Finch Bay Galapagos Hotel — Hotel in Parroquia Bella Vista

Thank you to Anddy at Metropolitan Touring! Planning our vacation with him was the best decision we made. Anddy was helpful from beginning to end. His professionalism and enthusiasm were always present. His attentiveness and patience never waned across the 60+ emails BEFORE we committed, not to mention all of those after we booked. After making reservations, Anddy used his vast knowledge to plan a tailor-made vacation for our family. ||||Our experience began with our guide Francisco meeting us at the airport for a private transfer to the Finch Bay. After many hours of travel, this first-class service was very welcomed. From the airport, we boarded the public shuttle--the only option from the airport-- where Francisco coordinated our bags being loaded and our family of four getting seats. Once we arrived at the boat dock at Itabaca Channel, we boarded a small private boat for a 5 minute ride to Santa Cruz Island where our driver and an air-conditioned van were waiting (if not for the private boat, we would've joined a long line to board ourselves and luggage onto a 40-passenger boat). Our adventure began immediately as our driver transported us through the highlands and Francisco shared interesting facts on the way to a giant tortoise ranch . After walking among the giants in awe and snapping unbelievable photos, we enjoyed a nice lunch in the open air restaurant at the ranch.||||Afterwards, we headed to the bustling town of Puerto Ayora where we boarded Finch Bay's private taxi for a 5-minute ride. Once we arrived, the staff transported our luggage as we meandered the 5+ minute walk through the mangrove arches and along the beach boardwalk to the resort grounds. We knew immediately we had made the right decision. The pool, common areas, and boardwalks through the trees to the rooms were beautiful and peaceful. ||||Although a bit of an effort to reach, we thoroughly enjoyed the tranquility of the Finch Bay. After a long day of excursions, we relaxed poolside with delicious drinks and dined poolside several nights. The food and service were impeccable. A few days and evenings we journeyed into town to shop, visit the breeding center, and dine at recommended restaurants. Visiting the town was very convenient because of the Finch Bay's private taxi. All we had to do was tell the front desk we were heading to the dock and they called the driver to be waiting for us. To return, we called the front desk to send a water taxi. We never waited more than a minute. The Finch Bay allowed us to conveniently enjoy the town while staying in a peaceful retreat.||||Every staff member worked diligently to make our stay comfortable, enjoyable, and unforgettable.The activities directory, Enrique, found us every afternoon before the next day's excursion to ensure we knew the departure time, meeting location, had our wetsuits, etc. We took 3 excursions on the resort's Sea Lion yacht. All of our guides and crew were exceptional. They were professional, knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, and committed to us having an interesting experience. ||||The excursions were all split into two parts: hike and snorkel. After the first part, we enjoyed a snack and beverage, and after the second part, we were served a small buffet lunch with tasty options. The crew was efficient in distributing the snorkeling gear so that we didn't miss any time in the water. Our guides engaged to spot, point out, and share information about the sights we were all wanting to see. While on the three excursions--Bartolome, North Seymour, and the Plazas--we experienced the following: observed penguins and swam with a penguin, swam beside a sea turtle, lots of different fish (like an entire school of "Dory" fish) a sea lion, and spotted sea urchins, star fish of different colors, a couple black tip sharks, and more. On land, we observed flamingos, lots of blue footed boobies nesting with their eggs or chicks, numerous male frigates inflating their red pouches to attract a mate, huge yellow land iguanas, and a newborn sea lion! ||||In addition to all of the attention and services described, we had a very positive experience involving an unfortunate medical situation with our son. He had an allergic reaction that required his Epipen while dining at a nearby restaurant. Knowing that he usually needs to proceed to a hospital after injections, the Finch Bay staff jumped into action to transport him. Luckily, the on-call physician was onsite to take his vitals and manage the situation through Manager Ana's interpretation. ||||Overall, Anddy and the entire Finch Bay staff made our once-in-a-lifetime vacation an incredible experience. We give them all our highest praise...

I’ve never felt this way before, but only rating the Finch Bay with five stars is an injustice to the superb quality of service and experience that my wife and I received during a recent stay. If there were the possibility of giving the Finch Bay ten stars, I would give it ten stars, as the experience was definitely a perfect “ten”.

