+1 801 386 7277
+51 84 225 183
info@culturalimmersion.org
EN
ES
+1 801 386 7277
+51 84 225 183
info@culturalimmersion.org
EN
ES
Enjoy the luxury of Finch Bay cruise discovering the Galapagos Islands during an unforgettable journey in these amazing islands. Also, get to know Quito city, the middle of the world.
This morning you will be picked up at your hotel and have a transfer to the Lima airport in time to board your plane to Quito (flight not included).Upon arrival into Quito, be assured that a private transfer will be waiting to take you to your hotel. Your driver and English-speaking representative will welcome you to Ecuador, ensuring that you have a safe and comfortable reception* Let us know your flight information so our driver can pick you up in time for your flight to Quito.
In the morning, your private guide and driver will meet you at your hotel for your city tour of Quito. You will wander through the beautiful historical streets to learn about the history and stories of this marvelous capital city. Some places that you will visit are the Independence Plaza, which is lined by the Archbishop´s Palace, the Municipal Palace, and the Metropolitan Cathedral. You will also visit La Compañía Church, a stunningly beautiful and rich church designed with the style of the Spanish Baroque Architecture and decorated using intricate gold leaf designs and wood carvings. Another impressive church is the San Francisco Church, which consists of a temple, a series of chapels, and a convent. This church covers a significant area of land that was used as a market center and a place of significant strategic and historical importance for the indigenous population of Quito. You will also visit Mitad del Mundo, the Middle of the World, a monument and museum park dedicated to the equator. The site depicts the equatorial line and contains a monument commemorating the first Geodesic mission of the French Academy of Science, a museum about the indigenous ethnography of Ecuador, a planetarium, and a model of Quito City. In the afternoon, you will return to your hotel where you will have the rest of the evening to spend at your leisure.
In the morning, we will pick you up at your hotel and transfer you to the Quito Airport, in time for your domestic flight to the Galapagos Islands.Upon arrival, guests are met by the hotel naturalist guides and accompanied directly to the yacht. Welcomed by captain and staff, guests are briefed about safety issues as well as the National Park regulations. Lunch is served on board, while the yacht sails to North Seymour Island.North Seymour was lifted from the ocean floor by a seismic event, and its origins as a seabed give the island its low, flat profile. Cliffs only a few meters high form the shoreline, where swallow-tailed gulls sit among the ledges and rocks. A tiny forest of silver-grey Palo Santo trees stands just above the landing, usually without leaves, waiting for the rains to burst into bloom.This island is teaming with life! You might have to give way to a passing sea lion or marine iguana; blue-footed booby nests sit beside the trail where mating pairs perform their courtship dance. Further along, the rocky shore is interspersed with white sand, while large flocks of pelicans mass for a dive-bomb feeding-frenzy, painting a tableau from ages long past for us. The trail turns inland to reveal the largest nesting site in the Galapagos of the “magnificent frigate bird.” These huge, dark acrobats have two-meter (6-foot) wingspans, and males, with puffed up scarlet throat sacks, sit precariously perched in low bushes to watch over their equally large chicks. This is a walking excursion and involves uneven rocky terrain. Dry landing.After the visit, the yacht sails to Itabaca channel, from where we cross by bus faster over Santa Cruz Island to reach the south shore (42 km by bus is shorter and faster than 50 km by boat), where the Finch Bay Hotel is located.Check-in and enjoy the glorious beach-front location and facilities.
After a relaxed breakfast, our guests will leave Academy Bay by bus 15 km up to the lush highlands of Santa Cruz Island. From there a short drive across the farming area will lead us to El Manzanillo, a site recently opened to visitors at the northern edge of the Giant Tortoise Reserve.Manzanillo is on the natural path tortoises take every year as they either migrate to higher moist locations during the garúa season (June-September), or when they descend to the warmer lowlands during the wet season. Year round, tortoises can be seen grazing on the surrounding vegetation, or wallowing in muddy banks or in a small red-coloured pond (impressively colored by surface red pond-weeds). The area is teeming with life: chirping vegetarian-, small-tree, large-tree and woodpecker finches, mockingbirds and flycatchers, as well as ducks, herons and gallinules make this an exciting morning visit.Lunch is served in the cooler highlands, with the stunning views of Santa Cruz Island.After lunch, we visit a small farm, where coffee, sugar cane and cocoa beans are grown, harvested and prepared – all organic and sustainable. We have the chance to taste the products while learning about the artisanal way to burn island spirits! We then return to the hotel to enjoy the its pool, beach, or ask for suggestions for activities.
