Is El Castillo Galapagos pet-friendly?

No, pets are not allowed at this property.

What time is check-in at El Castillo Galapagos?

Check-in start time: 1:00 PM; check-in end time: 10:00 PM.

Does El Castillo Galapagos provide a shuttle to the airport?

Yes, there's an airport shuttle. A fee of USD 60 per room applies.

Where is El Castillo Galapagos located?

Situated near the beach, this historic inn is within a 15-minute walk of Galápagos National Park, Academy Bay, and Fishing Piers. Las Ninfas Lagoon and Las Grietas are also within 15 minutes.

Reviews, Deals & Photos 2025

8/10 Good

roger

4 Apr 2018

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort

Quirky architecture - helpful friendly staff

Slight problem with the room on arrival, having booked a family room, but we compromised since it was only for a night, and a sofa was made up to suit. Owners couldn’t have been more apologetic or indeed more helpful during our stay. The hotel is a little unusual in that it is made somewhat castle like, with quirky architecture - which incidentally was the reason we booked for the night. Located away from the harbour area and the main restaurants so a taxi to & from that area is required, although only a $2.00 fare. hotel happy to arrange taxis, which arrive within minutes.

10/10 Excellent

Karan

27 Mar 2018

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

The staff is exceptional! We stayed in a really large room upstairs. It was great. Just the shower might need remodeling. There is no air conditioner so if you are prone to mosquito bites... you'll definitely be bitten. I would recommend they add a mosquito net around the bed. This location is about a 15 minute walk to downtown, which if you like walking and great weather this should be totally fine. since we did the walk every day we actually ate at local restaurants were so good!! The bed and the breeze coming through the room was amazing and I slept like a baby! I just got bit by mosquitos however my fiance did not get bit once! Also the wi-fi is terrible...but the wifi on the whole island is not that good. I would recommend if you need internet go to an internet cafe.

10/10 Excellent

Elizabeth

14 Nov 2017

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Familymoon at El Castillo

Family run hotel and they couldn't have been more welcoming to us. The rooms were really clean and comfortable and well serviced each day. The breakfast each morning was great, limited choice but all you needed to set you up for the day. They have also recently started a courtyard restaurant on the weekends. The food was really delicious and the atmosphere was top notch. We loved or stay here.

Stayed 7 nights in Nov 2017

8/10 Good

Alberto , Berkley, Massachusetts

8 Nov 2017

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Made to feel welcome.

Highly recommend staying at El Castillo while in Puerto Ayora. The owner and her two sons, as well as the rest of her staff, go out of their way to make you feel welcome. The hotel is set back from the center of town, but within an easy walk. It was actually cool to be in a neighborhood. You can plan all your tours at the front desk and they are knowledgeable and dependent. The restaurant serves mouth-watering grilled dishes prepared by Alejandro. And don't miss the desserts made by pastry-chef girlfriend. Absolutely awesome. Also enjoyed the wonderful jazz music being played by the sound system on the patio.

Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2017

10/10 Excellent

maria

28 Oct 2017

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Gastvrij en efficiënt

Goed hotel heel vriendelijke huislijke staf

Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2017

6/10 Okay

Therese

7 Aug 2017

Liked: Staff & service

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

The staff are really helpful and friendly. The rooms were a little dirty, and the showers had hot water sometimes.

Stayed 1 night in Aug 2017

10/10 Excellent

Molly

29 Jul 2017

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Alejandro and his wife were absolutly wonderful. They helped us with planning everything for our trip and making sure we saw everything on the island in the short time we were there. The hostel is clean and beautiful. Everythhing downtown is withing a 10 minute or less walk and if you dont feel like walking you can get a taxi for $1-2. We had a great time!

Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2017

10/10 Excellent

Julian

19 Jul 2017

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Lugar bonito para relajarse y compartir.

nos fue muy bien en el Castillo. Alejandro y su familia son muy acogedores. Usamos su cocina y nos dieron informacion buena para conocer las zonas cercanas. Tambien pudimos usar la bicicletas gratis. El lugar es muy tranquilo y todos los cuartos son distintos pues tienen un estilo unico.

Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2017

10/10 Excellent

Rajvi, New York

28 Jun 2017

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Loved the LOCATION!

This place LITERALLY is a castle from inside out. Loved the location - it was 10-12 mins walk from the center. Enough to be away from the crowd/noise to come back to a peaceful place to sleep just mins away from the center. The staff was very friendly and extremely nice. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who wants to have an authentic experience in Galapagos and is budget friendly.

Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2017

10/10 Excellent

Dan

7 Jan 2017

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Very unique! Worth checking out

Really cool/unique place! Owner is extremely nice and makes you feel at home

10/10 Excellent

Planicie1, Lima

6 Aug 2015

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Very helpful staff

We had a very enjoyable stay in the hotel. They helped arrange transport from the airport, which is a big benefit after a tiring journey and were able to check-in early and rest. Any problem or question we had with tour operators or generally about the islands were answered for us, making everything much easier.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

31 Jul 2015

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Wonderful place!

Wonderful family run hotel with spacious rooms and great breakfast. Only a $1 cab ride or 10 minute walk into the main strip. This place was very nice to stay at.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

2 Jun 2015

Liked: Staff & service

Very helpful staff

Staff are EXTREMELY friendly and helpful. Room was very spacious and accommodated five of us easily. About 10 minute walk into town. Just a couple blocks from the trail to Tortuga Bay. A couple issues: - No A/C; there was a fan in the room, and although it helped, it's no match for the Galapagos heat/humidity - Wifi is slow/spotty - This is the Galapagos, so we would find a few bugs in the room. I want to emphasize that this was NOT for lack of effort on the staff's part. They cleaned our room thoroughly everyday and put down insecticide. Just a product of the environment and perhaps because our room was on the ground floor.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

22 Apr 2015

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities

It really is a castle

We had an overnight stay prior to a 5 day cruise. We needed a place in Puerto Ayora and this place looked interesting. It's not a five star place but it was located off the tourist areas in a quiet neighborhood but still within a 10 minute walk to the main town. The rooms are unusual. We had a room with stairs leading up to a tower with another bed. Wished they had A/C. They had free WiFi and limited bicycles which they let the guests use for free. The lady who owned it was very friendly and even though she had limited English, we were able to communicate. We were able to store our excess luggage there while on our cruise.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

4 Jan 2015

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Puerto Ayora hotel

Overall good experience. Sra. R. was very kind and helpful.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

16 Dec 2014

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

small casual hotel,

Hotel is 10- to 15-minute downhill walk to Academy Bay, but you can get a taxi for $1.00 when you want to return. Check in is between 1 and 5 pm, and no one was available at 11:00 am to allow be to leave my suitcase, so I had to keep it with me while I went for lunch.

10/10 Excellent

Greg, Los Angeles

7 Nov 2014

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Like a Fairytale

This place is amazing. The owner is amazing. EVERYTHING was amazing. No but seriously, cool play to stay. Easily the best place on the island, and we looked at a bunch. First, the place is a castle. Initially I couldn't really tell from the pictures on tripadvisor & other sites if the place was nice or a hole in the wall, but upon arrival we were mesmerized. We felt like were staying in a romantic fairytale for the price you'd pay for a night in any other hotel room. The room we stayed in was quite literally like a European castle meets a treehouse, complete with a ladder to a second story with another bed, multiple balconies, a bridge to other parts of the hotel, and 2 extra rooms for we don't even know what (entrance room, luggage room, etc). Ok so that was the nuts and bolts of the place, but the spirit of it was the icing on the cake. The owner was so nice & incredibly accommodating. We let her know that we had a boat that was leaving super early in the morning (6:30am) to Isabella and she woke up early and cooked us an great breakfast and called us a cab that showed up on time. Easily one of the most hospitable places I've stayed, period.

