Day 1 - Welcome to Quito

Upon arrival at the airport, after clearing customs and migration, meet your guide at the arrival hall holding a sign board with your name on it. Your guide escorts you to your awaiting private vehicle and transfers you to your hotel where you receive check-in procedures assistance.

Quito, nestled at the foot of the 15,696-foot Pichincha Volcano, is known for its eternally spring-like climate and for the beauty of its well-preserved colonial center. Originally settled by the Quitu tribe in the first millennium, Quito was eventually integrated into the Inca Empire before being destroyed and re-founded in 1534 by Spaniard Conquistador Sebastián de Benalcázar. For nearly three centuries, the arts and intellectual societies flourished under Spanish colonial rule, a fact evident in the historic center’s splendidly restored colonial buildings and churches lining narrow and cobbled streets. In 1809, Quito established the first self-governing junta in the colonies and the liberator Simón Bolívar led the country as part of the Republic of Greater Colombia until 1830 when the Republic of Ecuador announced its independence. Due to the city’s preservation of its blended past, UNESCO declared Quito the first of its World Heritage Sites in 1978. The city is beautifully situated in an Andean valley at 9,186 feet above sea level, making it the 2nd highest capital city in the world.

Overnight: Casa Gangotena

Meal Plan: D

Day 2 - Discover Quito

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel, before meeting your private guide at the hotel reception area to start your tour.

Venture on a tour that showcases some of the reasons why Ecuador’s capital earned its honor as the first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Marvel at San Francisco Church and its museum of religious art, La Compañía and the seven tons of gold gilding on its glittering walls, and the bustling Independence Plaza, flanked by the Presidential Palace and Quito Cathedral. Rich in art treasures, fine woodcarvings, and flowering balconies, the historical center is the lifeblood of Quito.

Overnight: Casa Gangotena

Meal Plan: B

Day 3 - Welcome to the Amazon Rainforest

Early in the morning enjoy breakfast at the hotel, afterwards at a pre-coordinated time, meet your private guide at the hotel reception area for your transfer to Quito´s airport to board your domestic flight to Coca.

Depart from Quito for a spectacular 30-minute flight over the eastern Andes mountain range to Coca. After landing and completing airport procedures, a hired bus picks you up from the airport and delivers you five minutes later to Puerto Francisco de Orellana. Here, you begin a two-hour trip down the Napo River aboard a comfortably covered motor canoe to Napo Wildlife Center.

Enjoy lunch along the way and see birds such as herons, kingfishers, and many others. Take a short break at the Napo Wildlife Center’s outer dock before embarking on a majestic and peaceful dugout canoe ride to the lodge itself. You’ll be surrounded by trees overhead as your canoe paddles along a narrow creek that connects to the lake where the lodge is located. Civilization is soon forgotten here and the only sounds you’ll hear are the dip of the paddles and the myriad calls of the surrounding rainforest. Keep an eye out for monkey sightings as well as large birds such as toucans, parrots, and macaws. Navigate into Añangu Lake and spot the lodge situated on its shores. Before long, enjoy a welcome drink as you settle into your luxurious cabaña.

After a delicious dinner, head back to the water for caiman spotting and listen to the natural nocturnal sounds of the rainforest.

Overnight: Napo Wildlife Center

Meal Plan: B,BL,D

Day 4 - Visit One of the Best Parrot Clay Licks

Rise early and take advantage of the best time of day for viewing parrots. One of the best parrot clay licks in Ecuador is located one hour from the lodge, and you’ll reach it just as the day’s parrot activity kicks off. A total of 11 species of parrots, parakeets, and macaws can be seen here.

Later, hike along a forest trail to visit the Kichwa Community of Añangu and share time with a family participating in their activities.

Return to the creek and hike through a Terra Firme Forest for about 30 minutes until we arrive at the second parrot clay lick where if the weather conditions help will be able to find different species of parrots, parakeets, and even macaws.

Lunch at Napo Cultural Center, which you will share with people of the Kichwa community. You will be paddled back to the lodge, where you arrive late afternoon with a delicious dinner waiting for you.

Overnight: Napo Wildlife Center

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 5 - See the Amazon from the Treetops

After early breakfast, we leave the lodge to experience an amazing view of the rainforest from a 36-metre tall canopy tower, a great way to see the life above the ground. This is the second tower at the Napo Wildlife Center (the first is attached to the dining hall and allows great views of the lake).

The tower is located about 30 minutes from the lodge deep within the Terra Firme forest. As you ascend the 12-floor tower, journey through different levels of the forest and emerge on top of a huge Ceiba tree.

Here you will cross onto a wooden platform that is built into the tree and experience the view formerly reserved only for birds. The metal tower itself was constructed to the highest standards, galvanized, and carefully inspected by engineers. Safety is the priority. The platform at the top of the tree was constructed by tree platform specialists as well. From top to bottom, there is no finer canopy experience in Eastern Ecuador.

Flocks of colorful tanagers pass right through the canopy of the tree, Blue-and-yellow Macaws fly past, in nearby trees, Spider Monkeys search for fruit, two species of large toucans call in the early mornings and afternoons, and the life of the forest canopy opens before you. Birds that are virtually impossible to see from the forest floor far below are suddenly right beside you, oblivious to your presence. The canopy tower opens a whole new world to guests of the Napo Wildlife Center!!

