Galápagos entry fee and rules: the $200 fee, TCT card and checks

Every visitor who flies to the Galápagos Islands from mainland Ecuador goes through two payments and two inspections before meeting the first sea lion. The first payment is a Transit Control Card, which you register for with the Galápagos government at the Quito or Guayaquil airport before you check in. The second is the entry fee to the protected areas, which park rangers collect when you land. Between the two, your luggage is inspected so that nothing living or organic carries an invasive species onto the islands. See also Galápagos Islands and Ecuador.

It applies to every traveler arriving by air from the mainland, whether you are boarding a cruise or sleeping in a hotel on an inhabited island. Foreigners pay more than Ecuadorians and residents, and nationals of South American trade blocs pay less than other foreigners. Everything below follows the Galápagos National Park Directorate, the Galápagos Government Council and the Galápagos Biosecurity Agency, with the UK Foreign Office entry guidance used for the wider checklist.

The islands are a special regime inside Ecuador, managed for conservation. Two public bodies run the entry process. The Galápagos Government Council controls who enters and for how long, through the Transit Control Card. The Galápagos National Park Directorate collects the entrance fee to the protected areas, which cover most of the land and the surrounding marine reserve.

The full table sits on the park's entry fee page and in its arrival guide. The fee page names Provincial Ordinance No. 001-CGREG-30-06-2025 as the basis of the current table and says the money funds conservation of the protected areas and services for the local community. It is a single entry charge per visitor, and neither page lists a per-night rate.

The amount depends on your nationality, residence and age. It does not change with the length of your cruise or the hotel you choose. Ecuador uses the US dollar, so every figure is in dollars.

The Andean Community (CAN) is Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Mercosur here means Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Residents and Ecuadorians who are over 65, or who hold a disability card from the national disability council CONADIS, pay US$15. Children under 2 of any nationality pay nothing. The student rate applies to foreign students not resident in Ecuador who are enrolled in national educational institutions.

Read the row that fits you, not the headline price. A Colombian or Argentine passport halves the foreign rate, and a resident permit for Ecuador cuts it much further, but only if you can prove it at the airport. Carry the document that defines your row: your passport for the bloc rate, your residence card for the resident rate, your CONADIS card or student enrollment proof if you rely on those categories. The park's pages do not describe an appeal or refund process at the counter, so sort out the paperwork before you fly.

The age line is worth a second look if you travel with a child close to 12. The table speaks of travelers over 12 and under 12 and does not spell out the treatment of a child who is exactly 12. If that is your situation, ask the park rangers or your operator before you arrive instead of assuming one rate.

The Transit Control Card, known by its Spanish initials TCT, is how the Galápagos government records who is on the islands. You register for it at the office of the Galápagos Government Council in the Quito or Guayaquil airport, before you check in with your airline.

The Council explains entry to the province on its entry to Galápagos page, which describes the islands as a special regime for conservation reasons. The park's arrival guide adds that at Baltra or San Cristóbal you hand over the completed card with your details to staff who ask for it, because the government uses that information to understand visitor trends and activities.

The UK Foreign Office entry guidance for Ecuador gives the checklist from a traveler's point of view. It says: "Tourists can stay in the Galapagos Islands for up to 60 days." It then lists what you must have: evidence of a hotel booking or an invitation letter from your host, evidence of a return flight to the Ecuadorean mainland, the transit control card bought at your departure airport before check-in, with a copy kept, and "travel health insurance, which is mandatory for foreign tourists". That page is written for British travelers, so confirm any nationality-specific detail with your airline, but the Galápagos list is a sound checklist for anyone. The same guidance says an Ecuador-bound passport should have an expiry date at least 6 months after the day you arrive.

One more detail from that guidance matters if you route through Guayaquil: it advises checking with the airline before booking to make sure you remain airside at Guayaquil airport, and it advises against all but essential travel to the city itself apart from airside transit. If you can choose, building the journey around Quito keeps the plan simple. The Quito guide covers the mainland end of the trip.

The islands' biggest threat is introduced species, and the checks reflect that. After the card, you take your checked luggage to the room of the Galápagos Biosecurity Agency, known as ABG, at the mainland airport, where it is inspected. Before landing, the cabin is treated with a product that the park describes as harmless and approved by the World Health Organization, and the airline warns you beforehand.

The agency's official product list sorts plant and animal products into colors. Green items are permitted: the page says they have been processed to the point where they can no longer be infested by pests or carry disease, though they still get inspected for stowaways. Yellow items are restricted: they are unprocessed, meant for consumption or processing, and have to meet specific requirements. Red items are not permitted: unprocessed products judged highly aggressive for island ecosystems. The page says the list was updated by the agency's board under Resolution D-ABG-065-11-2023.