10/10 Excellent

Karin, Canada

2 Oct 2014

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

The best Bed and Breakfast ever!

We had just arrived in Ecuador and I wondered about what to expect for hotel accommodations. I was very pleasantly surprised. The family that manages this hotel are wonderful. They speak English very well and provided lots of information to make our stay memorable. We felt very safe with them and the Galápagos Islands overall. We were there 3 nights and we wish we could have stayed a few more days.

6/10 Okay

Elton, Jersey City, NJ, USA

22 Jul 2014

Liked: Staff & service, room comfort

Cute but overpriced

The personnel were very helpful. We reached the hotel early at around 10 am and expected that we would need to leave our bags at the front desk, but to our surprise the room was already ready and the lady happily let us check in early. We got a gorgeous looking room and very comfortable, however, the flooring is old especially in the bathroom. The breakfast was minimal, but it was there. Also, the hotel is not very close to the port (where everything happens); the hotel does have cycles that you can use for free for as long as you need, but the area around the hotel does get deserted after dark, although, the area seems safe and there were helpful locals who guided us back to the hotel. I felt that the price of $100 for the night was too expensive given the above. We would have rather looked for a hostel near the port (note that other websites list more places than hotels.com).

8/10 Good

alexandra, boston

24 May 2014

Liked: Cleanliness

Charming hotel

Liked this hotel - charming place. Did not like the plumbing system at all, there is no AC and no screens on all windows. Breakfast was pitiful. Hotel was without ele power all night. Staff did not speak any English.

6/10 Okay

Traveler, USA

9 Apr 2014

Liked: Property conditions & facilities

El Castillo Galapagos

We stayed in this hotel for two nights. The manager was very helpful and pleasant. The location of the hotel was far away from the downtown so manager called a taxi for us to get there. The room was big with the beautiful balconies but it was lucking an air-condition or at least a ceiling fan. There were ant nests in the bathroom, so ants were marching all over the place. The breakfast is a joke. The girl told us that if we want scrambled eggs for breakfast we have to cook them - so I did. We went to the Tortuga Bay which is 45 minutes walking distance from the hotel. The Tortuga Bay is a beautiful must- see place.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

27 Mar 2014

Liked: Staff & service

Mala relacion precio comodidades

El hotel se encuentra cercano al camino a tortuga bay pero alejado del centro comercial. Cuenta con bicis para manejarse libremente lo cual es importante dada su lejania del centro. Habitaciones amplias y limpias con ventilador de pie. (Se pasa un poco de calor) Amplia cocina para cocinar y desayunar (el desayuno va incluido en el alojamiento aunque se podria mejorar) La infraestructura no es de la mas atractiva. Alejandro es un muchacho con muy buena predisposicion y nos ayudo mucho pero en general el resto del servicio se podria mejorar. El lugar era tranquilo y seguro.

8/10 Good

Ricardo Fernandes, Conselheiro Lafaiete-MG

10 Mar 2014

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Básico, porém aconchegante.

Atendimento excepcional. Um pouco básico demais, entretanto custo muito atrativo para estar em Galápagos.

2/10 Terrible

Holly, Lloydminster Alberta Canada

18 Feb 2014

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Not reliable

One week before we were flying to the Galapagos the hotel sent me an email and cancelled our reservation. I had booked three months before. They were helpful in finding us other accommodations but i will never book with them again due to the unreliability.

10/10 Excellent

John and Helen, North Carolina

2 Feb 2014

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

The building itself was funky in a charming way; the personnel were friendly and helpful. The neighborhood was working class but we felt safe. It was about a 15 minute walk to the harbor. Overall, I would stay here again

El Castillo Galapagos

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El Castillo Galapagos Reviews

Very good

7.8

6.8

8.4

7.6

Reviews

8/10 Good

roger

Quirky architecture - helpful friendly staff

roger

10/10 Excellent

Karan

Karan

10/10 Excellent

Elizabeth

Familymoon at El Castillo

Elizabeth

8/10 Good

Alberto , Berkley, Massachusetts