Reserva El Chato

Reserva El Chato

Reserva El Chato
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  • Adomvatik
    Tel Aviv, Israel375 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A Must Go place in Galapagos Visit
    An Amazing place. after the reserve and the museum, this place completes the experience of watching the giant turtles. How they live in a free habitat. Simply amazing. Also, the Lava tunnels are extraordinary. Go with an expert and have the full explanation how they were formed. Don't miss it!
    Visited May 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written June 6, 2024
  • Camilla304
    San Francisco, California186 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Don’t miss.
    Fantastic. Don’t miss. This was a great experience to walk around and watch the turtles doing their thing. Like all things in Galapagos you were with a trained guide so there’s not a lot of time to just sit and watch, but it was still amazing. At the end, there is a brief tour of lava tunnels which you can opt out of if you are claustrophobic.
    Visited June 2024
    Traveled solo
    Written June 21, 2024
  • Go hard and then go Home
    Melbourne, Australia392 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Wild roaming tortoises, lava tunnels and extinct volcanoes
    Enjoyable stroll through the reserve with the ability to get up and personal with these majestic creatures. The lava tunnels are part of the tour and are interesting without being exciting. Stop on the way and watch the tortoise and cows graze together ! Had a quick walk around the two extinct volcanoes.
    Visited July 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written July 13, 2024
  • Georgeglas
    Brantford, Canada86 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Wow! Beautiful creatures who are well cared for. Amazing learning opportunity to understand more about the Galapagos.
    Wonderful way to see these amazing creatures and learn about them. Pros: - Passionate English speaking guide who was engaging and humorous. - Learning about the breeding and life cycle - Lots of time to take photos. - Clean washrooms on site - Restaurant on site Cons: None Lava Tunnels: Lava Tunnels nearby. Lava tunnels are “okay”. Interesting to walk through. Well lit. Taxi driver drops you off at one end and meets you at the other end. About a 10 min max walk through.
    Visited July 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written July 29, 2024
  • Nicole A
    Fort Collins, Colorado1,495 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great lunch, amazing tortoises and cool lava tunnels!
    Our taxi driver drove us here from the water taxi after arriving at the airport. First he stopped at Los Gemelos crater. Then we stopped here and had a really delicious lunch. Afterwards, they assigned us a guide to walk through the reserve and the lava tunnels. Our guide was fantastic. it’s so amazing to see all of the really cool tortoises.
    Visited June 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 26, 2024
  • Patrycja
    Edinburgh, United Kingdom2,504 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great place to visit giant tortoises
    We visited the ranch as part of the Santa Cruz island tour. Our driver picked us up from the airport and stoped over here before taking us to the hotel in Puerto Ayora. It’s a fantastic way to start your holiday in Galapagos, we saw a number of tortoises on the way to the ranch and then had time with our guide to take as many photos as we wanted. We also had lunch here and it was very tasty, Ecuadorean ceviche and fish for main served alongside wine made at the estate. It is a must see place when in Santa Cruz.
    Visited November 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written December 7, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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4.5
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Chemtrailer
Canada404 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2023 • Couples
A very interesting visit. Our travel agent informed us that many of the highland tortoise ranches are all the same: Rancho Primicias, Cerro Mesa etc .... So we just chose this one.
A 25 min taxi from Puerto Ayora.
$10/adult entry fee and when enough people are present they launch you off on a guided interpretive tour. We only waitee about 10 mins. Rubber boots are provided and if you're here in the wet season be sure to wear them as you'll be ankle-deep in mud.
Walking amongst the giant tortoises was fascinating and the guide made it all the more interesting.
There are also a couple of fascinating lave tube tunnels.
The whole thing takes an hour.
There's a restaurant and bar so time your visit to coincide with lunch.
Written December 1, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