Santa Fe offers one of the more beautiful and sheltered coves in the archipelago. Its turquoise lagoon is protected by a peninsula of tiny islets forming an ideal anchorage. The island lies to the southeast of Santa Cruz within sight of Puerto Ayora. Like North Seymour, Santa Fe has been uplifted, and you can see where underwater lava once cooled off (pillow lava).A wet landing on a sandy white beach brings us into contact with one of the many sea lion harems. Bulls vie for the right to be Beach Master, while smaller males masquerade as females and make stealthy mating moves. Galápagos hawks are often easily approached, perched atop salt bushes.The giant prickly pear cactus found here live up to their name, with tree-sized trunks! Our goal is to spot one of the large species of land iguana, native to Santa Fe. Beige to chocolate brown in color with dragon-like spines, these huge iguanas truly resemble dinosaurs.An indigenous species of rice rat also inhabits the thickets, and lucky hikers can spot harmless Galápagos snakes. After the hike, there is nothing more inviting than a swim in the calm waters of the bay, a great snorkeling opportunity with diverse marine life.This is a walking excursion and involves uneven rocky terrain.
This is the magic of Galápagos: a short distance away from Academy Bay and the bustle of Puerto Ayora, lies the quiet and wildlife-rich Divine Bay. Named after one of the islands first settlers, this cove is protected from the swells by natural volcanic reefs on one side, by a gallery of mangrove trees on the other and cliffs created eons ago by the uplift of the lava plateau. The whole provides a wonderful natural shelter for wildlife.Every morning, hundreds of herons cross Divine Bay on their daily foraging trips, to return before sunset to perch amid the trees. Noddy terns use the natural burrows in the cliffs for nesting, while Galápagos brown pelicans prefer the evergreen mangroves, under the watchful eye of non-breeding blue footed boobies perched along the cliffs.Beneath the sea, sea turtles graze on sea weed, hundreds of reef fish species swim about the lava crevices, and young reef sharks and rays employ the brackish streams as havens from large predators while they mature.We can explore this lovely cove by boat while more adventurous guests could take the tandem, sit-on-top kayaks straight from the hotel’s beachfront. The morning’s visit includes snorkeling on a calm, but active, sector of the cove. This is next to a wooden dock we use to explore Punta Estrada. A dry landing and a short walk (0.5 km) will lead us to the south shore of the island, to a small beach called “Playa de los Perros” (Dog Beach). This is a great place to see intertidal organisms and learn about marine iguanas in their nesting sites. Also, there’s a nearby natural terrace from where young white tipped reef sharks can be observed from above as they swim about the lava crevices.After this morning’s visit we return to the Finch Bay Hotel for lunch. Afternoon visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the giant tortoise breeding programme, with time to enjoy the town, or the hotel’s facilities.
Today, we include two visitor sites: South Plaza and Punta Carrión. Together they are a perfect combination of stunning wildlife colonies (Plaza), and a site with excellent snorkelling (Carrión). Tuesdays, we visit Carrión then Plaza, and on Fridays we visit Plaza then Carrión. In both cases, we must complete the loop by bus (either driving up or down the 42 km to the Itabaca Channel. This will allow us to spend more time within the National Park area.Punta Carrión, at the north-eastern tip of Santa Cruz Island, boasts both shallow reefs, mangroves, and exposure to rich upwellings to the east. As a result, it’s an ideal snorkelling site with plenty of reef fish as well as occasional sea lions and sharks.South Plaza is a small island full of fascinating wildlife, both along its shore and along its dramatic, wind-swept cliffs: sea lions, land iguanas, swallow-tailed gulls, Opuntia cacti and vegetation that changes colours according to the season. The island is one of a pair of crescent-shaped islands. While the northern twin remains accessible only for scientists, South Plaza is one of the Galápagos’ most impressive visiting sites.Only 130 meters wide (426 feet), the island was formed from uplifted seabed, giving it a tilted table top aspect. Our landing is in the channel between North and South Plaza, where the island slopes down toward the water. The approach makes for a lavishly colourful sight! The turquoise waters of the channel contrast brilliantly with the white sand and black lava of the shoreline. The rocks have grown thick with green seaweed in places, speckled with bright orange “Sally light foot” crabs. Further up the shore, a carpet of scarlet Sesuvium succulents serves as groundcover for a grove of luminescent green prickly-pear cactus. Yellow-grey land iguanas sit beneath these, waiting patiently for pears to drop.The trail gradually follows the tilt of the island to the cliffs that overlook the ocean to the south, where swallow-tailed gulls nest. Red-billed tropic birds, masked and blue-footed boobies ride the gusty currents. The overlook is a great place for spotting large marine life, including manta rays. Surf pounds an inlet at the western corner of the island, where a colony of bachelor sea lions make their home, accounting for the surprising surface of the rocks, polished by the oils of their fur.This is a walking excursion and involves uneven rocky terrain. Dry landing. Snorkelling at Punta Carrión.
