Playa Baquerizo — Attraction in Parroquia El Progresso

To be frank — whoever saying it’s an easy / only slightly difficult hike in the review must be really fit. I consider myself ok in terms of fitness, but that hike wasn’t easy at all with nothing much to see on the way (maybe one or two Tijeretas birds when you look up the sky). Very rocky and steep.

And after reaching the Playa Tijeretas, I wanted to give up but there’re signs followed by “only 15min left 1km” and “only 8min left , 500 m…. So I was tempted to say, “go ahead instead of turning back”

While the distance may be correct, the time was totally inaccurate! Easily need 2x or 3x of the time indicated…

Is it worth the time? I’d say it depends on 1. Your physical fitness 2. How much time you spend on the island, whether you’ve run out of things to do. 3. Whether you’ve got proper hiking shoes or boots 4. Recommend long quick-dry pants coz all those tree branches and grass on the way could hurt you badly 5. Don’t carry a lot of things with you coz often you need your hands aside from legs in parts of the “trail”

Why 3-star still? There’re plenty of marine iguana and sea lions resting on the shores or swimming. And while the waves (very strong) can be dangerous for snorkeling or swimming, if you’re adventurous like me, you may see some very large sea turtles near the shore in the water as you dipped in (I saw 3-4). Also lots of crabs on the rocks.

The beach itself was small. Very windy with strong waves. Not a lot of shades at all aside from one or two small spots at the corners. And as expected, it’s not crowded at all (when I visited, around midday there’re only two other 5 other visitors).

Playa Carola was a better experience in terms of snorkeling (also around the area), in my view. Easier to reach, and also you can spot sea turtles.

The Darwin Cove (which some blogs recommended on the way back from the Mirador)? Forget about it — way too touristy and crowded, and not a lot of wildlife aside from plenty of sea lions...

This is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island, and you can go there without any tour and for free. You can find here Iguana, sea lions, sea turtles, pelucans and really a lot of fish. Bring sunscreen with you, there is no shade. And you have to wear good (!!) Shoes, NOT flip-flops. The path is rocky and there are sharp stones, which can easiliy cause serious harm. Best are mountain boots. It gets very slippery when raining, and this happen often. This is a...

After a really nice hike of about 90 minutes we reached this beautiful beach. Sadly we were quite unlucky as there were high waves and a strong current so we couldn't go snorkeling and could only cool ourselves down a little. Maybe it was because we were at the beach while the wet season but afterwards the true problem began. As soon as we were wet, we were attacked by hundreds of mosquitos and horse flies so we more or less had to leave the beach after only...