clark5662
Saint Louis, MO180 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2021
We landed on Baltra, took the bus, then the ferry, and then a taxi (which had been previously arranged through our AirBnB) to El Chato. We paid the entrance fee and was offered a naturalist guide to lead us on a tour around the property. The guide works for tips and is optional.
We went ahead and accepted the guide and I am glad we did. What would have been a pretty short trip around the property looking at awesome giant tortoises, turned into an hour long nature presentation with someone who knows a lot about the flora and fauna of the Galapagos and spoke perfect English! The guide also led us through the lava tunnel and explained how the tunnel was created.
I felt it was worth giving the guide $10 per person. This is what other guides (who were not optional) charged and our guy did as good as job as they did.
Written July 21, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Just Joe
Napa, CA330 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Solo
Great reserve, LOTS of very old tortugas and a great bilingual Guide. Only $10 gets you a semi-private 90 minute walk through on their trails, turtles, and 2 lava tube walk-thrus. They provide tall mud boots too. I rode a bike there from PTO Aroya and back and it was awesome. Highly recommend!
Written January 4, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Dizzle
Devon, UK503 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2024 • Couples
We walked here from Santa Rosa and saw many tortoises along the way.
When we got to El Chato, it was $10 pp and a guide which we had to wait for about 10-15 minutes for and we was quite tight on schedule, luckily it was only for about 30-35 minutes.
Our tour guide was so uneuthiastic, clearly didnt want to be there. Was looking at his phone constantly, thought maybe he was checking what he was going to say next or something but apparently he was playing chess on it!
We met big Roy too which was great, we did however learn some facts about the tortoises!
The lava tunnels was quite interesting too.
Written November 13, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Peter
Rotterdam, The Netherlands75 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022
Reserva El Chato is a 30 minute drive away from Puerto Ayora and it cost me 50 dollars (plus a 5 dollar tip for my guide). My taxi driver was Carlos, a soccer player for Santa Cruz (I had no idea they had their own soccer league on the Galapagos Islands!).

At the reserve I got a private tour from Nayeli, a really cool girl who spoke some Korean and likes manga, and who will be visiting Singapore in a few months. The tour lasted 45 minutes. I saw some giant turtles indeed and also some lava tunnels.

So all in all, it's a short tour, but I do think this is one of the highlights on Santa Cruz.
Written May 11, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

GNS333
Toronto, Canada56 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2022 • Couples
We took a taxi from Puerto Ayora for 40 USD round trip. This also included waiting time at the ranch.
The entrance fee was 10USD per person. A guide will take you around to see the lava tunnels and the tortoises.
We had visited the tortoise research centre in Isabela island and was glad that we also went to the El Chato reserve. It's was totally different experience to see the tortoises roaming around freely.
Written December 28, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

travel193
Orange County, CA492 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2021 • Couples
I visited El Chato Reserve as part of a half day Highlands tour. It was definitely a highlight of my trip to the Galápagos to see the iconic giant tortoises. Though El Chato is a private reserve and you’re not seeing the tortoises in the wild, the reserve is vast and open so you don’t feel like you’re in a zoo or a completely contrived experience. There were tortoises everywhere and it was pretty great to see them walk, chew, and we even saw one try to mate.

After the tour we had a delicious lunch there and were pleasantly surprised that they have a vegetarian option. They served a large portion of pesto (or pomodoro option) pasta with freshly baked bread. I am not sure if the pasta was vegan.

It’s a relaxing half day tour with the lava tunnels and a quick stop at the Los Gemelos sink holes. I recommend wearing closed toe shoes! Not even Keens as it can get slippery and muddy. I was glad to be wearing shoes with good tread.

ProTip: you’ll pass the reserve on your way from Baltra to town and vice versa, so you may be able to fit in a visit on a travel day.
Written May 15, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Heather
Las Vegas, NV1,603 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2022 • Solo
The lobby offers bathrooms and free coffee & tea. There's also an area with local artwork for sale as well as some other small souvenirs. They also provide rain boots for you to wear which is great so you don't have to worry about mud and poo. The staff were considerate of the tortoises and made sure we didn't get too close to them. I got to see several large tortoises, as well as to walk through a lava tube. Concerning ADA, the lava tubes wouldn't be accessible. The path through the reserve is fairly flat but is rocky and frequently muddy.
Written October 6, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Leslie D
Malvern, PA47 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2023
Day excursion while on Santa Cruz. Very interesting but we got to see Land Turtles on all the other islands and this is similar to other free places on other islands. However, we enjoyed the tour with a few stops along the way. It is a long walk from town down a long bumpy road (we saw a few people walking from town, I recommend getting a private driver or taxi from the local bus). We had our own tour guide who was very informative. We had rain which made the turtles more active which was fun. We really enjoyed crawling into the shells at the store/restaurant at the end. They give you boots to walk around in. The only place on Santa Cruz we saw large turtles but San Cristobal had a free turtle center that showed the breading process and on Isabela you see them along the road to the "wall of tears".
Written May 30, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Judith R
Cincinnati, OH324 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2022
Coming face-to-face with the Giant Tortoises is like no other experience on earth. Tour guides explain the history and lives of the tortoises, as well as guide you though the lava tunnels. The onsite restaurant also serves a hearty meal on a covered deck where you can watch the tortoises walk slowly by as you dine. A "must see" location.
Written April 6, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Reserva El Chato - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2025)

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