In practice, treat anything unprocessed as a problem and check the list item by item before you pack. Fresh fruit, seeds, soil and live plants are the obvious ones, but the list also covers many animal products and foods, and a snack that is fine in your carry-on elsewhere may not be here. Clean your hiking boots and camping gear before you pack them, since soil and seeds travel in treads and fabric. If you arrive on a private boat, the agency inspects the vessel through your shipping agent.

At Baltra, which serves Santa Cruz, or at San Cristóbal, you hand in the completed card if staff ask for it, then pay the entry fee to the park rangers at the airport, and an ABG inspector checks your hand luggage. Keep the card and your fee receipt together until you fly out.

The park's arrival guide also describes how to reach town, with prices it quotes itself. From Baltra, a free bus takes about 10 minutes to the Itabaca Canal, which separates Baltra from Santa Cruz. A barge crosses the canal in roughly 10 minutes and costs US$1. On Santa Cruz, a public bus to the center of Puerto Ayora costs about US$2 and takes about 45 minutes, and a white double-cab taxi pickup carries up to 4 passengers for US$25 in total. If you are on a cruise, the guide says a naturalist guide waits at the airport to take you to the boat. From San Cristóbal's airport, the guide says Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is about 10 minutes away, with bus or taxi fares of roughly US$1.50 to US$3 depending on the stop.

The park also asks visitors to follow its Code of Conduct, which it describes as created by people who call the islands home. Read it before you go. Rules for individual visitor sites, such as which ones need a licensed guide, are set by the park, so ask your cruise or tour operator before you rely on any particular plan.

The park fee is the main cost, so it pays to add it up by family member. For a foreign family of two adults and two children aged 8 and 10, the fee is 2 × US$200 plus 2 × US$100, or US$600, paid on arrival. A family of two adults and two children from Colombia, Peru, Argentina or another CAN or Mercosur country pays 2 × US$100 plus 2 × US$50, or US$300. A family resident in Ecuador pays 2 × US$30 plus 2 × US$15, or US$90, and a baby under 2 adds nothing.

The card is on top. The park lists it at US$20, but its pages do not say whether children pay the same amount, so confirm at the Council counter instead of budgeting from a guess. Add that to the fee total, then add flights, the cruise or hotel, and the insurance that the Foreign Office guidance treats as mandatory.

The tables list one amount per category and say nothing about stay length, up to the two-month limit of the card. That makes a very short visit relatively expensive per night, so the fee argues for staying long enough to make the flight and the card worthwhile, whether that means a cruise, a base on one inhabited island or a mix of both.

Cruise and tour operators often handle parts of the process for you. Ask three questions at booking. First, does the quoted price include the park fee and the card, or are they extra? Second, who will be at the airport to guide you through the counters? Third, what is the exact name on the card and the receipt, so that it matches your passport?

If you plan the trip yourself, the steps are the same, only the order changes. You fly to Quito or Guayaquil, arrive at the airport early enough to register for the card and inspect your bags before check-in, fly to Baltra or San Cristóbal, pay the fee and walk through the hand-luggage check. Give yourself comfortable time at the mainland airport, because the card and the inspection both happen before you reach the airline desk.

Do not arrive at the check-in desk before you have the card. The park's guide places both the card and the luggage inspection before the airline check-in, so skipping them can leave you queuing twice. Do not pack unprocessed food, plants or soil without checking the ABG list. Do not assume the foreign rate applies if you hold a bloc nationality or residence, and do not assume a lower rate without the document that proves it.

Do not confuse the entry fee with other charges. Neither the card nor the park fee pays for a cruise, a hotel or a guided visit, and neither of the park pages mentions refunds if you cut your trip short. Do not rely on a forum post for the figures: the numbers above come from the park, and the park is the only place to confirm them if they change. And do not plan a stay beyond the card's limit, which the park gives as a maximum of 2 months.

The park's current fee table, with US$200 for foreign tourists and separate rates for CAN and Mercosur nationals, cites Provincial Ordinance No. 001-CGREG-30-06-2025. The arrival guide repeats the same amounts for the main categories, under a heading that gives 1 August 2024 as the starting date of its table.

The two park pages do not agree on everyone. The fee page says people who enter under the transient migratory category are exempt from the fee, while the arrival guide says transients classified by the Council pay half of the national tourist rate, or US$15. Most visitors are not affected, but if you hold that status, ask the Council before you travel. If the fees change again, the park posts the new schedule on its website, which is the only place to confirm them.

For planning the rest of the trip, see the Galápagos guides, Quito for the mainland gateway, and the travel insurance guides, since the entry guidance treats health insurance as mandatory for foreign tourists. A local plan for calls and maps helps in the towns, so compare the options in the connectivity guide, and check the transport guide for how to link flights, buses and boats on a longer itinerary.