island, but they scheduled ours for our last day.

We decided to add one tour for the morning of our one full day in the Amazon Rainforest to really make the most of our visit. We booked the tour just by texting the hotel on WhatsApp and requesting it. They have QR codes in your room with all of the tour options to choose from. We booked ours the day before!

On this tour we rode a canoe on the Napo River, visited a garden where we got to learn about Amazon Rainforest plants and animals, visited a butterfly garden, and learned how blow guns and blow darts are made, PLUS we got to try shooting a blow gun!

The total cost for this tour for our family of 6 was $111. 32.

Food & Miscellaneous

Total Miscellaneous Cash Purchases and Food Expenses: $1477.18

Something to note for this section is that many areas of Ecuador accept credit card, but some places are cash only, especially on the Galápagos Islands.

Miscellaneous Cash Expenses:

We took out $3000 of cash before our trip to cover our Galápagos National Park entry fee ($900), our Transit Control Card ($120) our private driver ($600), our ferry transfer in the Galapagos ($210) and tipping our tour guides and drivers. We had around $250 in cash left over at the end of the trip. When I subtract all of that (since I already covered those expenses in this post), I would estimate that we spent $800 of our cash on taxis, food, souvenirs, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Food (credit card):

Going through our credit card transactions, I tallied up all restaurant charges, and we spent an additional $677.18 on food (not including cash purchases).

Total Cost: $10,452.74

If you want to read all of the details of our itinerary, including links to our driver, hotels, activities, and more, go ahead and check out our 2 Week Ecuador and Galápagos Itinerary for Families.

Itinerary Overview

Day 1: Overnight flight from Chicago to Quito departs.

Day 2: Arrive in Quito, Ecuador and visit Mitad del Mundo - The Equator!

Day 3: Explore Quito in the morning, and hire a private driver to take you to Cotopaxi National Park in the afternoon. Stay at Tambopaxi Lodge inside Cotopaxi National Park.

Day 4: Go horseback riding at Tambopaxi Lodge, drive back to Quito, and explore Quito’s Historic Center.

Day 5: Depart for the Galápagos Islands! Fly into Baltra Island and immediately transfer to Santa Cruz. Visit El Chato Ranch to see Galápagos Tortoises and visit the pier.

Day 6: Spend the day on Santa Cruz Island. Visit Tortuga Bay, souvenir shopping, and relaxing by the pier.

Day 7: Take a ferry from Santa Cruz to San Cristobal. Visit Playa Mann and check out the sea lions.

Day 8: Do the 180 Tour to snorkel at Kicker Rock and visit a secret beach. See Blue Footed Boobies!

Day 9: Grab breakfast in San Cristobal and catch a flight back to Quito.

Day 10: Have your private driver take you from Quito to Misahualli - the Gateway to the Amazon. Check into El Jardín Lodge and Spa.

Day 11: Take a tour of the jungle, swim, and relax.

Day 12: Take a monkey tour, have your driver take you back to Quito, check into your airport hotel.

Day 13: Catch a flight back home. Stop in the El Dorado Lounge in Bogotá for long layovers.

If you want to read all the details of our itinerary, head over to this blog post: 2 Week Ecuador and Galápagos Itinerary for Families