Cruise Port Guide · 44 cruises visit Dragon Hill (santa Cruz) →
The bucket-list things to do — and the private, expert-led way to do each.
Here’s the bucket list for your day ashore: the most extraordinary thing to do at each stop, and the private, small-group, or expert-led way to make it yours — your own pace, real access, none of the crowd.
Step ashore at Dragon Hill's rocky panga landing and trace a pristine trail past sunbathing land iguanas, a flamingo lagoon, and sweeping Pacific vistas — a site so protected it requires a certified naturalist guide and is utterly untouched.
Walk behind the scenes at the world-famous Charles Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora with a certified naturalist, meeting the giant Galápagos tortoises and the breeding programme that brought the species back from the brink.
Pedal electric-assist bikes through the lush Santa Cruz highlands, arriving at private ranch land where wild giant tortoises roam freely in mist-draped meadows — the most intimate tortoise encounter in the archipelago.
Journey from Santa Cruz to Bartolomé for the most iconic photograph in the Galápagos — and then slip beneath it to snorkel with Galápagos penguins beside the volcanic pinnacle, an encounter that defines bucket-list.
Kayak through a pristine mangrove lagoon to one of the most beautiful beaches in the Galápagos, then snorkel alongside marine iguanas and white-tip sharks in the clear waters of Tortuga Bay — all within 30 minutes of Puerto Ayora.
Board a private panga for a curated bay tour of Academy Bay's most spectacular snorkel sites, drifting among sea lions, rays, and reef fish in the warm waters just off Puerto Ayora — the perfect companion excursion to any Dragon Hill morning.
⚓ Your bucket-list concierge
Tell us your sailing and we'll send the bucket list for every port — the most extraordinary thing to do at each, and the private, expert-led way to make it yours.
No spam. The honest plan, even when it says skip the ship’s tour.