After an invigorating breakfast we leave the hotel, cross Academy Bay by boat, and board our bus in Puerto Ayora. In order to shorten travel distance and save considerable time (Bartolomé is the furthest island the hotel’s yacht visits), we will cross 42 km to the Itabaca Channel on the north shore, where the Sea Lion Yacht awaits us. This way, all that is left to sail is 21 Nautical miles (39Km/24miles) to Bartolomé Island.Bartolomé is famous for Pinnacle Rock, a towering spearheaded obelisk that rises from the ocean’s edge and is the best known landmark in the islands.Galápagos penguins —the only species of penguin found north of the equator — waddle precariously along narrow volcanic ledges at its base. Sea lions snooze on rocky platforms, ready to slide into the water to play with passing snorkelers. Just below the surface, shoals of tropical fish dodge in and out of the rocks past urchins, sea stars and anemones. A perfectly- crescent-shaped, pink-and-white sandy beach lies just to the east of the pinnacle. Sea turtles use the beach as a nesting site and can sometimes be found wading in the shallow water near the shore, or resting in the sand to recover from the arduous task of digging nests, laying eggs and covering them over. We snorkel from this beach following a wet landing.Penguins dot the nearby rocks of the other landing site, less than a kilometer along the eastern shore. Here the submerged walls of a tiny volcanic crater give the impression of a fountain pool. A dry landing here leads to a 600-metre (2,000-foot) pathway complete with stairs and boardwalks leading to Bartolomé’s summit. The route is not difficult and presents a museum of volcanology: a site left untouched after its last eruption, where cones stand in various stages of erosion and lava tubes form bobsled-like runs from the summit. At the top you will be rewarded with spectacular views of Santiago Island and James Bay to the west, and far below, Pinnacle Rock and our beach, where the crystal blue waters of the bay cradle our yacht.We return to the Itabaca Channel, board our bus, and travel over the island back to the hotel.
Tortuga Bay is a combination of ecosystems, landscapes, wildlife, sports and a lot of fun! We start after a (surely) much appreciated relaxed morning’s breakfast at the hotel, and a stroll along the neighbouring brackish lagoons. Our “panga” launch will take us to Puerto Ayora and a short distance further we reach the starting point of the trail to Tortuga Bay. The walking distance is 2 km (1.3 miles) along a fairly flat and straight path, where we explore and understand the arid, deciduous forest and its inhabitants. This is a great birding trail, if you take a little time to wander about and listen to the chirps and songs. You don’t have to worry too much about your day-pack, as you only need to carry the very immediate essentials: hat, sunscreen (to add more if rubbed-off), binoculars, camera and your water bottle. Anything else you could need for the rest of the day, will be sent to the end of the trail by boat.When you reach Tortuga Bay, you will understand why this is often referred to as Ecuador’s most beautiful beach. Over one kilometre of snow-white sand and turquoise waters with the never-ending sound of swells caressing the island. Some guests can opt for an unusual treat: surf instructors of the Santa Cruz Surf Club (CSSC) give surfing lessons here. If this something you have always wanted to try, this is your chance!Other activities include exploring the shore birds of “Playa Brava”, Tortuga Bay’s first beach, the nesting grounds of the green Sea Turtles, foraging marine iguanas, and the impressive change in sand, water, coastal vegetation and landscape, when you reach “Playa Mansa”.Protected by a natural lava barrier, this large, calm bay is surrounded by a gallery of mangroves. This habitat is the home of different species of marine and terrestrial birds, as well as young sharks and rays, who spend their youth in the protective, mildly brackish conditions. Kayaking in tandem sit-on top craft is a great way to experience nature up-close.In “Playa Mansa” we meet our day-boat. Logistically, our day boat meets up with the rest of the group on Playa Mansa, with anyone who prefers not to walk the 3 Km, carries all day-bags not needed for the walk, as well as cold beverages, towels, has restroom facilities, and brings us our freshly packed box-lunch from the hotel (during breakfast, all guests can choose from a wide menu of options).Generally we end our Tortuga Bay experience with a soothing dip in the calm and clear waters of Playa Mansa, before the day-boat leaves the bay to bring all guests back to the hotel’s dock in Academy Bay. The ride takes less than half hour.For the rest of the afternoon, guests can enjoy the hotel’s facilities (swimming pool, beach, sea kayaks, etc.) or continue exploring the island’s vast list of sites including the Charles Darwin Research Station.
After breakfast, we leave the Finch Bay Hotel and on the way to Baltra, stop at the Twin Pit Craters, great geological depressions of volcanic material, formed by a long process of slow sinking of the ground, where exceptional Scalesia trees, ferns, mosses, and orchids can be seen in the surroundings. Then, overland transfer to the airport in Baltra to take the flight back to the continent.
