Puerto Villamil

The port is surrounded by extensive, white sandy beaches with lagoons and wetlands on its borders. A great place to absorb history and culture, the town also provides shopping opportunities.

Highlights: Beautiful white sandy beach, marine iguanas, giant mangroves, small land tortoises, shore birds, blue-footed boobies, tintoreras, giant tortoise

Concha de Perla (Puerto Villamil)

Located in the Port of Villamil, the Concha de Perla can be reached via a wooden pathway. The bay’s calm, shallow, clear waters are ideal for observing the incredible array of marine life.

Visitors can swim and snorkel alongside tropical fish, sea lions, penguins and turtles and it is also possible to observe up to 20 bird species.

Highlights: Sea lions, penguins, turtles, marine iguanas, frigates, flamingos

Tintoreras Islets

The Tintoreras Islets, located a short distance from Puerto Villamil, is home to a great variety of wildlife. Its turquoise, crystalline waters are inhabited by white-tipped reef sharks, Galapagos penguins, marine turtles and sea lions.

One of its beaches, surrounded by mangroves is one of the few sites where marine iguanas can reproduce successfully.

Highlights: White-tipped reef sharks, penguins, marine turtles, sea lions, marine iguanas

The Wetlands / Flamingos Lake & Tortoise Breeding Station (Pto Villamil) The Wetlands of Isabela Island are located just outside of Puerto Villamil. The Wetlands consist of lagoons, swamps, and mangroves and are home to a variety of unique bird species such as common stilts, whimbrels, white-cheeked pintails, and gallinules. The Wetlands can be visited on foot via a path that winds through the swamps.

To the west of Puerto Villamil there are various salt and brackish lagoons which house an impressive variety of coastal and sea birds. Here, visitors can also find the largest concentration of flamingos in Galapagos.

The Tortoise Breeding Station was created to protect animals in their first years of life from the threats of foreign species such as pigs and donkeys. Giant tortoise eggs are collected and brought to the center where they are hatched and kept for five years before being released to their natural environment.

Highlights: Giant mangroves, shore birds, Flamingos, lagoons, coastal and sea birds, two of the five sub-species of the giant tortoise.

Sierra Negra Volcano

The Sierra Negra Volcano boasts the largest basaltic caldera in Galapagos at 9 x 10km.

The site offers impressive views and the opportunity to observe up to 7 species of finch and a rich display of vegetation.

The north side of the caldera provides evidence of its most recent volcanic activity in 2005.

Highlights: Basaltic caldera, stunning views, finches

Volcan Chico

Volcan Chico is just 16 km, or a smidge under 10 miles.

It is a fissure of a parasitic cone that last erupted in November 1979.

The site provides incredible views of the volcanoes of Isabela as well as Fernandina.

Wall of tears

The wall of tears is a historical site 5 km west of Puerto Villamil. It was constructed between the years of 1945 and 1959 by prisoners in the penal colony on the island.

The wall reaches up to 65 feet and runs over 300 feet long and its construction was dangerous work in the ill-equipped conditions resulting in the deaths of a number of prisoners from both sickness and calamity.