Truly exceptional service not only meets a guest’s needs, but anticipates them. I could go on for pages describing each day how the Finch Bay staff anticipated our needs and provided excellent service and solutions, so I will have to limit myself to a few examples. Small examples include a staff member walking by the pool and noticing that my wife had entered with her glasses on, and was setting them on the edge. He volunteered to take them over to the table between the lounges where we had our things. As we were walking to the pool, a staff member passing by picked up towels from the fresh towel bin and offered them to us, or took our used towels graciously from us when we finished swimming and placed them in the used towel bin. The breakfast wait staff learned what we liked to drink in the morning (black coffee for me; chocolate for my wife) on the first morning, and offered us these choices each morning when we sat down for breakfast. I never had to ask for more coffee or catch someone’s attention for some matter; the staff was always looking to see if they might be of service in some way. The Finch Bay breakfast was extraordinary with so many different homemade choices available, breads, rolls, waffles, pancakes, freshly squeezed juices, ceviche’s, build your own omelets, bacon, yogurts, even cooked vegetables and seafood.

Travel from the Finch Bay to Puerto Ayora is by Finch Bay’s water taxi, which is at the disposal for guests. If the taxi is not at the dock from which you embark, you can call the front desk and request service. The Finch Bay also has a WhatsApp profile that also allows one to get in contact with the front desk for requesting a taxi and any other matter. However, my wife and I initially struggled to get our US iPhones working to contact the Finch Bay front desk, so the staff just gave us a loaner phone each day to use for free, and re-charged it up each night so that it was ready to go. Have any of you ever had this kind of service? I hadn’t! And it made is so much easier to enjoy going into town each day for shopping, excursions, dinner, and so on.

One of the water taxi drivers knew that we wanted to work on our Spanish, and so each time we road with him, he would ask us some simple questions about what we had done or were going to do. His English was fine, but he made an effort to help us in this small way.

It was our 50th wedding anniversary, and when we checked into our room, there was a hand-written card welcoming us to the Galápagos and wishing us continued happiness. Moreover, because it was low season and not all of the rooms were occupied, the Finch Bay upgraded us to a suite overlooking the ocean in an effort to make our time more magical and special. They didn’t have to do this, but it was a wonderful, special anniversary gift from them. When we had our final dinner at the hotel, the chef even made us a special dessert with a greeting written in dark chocolate on a piece of white chocolate, wishing us an eternal honeymoon.

We had booked some tours and such online before coming to the Galápagos Islands, and there were a series of problems with some of them. The Finch Bay staff called some of the tour operators and worked with them to straighten out some of the issues. They also offered us some replacement tours through the Finch Bay hotel that were definitely First-Class, and actually cost less than the tours that we had previously booked! The Finch Bay-operated tours were first-rate in all respects, and definitely better in terms of boat, logistics and quality than the other non-Finch Bay tours.

In addition to the 10-star service, the Finch Bay property is magical and probably the best situated hotel on Santa...

My husband and I stayed at the Finch Bay hotel for 4 days in November.||Apart from accommodation, we also booked private transport to the airport and day trips on Santa Cruz and to Bartolomé Island.||On arrival to Baltra airport, we were picked up by our guide (he did not have a name board, we found him by asking other drivers which one came from Finch Bay hotel).||After quick introductions, we were put on airport bus, then ferry and then started our tour of the island. Our guide only worked with the hotel and was fantastic. We visited volcanic calderas, giant turtles rancho and had Ecuadorian lunch. After that, we were taken to the hotel.||Check-in was quick, but they tried to sell us additional services such as wetsuits for the next day tour and mosquito repellants. Given we travelled overnight and had full day tour before arriving to the hotel at 6pm, we expected a little bit more empathy and space to relax and refresh.||We booked a double suite and the room was a disappointment. The finishings were cheap, more in line with a 3 star hotel, bathroom was tiny and amenities provided of low quality.||Breakfast in the morning started at 6pm and many tours at 7am which doesn’t leave a lot of time to get ready. Breakfast selection is good but very limited; eggs cooked to order, a few Ecuadorean dishes, pancakes, bread, basic charcuterie and fruit.||Second day we visited Bartolome island and I decided to rent a wetsuit for snorkelling (25USD) and it was absolutely worth it given the water was cold in November.||Once again, the tour was great (although shared with tourists from the town, not only hotel guests). We had the same guide, Fabian, who was again fantastic. Lunch served on board was of a good quality and was a mixture of fish, seafood and vegetables.||The final day, we decided to rest by the pool in a morning before going to Darwin research centre.||My husband wanted to order whiskey while we waited by the pool but was quoted £40 which was ridiculous. We settled for cava instead.||It is also worth mentioning that due to a river running through the resort, there are a lot of mosquitoes. This was the only place we had to have a repellent on (not outside the hotel). One would think that hotel would provide repellents on the rooms, but that’s not the case, they sell them for 9 USD.||Overall this hotel is only worth staying at because of the quality of guides/tours it provides. The rooms are very basic, common facilities are much nicer (and hotel does a great job at making them look nicer than they actually are on Instagram).||If you book it, do it with your eyes wide open, know it is overpriced and the service is basic. Your tours will be fantastic which made up for me the shortcomings of the...