Completely amazing trip!!
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Our Tour Director, Allan Castro, ensured our trip was true once in a lifetime experiece!
Lovely time with plenty of exciting things to see and do. Well organized. Great new friends and activities. Delicious food.
Amazing trip for our son and us, remotely!
Reply from EF Educational Tours
Thank you so much for sharing your kind words! We're glad he had a great time on tour. We hope to see your son on another tour again soon!
This is a must-do, with animals everywhere you go! This itinerary will allow you to be fully immersed into the wildlife the Galapagos has to offer, while interacting with the locals on the islands and on the mainland.
Incredible experience
My child had a wonderful experience
It was an amazing adventure!
Reply from EF Educational Tours
We're thrilled to hear you had an amazing adventure in the Galápagos Islands! Thanks for sharing and for being part of the EF Tours family!
I'll preface this by saying I have worked hospitality management for hotels, so I know how much has to go on behind the scenes for a smooth vacation. From the minute we booked with EF we had a great experience. I only had to call into customer support once and that was done well in advance of our travel dates, but the representative I spoke to was knowledgeable and was able to answer all my questions. I was even able to verify my husband and I having a private room. I was advised to let our two teenagers stay signed up for a group room to let them get the full rooming experience with their classmates. That turned out to be a great suggestion! They got to know kids from their school better and while light on sleep, they were making lots of memories. Our online EF account was helpful and I appreciated how easy it was to change payments and make extra payments. Since we signed up for two EF tours (one in 2024 and one in 2025) having the option to change payment dates or bank accounts with just a few clicks any time of day made my life infinitely easier. I did have the EF app loaded as well, but I think that it's an underutilized app for EF and feel like they are missing out on using it for lots more features travelers can use before, during, and after their trips. I spent more time on it rating the trip than I did using it before we left. It would be nice to see trip specific information such as packing lists, things to know (like plan to carry TP to Ecuador or have change to pay to use public toilets since some places we visited didn't have any available) and more in depth information about the places we would be seeing. Our group also set up a totally different app for staying in touch and sharing pictures. Since we had already been told to load the EF app, those are other features that could be added to help streamline the EF app. I really feel EF is missing out on a huge opportunity for making the app a multifaceted planning tool. A lot of the information IS on the website but was geared more to traveling with EF as a whole. Having the apps programmed for site specific places would be SO helpful for parents and travelers pre-trip as well. We went on the October Galapagos trip and our entire experience was fabulous. Our EF guides, Ivan and Lenin, were phenomenal as well. Since we had to split up to due to our group size, Ivan ended up as our main guide and Lenny took the other group. Ivan made sure that every person traveling with our group was taken care of without being over overbearing. He easily answered our many questions, made sure that we were where we needed to be, and seamlessly integrated us into his country and culture. He seemed to know everyone AND have a good working relationship with them. That's huge on large scale tour groups especially with a language barrier. He briefed us daily so we knew at the end of our day what the plan was for the next day, including clothing and footwear suggestions. It made packing our day bags a breeze! Ivan had us fill our lunch and dinner orders in advance and we always had several options to choose from. We did have a few vegetarians and there was always an option for them. The restaurants were clean and the food, was usually simple, but expertly prepared, fresh and delicious. The staff at the restaurants, while busy with our large group, never seemed too rushed or frantic and the service was always good. It did make some plates come out much slower, so some would be done eating before others even had a plate. But for large groups with several food options, it was still a very effective method and we would have waited longer at many restaurants here at home. Bagged breakfasts were a little underwhelming; one slice of meat (no choice) on two dry slices of bread and a juice box, chips, and usually a banana. Not what anyone in my own family would necessarily choose for breakfast, but we were glad to have something more substantial than just an apple or banana as well. I'd read eating schedules would probably be off from our normal so we did have snacks and we were glad we took some to help supplement the bagged to-go breakfasts. Our sit down breakfasts were all amazing with plenty of fresh fruit, thick fresh juices, and usually several other options including scrambled eggs. We had zero issues with our plane tickets, food, or lodging. I used the EF website and also searched online for more information about what to expect and thus had a decent idea of lodging expectations. Knowing that student tours oftentimes use hostels we expected quirky layouts but clean rooms and great customer service. Which is exactly what we got. At every lodging establishment we visited we had clean well stocked rooms and the staff at them were so gracious to all of our group. It was a wonderful change from the very sterile hotels we are used to in America. My husband and I even had the honor of meeting one of the owners and his family and got to know them and hear their story. While we may have had to learn to juggle getting hot showers instead of cold, we were very aware of the power and water shortages occuring while we visited so it was completely understandable. Especially in Ecuador's current political climate. Being aware of the current climate the adults in our group were kept updated prior to us flying out of the U.S. and also while in country to any watches or warnings in effect for US tourists. EF was in touch with our school representative at least a week before (possibly longer but that is what I was personally aware of) our travel date and were able to answer any questions or concerns we had about it. We saw normal police presence and felt 100% safe the whole trip including a flight layover near a city that was in a not so great location on mainland Ecuador. Our family had an amazing trip to Galapagos and we fell in love with the land and people there because of our trip with EF. We can't wait until we leave for our next adventure!
Great experience, wonderful tour director (Ivan) and unforgettable memories of the Galapagos. Food was wonderful, and every detail was taken care of. Feel confident that your child (or you as an adult traveller) will be taken care of in Ecuador. I was anxious about spending time in a foreign country, but EF made it easy.
Great tour or Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. Everything was simple to do, and lots of amazing experiences for my daughter and I. My only two cons were the amount of travel between locations, and the food. The travel can only be helped if we see less, and the food was to keep cost down while serving everyone.
I loved having a guide to teach us all the time. That made it so worthwhile. I think the entire trip was perfectly planned and well balanced between action and sight seeing and rest. It was all very good.
This is a wildlife experience like no other.
Very well organized, great activities chosen, so many people comment about what an exceptional experience she had.
Wow, a once in a lifetime trip! He will always remember this experience.
Great experience
What an amazing & educational experience for my daughter in high school
An amazing experience! The guides were all friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. Saw everything that was expected plus so much more.
Go! You won’t regret it!
I loved the Galapagos, wish the hotel accommodations were better. Also this trip was sold as a Galapagos tour, wish we spent less time in Quito and more time on the islands.