Lunch is served at the lodge. In the afternoon visit another Terra Firme trail, hike along the primary forest to discover its interior, with the possibility of finding lizards, colorful manakins, or the unique and endemic Golden mantle tamarin monkeys. After the hike, explore the lake and creeks in a dugout canoe with great opportunities of running into a Giant otter family on the way.

Overnight: Napo Wildlife Center

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 6 - Enjoy the Last Ride on the Napo River

Early departure and last excursion canoeing back to the Napo River, the creek may reveal new sights of Giant Otters, Monk Saki monkeys, or many other rare birds. Transfer to a motorized canoe to return back to Coca, which you will reach approximately 2 hours by boat ride in order to check-in for Coca – Quito flight, scheduled according to departure details and travel arrangements.

Upon arrival at Quito´s airport, meet your guide, who will escort you to your awaiting private vehicle and transfers you to your hotel where you receive check-in procedures assistance.

Overnight: Holiday Inn Airport

Meal Plan: B

Day 7 - Arrival in the Galapagos

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel, and meet your private guide at the hotel reception area for your transfer to Quito´s airport to board your domestic flight to Galapagos.

Check-in at Quito international airport. The flight time from Quito to Guayaquil is 40 minutes. There is also a 40-minute transit at Guayaquil Airport. Flight time from Guayaquil to the Islands is 1 hour and 40 minutes.

You will arrive at Baltra Island in the morning. After passing through immigration and baggage claim, you will be met by an Infinity staff member and transferred to the yacht. You will be shown to your cabin where you will have some time to settle in before lunch and a welcome briefing.

PM: El Chato, Santa Cruz Island
The trail begins at Santa Rosa (13.7 miles / 22 km) from Puerto Ayora, with the Caseta route being the most challenging. The reserve allows visitors to observe giant tortoises in the wild during the dry season and is also a good place to spot short-eared owls, Darwin’s finches, yellow warblers, Galapagos rails, and paint-billed crakes.

Overnight: M/Y Infinity

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 8 - Dragon Hill and Bachas Beach

AM: Dragon Hill, Santa Cruz Island
The visitors’ site at Dragon Hill is located in northwestern Santa Cruz Island and consists of a 1,600 m long trail that runs through three different environments. The beach is very rocky. At high tide, it’s a nice place for snorkeling. At this visiting site, you can find vegetation of the typical intertidal zone and dry zone.

PM: Bachas Beach, Santa Cruz Island
Bachas Beach is located on the north shore of Santa Cruz and is a beach for swimming. One of the few remnants of the U.S. World War II presence in the Galapagos, a floating pier, can be seen here. You may see flamingos, Sally Lightfoot crabs, hermit crabs, black-necked stilts, and whimbrels. Sea turtles also nest on the beach.

Overnight: M/Y Infinity

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 9 - The Beautiful Cormorant Point

AM: Post Office Bay, Floreana Island
You will land on a beach and head to a spot where 18th-century whalers placed a wooden barrel used as an unofficial mailbox. The custom continues to this day with Galapagos visitors. So, don’t forget your postcards, and don’t be surprised if the postcard arrives at its destination before you even get home!

PM: Cormorant Point, Floreana Island
Cormorant Point hosts a large flamingo lagoon where other birds such as common stilts and white-cheeked pintails can also be seen. The beaches on this island are distinct: The Green Beach is named so due to its green color, which comes from a high percentage of olivine crystals in the sand, and the Four Sand Beach is composed of white coral.

Afterwards, you will have a chance to snorkel around Devil’s Crown which is the rocky remains of an offshore volcano sticking out of the water. This is a great location to spot a wide range of marine creatures.

Overnight: M/Y Infinity

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 10 - Boobies and Albatross

AM: Suarez Point, Española Island
On the trail to Suarez Point, you will have the chance to spot blue-footed boobies, albatross, and Nazca boobies. This island is the breeding site of nearly all of the world’s 12,000 pairs of waved albatrosses. You will also visit a beautiful site on the oceanfront where there is a cliff that the large albatrosses use as a launching pad! You will have the chance to see the famous blowhole that spurts sea water into the air. The landscape is great for photography.

PM: Gardner Bay, Gardner Islet & Osborn Islet
This excursion takes you to the spectacular Gardner Bay. After landing, you can walk across a lovely white-sand beach amongst a busy sea lion colony or dive into the water to swim with sea lion pups. You may also see curious mockingbirds on the beach.

Overnight: M/Y Infinity

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 11 - Mainland Ecuador

AM: Interpretation Center, San Cristobal Island
This site is part of an environmental project. The tour of this center will explore the natural history of the islands including human interaction and conservation efforts. The Museum of Natural History explains the volcanic origin of the archipelago, ocean currents, climate, and the arrival of endemic species. The Human History exhibit chronologically describes significant events such as the discovery and colonization of the islands.

After this final visit, you will be transferred to the San Cristobal airport in time for your flight back to the mainland.

Once in the airport, meet your guide for check-in, for your international departure flight.

Overnight:

Meal Plan: B