The Galeodan Suites — Hotel in Parroquia Puerto Baquerizo Moreno

We had a solid stay at the Galeodan, but we might shop around for a different place to stay if we were in San Cristobal again.|Here are the positives, things you need to be aware of to set your expectations, and negatives of our stay.|+ Positives:|Bathroom: The bathroom was spacious with plenty of room to spread your belongings out on the counter. The shower had hot water and reasonable water pressure.|Balcony: The penthouse wrap-around balcony is gorgeous. The view is awesome. There’s a hammock. And a laundry line for drying out your beach towels, swimsuits, etc.|Spacious: Aside from the outdoor space of the balcony, the penthouse has tons of space to spread out: a king bed, a table and kitchenette, a sitting area, and plenty of entryway space. And an open closet to unpack your things. We had tons of luggage and appreciated having space to not trip over our stuff.|Staff: Our host Sean was super responsive on WhatsApp or email, both before we arrived and during our stay. He was happy to help us get a taxi, store our things after we had checked out, etc. And our welcome to the room was great as well.||~Things you just need to set your expectations about:|Location: The location is a bit off the main tourist drag. It’s convenient for going to the Interpretation Center or Playa Mann, but a few blocks from everything else. That makes it rather quiet, but also means a bit of a walk after each activity or meal.|Breakfast: The breakfast is cook-your-own. So yay, you get to pick when you eat. But you also have to cook it yourself and clean up your dishes. And there isn’t much variety or bounty in what supplies are provided: 3 buns, a couple of apples, 4 eggs, granola, butter, and jam, plus coffee/tea/milk. And the only frying pan in our unit had this odd raised texture that made it impossible to scrape the eggs off, so we wasted some scrambled egg and spent extra time scrubbing.|Cleaning service: During your stay, the hosts pick up your trash each day and replenish the breakfast supplies, but that’s all I could tell. So if your towels are getting funky, you have to ask. And if you dirty dishes, you have to clean them.|Water: Potable water is provided in the mini-fridge, probably about 5-6 liters per day. After the first day, we asked for an extra pitcher with a couple more liters, and got it. But we preferred other hotels that had freely available filling stations.|Windows: The penthouse had tons of windows, including a spectacular view of the bay. But the curtains are gossamer, so good luck sleeping in, and they let in a lot of heat. Also–it took me a while to figure this out–they’re reflective. So while there are no curtains in the bathroom, you are not actually flashing the entire neighborhood.||- Negatives:|Slippery Stairs: The penthouse, and I think most of the other rooms, had a lot of stairs going on–27 steep outdoor stairs to the penthouse. We were there during the rainy season, and the stairs were pretty slippery. And they were shallow enough that I couldn’t get my whole shoe on each step, so it just felt a little dicey.|Bugs: There were quite a few small bugs in the room each night. We followed our host’s instructions on waste disposal and weren’t doing anything odd with leaving food out or leaving doors or windows open. But there were 10-20 large ants each night in the main room and bathroom. And there were a bunch of super tiny bugs. None of them bit, so it wasn’t as bad as it could be. But the place we stayed in Santa Cruz was bug-free, so we know it’s possible to be bug-free, but Galeodan penthouse...

We had a solid stay at the Galeodan, but we might shop around for a different place to stay if we were in San Cristobal again. Here are the positives, things you need to be aware of to set your expectations, and negatives of our stay. Positives: Bathroom: The bathroom was spacious with plenty of room to spread your belongings out on the counter. The shower had hot water and reasonable water pressure. Balcony: The penthouse wrap-around balcony is gorgeous. The view is awesome. There’s a hammock. And a laundry line for drying out your beach towels, swimsuits, etc. Spacious: Aside from the outdoor space of the balcony, the penthouse has tons of space to spread out: a king bed, a table and kitchenette, a sitting area, and plenty of entryway space. And an open closet to unpack your things. We had tons of luggage and appreciated having space to not trip over our stuff. Staff: Our host Sean was super responsive on WhatsApp or email, both before we arrived and during our stay. He was happy to help us get a taxi, store our things after we had checked out, etc. And our welcome to the room was great as well.

