Part of our The Galápagos guide →
What you need to enter
- Visa
- None for the Galápagos beyond Ecuador's own rules
- Passport
- Valid at least six months beyond your return
- Transit Control Card
- $20 per person, registered before your island flight. Verified September 2026
- Park entrance fee
- $200 adult, $100 under 12, cash on arrival. Verified September 2026
- Biosecurity
- Luggage inspected and sealed at the mainland airport
- Stay limit
- Up to 60 days in the islands per year
What Documents Do You Need?
A passport valid for at least six months beyond your return from Ecuador, proof of onward travel out of the islands within the 60-day annual allowance, a registered Transit Control Card, and cash for the National Park entrance fee. Most nationalities, including US passport holders, need no Ecuadorian tourist visa for a short stay.
The Galápagos is a province of Ecuador, so your entry into the country is the only immigration step. Everything else is a park and biosecurity process.
What Is the Transit Control Card?
It is the islands' visitor registration, $20 per person, verified September 2026. Register through the official digital portal 24 to 48 hours before your flight, then have it validated at the Galápagos counter in Quito or Guayaquil before airline check-in. Keep it: you surrender it when you leave the islands.
The card exists to track how long visitors stay and where. Losing it on the way home creates a slow conversation at the airport, so it lives with your passport.
How Do You Pay the Park Entrance Fee?
In cash, at the counter in the arrivals hall at Baltra or San Cristóbal: $200 per adult and $100 per child under 12, verified September 2026. Cards are not accepted and torn or heavily worn bills are refused. Some cruise fares now include the fee, so check your invoice first.
The fee rose to $200 per adult on 1 August 2024, so older guides quoting $100 for adults are out of date. Amounts are set by Ecuadorian authorities and change without much notice.
How the fees sit inside a total budget is in what a Galápagos expedition costs.
What Happens at the Biosecurity Inspection?
Before you check in for the island flight, the agricultural agency inspects and seals your luggage and you complete a goods declaration. Fresh produce, seeds, plants, meat and dairy are prohibited. The point is to keep introduced species out of an ecosystem that has no defence against them.
Pack no snacks with fruit, nuts in shell or seeds. It is a two-minute problem at the counter and a permanent one for the islands.
What Is the Airport Sequence, and How Long Does It Take?
At Quito or Guayaquil: the Galápagos card counter first, then biosecurity screening and sealing of luggage, then airline check-in. On arrival at Baltra or San Cristóbal you pass immigration-style card control and pay the park fee. Allow three hours at the mainland airport.
Firsthand: both of our Galápagos trips began this way, and on the January 2026 Santa Cruz II sailing the three-hour allowance was the right call rather than a cautious one. The voyage account is in the Santa Cruz II journal entry.
Firsthand: on our 2023 Evolution trip the whole sequence — luggage inspection, immigration, the Transit Control Card, fingerprint control and the park fees — sounded like a lot when it was listed out beforehand. It moved smoothly because we knew what was coming, which is really the only preparation it needs. The arrival is written up in The Galápagos Aboard the Evolution.
Two more rules matter once you are inside the park: every visitor site requires a licensed naturalist guide, and visitors stay at least two metres from the wildlife. Neither is optional.
If you are adding mainland time, see Ecuador add-ons; we recommend two nights in Quito before the island flight anyway.
Galápagos entry: common questions
Do I need a visa for the Galápagos?
No separate visa. The Galápagos is part of Ecuador, so only Ecuador's tourist entry rules apply, plus the Transit Control Card and park fee.
Can I pay the park fee by card?
No. It is cash in US dollars at the arrival counter, $200 per adult and $100 per child under 12, verified September 2026.
How long can I stay in the islands?
Up to 60 days per year as a tourist, and you need proof of onward travel out of the islands within that allowance.
What can I not bring?
Fresh fruit and vegetables, seeds, plants, meat, dairy and soil. Luggage is inspected and sealed at the mainland airport before your flight.
Do I need vaccinations?
Nothing is required for the islands themselves. If you are adding Amazon time, check current advice for that region well ahead of travel.