~Things you just need to set your expectations about: Location: The location is a bit off the main tourist drag. It’s convenient for going to the Interpretation Center or Playa Mann, but a few blocks from everything else. That makes it rather quiet, but also means a bit of a walk after each activity or meal. Breakfast: The breakfast is cook-your-own. So yay, you get to pick when you eat. But you also have to cook it yourself and clean up your dishes. And there isn’t much variety or bounty in what supplies are provided: 3 buns, a couple of apples, 4 eggs, granola, butter, and jam, plus coffee/tea/milk. And the only frying pan in our unit had this odd raised texture that made it impossible to scrape the eggs off, so we wasted some scrambled egg and spent extra time scrubbing. Cleaning service: During your stay, the hosts pick up your trash each day and replenish the breakfast supplies, but that’s all I could tell. So if your towels are getting funky, you have to ask. And if you dirty dishes, you have to clean them. Water: Potable water is provided in the mini-fridge, probably about 5-6 liters per day. After the first day, we asked for an extra pitcher with a couple more liters, and got it. But we preferred other hotels that had freely available filling stations. Windows: The penthouse had tons of windows, including a spectacular view of the bay. But the curtains are gossamer, so good luck sleeping in, and they let in a lot of heat. Also–it took me a while to figure this out–they’re reflective. So while there are no curtains in the bathroom, you are not actually flashing the entire neighborhood.

Negatives: Slippery Stairs: The penthouse, and I think most of the other rooms, had a lot of stairs going on–27 steep outdoor stairs to the penthouse. We were there during the rainy season, and the stairs were pretty slippery. And they were shallow enough that I couldn’t get my whole shoe on each step, so it just felt a little dicey. Bugs: There were quite a few small bugs in the room each night. We followed our host’s instructions on waste disposal and weren’t doing anything odd with leaving food out or leaving doors or windows open. But there were 10-20 large ants each night in the main room and bathroom. And there were a bunch of super tiny bugs. None of them bit, so it wasn’t as bad as it could be. But the place we stayed in Santa Cruz was bug-free, so we know it’s possible to be bug-free, but Galeodan penthouse...

First off, you need to pay for the hotel with bank transfer, they don't accept credit card for some reason. This made it a huge hassle just to book the room from another country. They did arrange for a taxi to pick us up from the airport. The outside of the property is horrible. The "hotel" is on a dirt road. There is trash and debris everywhere. Seems like the do zero upkeep and try to make the area around the property look nice. The view from the room was ok if you could look past all of the trash, overgrown trees and the abandoned half built property next to it. Maybe higher up wouldn't have been so bad, but I was 1st level. The have an ENTIRE page of rules you have to follow. There is no T.V., for me that sucked, after exploring all day long during travel, I like to relax and unwind from the day laying in bed watching a movie or something. Obviously being in the Galapagos Islands and being on the equator, it's HOT outside. They want you to keep the a/c above a certain degree. If I'm paying for a "hotel", I'm turning the a/c to whatever I want to be comfortable. I'm not going to sweat in my room because they want to save money on their electric bill. After being on a boat tour and in the sun for almost 12 hours, we came back to the room and it was so hot in there. I like to come back to a cool room after being outside in the sun all day. They had entered the room and turned the a/c all the way up so the room was so uncomfortable. You can't flush toilet paper for some reason, so if you go #2, you have to wipe and put it in the trash and let is sit there all day and night until the next day when they clean the room. There is no secondary interior lock on the door, so they can just come in whenever they please. There is no "Do Not Disturb" sign. There was no trash can in the kitchen or living area, only one TINY one in the bathroom. We made a mistake/misunderstanding and thought checkout was at 11:30 (it was 10:30), they were pounding on our door at 10:35 telling us we needed to leave. I explained that there was a misunderstanding and apologized. I told them we'd pack as quickly as possible and get out. They stood at the door demanding the key to the room and watched us pack. The bed is EXTEREMLY firm, it's like sleeping on sheets of plywood. Overall, it was a bad experience for me. Personally, I'd never go back to this "hotel". After walking around the island, there are many other better options. I would recommend going elsewhere.

EDIT FOR REPLY:

This was never explained to me. When we got there the man only spoke to Veronica in Spainish while I was standing there and told him I don't speak Spanish. I have been to many countries in central and south America and I've never came across throwing the toilet paper in the bin. I even stayed in other places in Ecuador on my trip and they didn't have this rule. And I never "refused" to give her the key, we were told to leave the key on the table, when they came banging at the door and demanded the key, I walked over got the key and...