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Galapagos
The award-winning Finch Bay Eco Hotel lies just steps from the beach in a secluded location, across the bay from Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz. Guests cherish the hotel’s privacy, natural surroundings, swimming pool, fine dining and superb service.
The ecologically-orientated Finch Bay has 6 Ocean View Suites and 21 Garden view Rooms, all with bathrooms and air conditioning. Its infrastructure and activities are entirely orientated to a concept of true ecotourism – it has won numerous awards for its conservation efforts.
Delicious, healthy international and Galapagos-inspired dishes are prepared daily by the hotel’s Cordon Bleu-qualified chef, using the freshest ingredients – including many from its organic vegetable garden.
Quito
The comfortable Vieja Cuba Hotel is located in Ecuador's capital city. Settled in Quito's best commercial zone in a majestic colonial house, it has 26 rooms with all the services that modern life requires. Each room (simple, matrimonial, twin, triple, quadruple, suite) will make you feel like at home. Without additional charges, use the services that are there for you: private bathroom with hot water 24 hours and hair dryer, access to all the TV channels that "TV Cable" offers in our country, connection to internet with wide band and security box. If you wish you can use the telephone for national and international calls.
Galapagos
The award-winning Finch Bay Eco Hotel lies just steps from the beach in a secluded location, across the bay from Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz. Guests cherish the hotel’s privacy, natural surroundings, swimming pool, fine dining and superb service.
The ecologically-orientated Finch Bay has 6 Ocean View Suites and 21 Garden view Rooms, all with bathrooms and air conditioning. Its infrastructure and activities are entirely orientated to a concept of true ecotourism – it has won numerous awards for its conservation efforts.
Delicious, healthy international and Galapagos-inspired dishes are prepared daily by the hotel’s Cordon Bleu-qualified chef, using the freshest ingredients – including many from its organic vegetable garden.
Quito
The comfortable Vieja Cuba Hotel is located in Ecuador's capital city. Settled in Quito's best commercial zone in a majestic colonial house, it has 26 rooms with all the services that modern life requires. Each room (simple, matrimonial, twin, triple, quadruple, suite) will make you feel like at home. Without additional charges, use the services that are there for you: private bathroom with hot water 24 hours and hair dryer, access to all the TV channels that "TV Cable" offers in our country, connection to internet with wide band and security box. If you wish you can use the telephone for national and international calls.
Galapagos
The award-winning Finch Bay Eco Hotel lies just steps from the beach in a secluded location, across the bay from Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz. Guests cherish the hotel’s privacy, natural surroundings, swimming pool, fine dining and superb service.
The ecologically-orientated Finch Bay has 6 Ocean View Suites and 21 Garden view Rooms, all with bathrooms and air conditioning. Its infrastructure and activities are entirely orientated to a concept of true ecotourism – it has won numerous awards for its conservation efforts.
Delicious, healthy international and Galapagos-inspired dishes are prepared daily by the hotel’s Cordon Bleu-qualified chef, using the freshest ingredients – including many from its organic vegetable garden.
Quito
Situated in a newly-restored historic mansion overlooking Plaza San Francisco, the three-story Casa Gangotena Boutique Hotel in Quito harbours 31 rooms, a showcase of eye-catching style, contemporary design, antiques, fine furnishings, modern technologies and quintessential comforts.
Beautifully- and eclectically-appointed, the hotel invites its guests to explore and to relax, whether in the dining room, glassed-in patio, garden redolent with the perfume of native flowers, wood-panelled library, or else atop its panoramic third-floor terrace.
With Our Comfort Tours, You Will Enjoy A Mix Of Private And Small Group Experiences At The Best Available Price. You Will Stay In Small, Family-Owned Bed; Breakfast Or 3* Hotels; A Comfortable Option, Including Personalized Service.
This Is Our Recommended Option Where You Will Have A Totally Private Tour To Ensure A Real Cultural Immersion, Staying At And Visiting The Most Authentic Places In Peru. You Will Stay In Carefully Selected Eco-Friendly Hotels, With Local Character And Outstanding Service. The Choice For Real Travellers.
With Our Luxury Tours, You Will Enjoy Private Excursions With An Outstanding Service. You Will Stay In A Selection Of The Most Luxurious Hotels In Peru, But Still Experience The Cultural Immersion Visiting Authentic Places.
| Comfort | Exclusive | Luxury | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tour Highlights | |||
Private tours and transfer in Quito City. |
Private tours and transfer in Quito City. |
Private tours and transfer in Quito City. |
|
Breakfast at Quito |
Breakfast and lunch at Quito |
Breakfast and lunch at Quito |
|
Complete program with tours, meals and transfer during the cruise |
Complete program with tours, meals and transfer during the cruise |
Complete program with tours, meals and transfer during the cruise |
|
Garden view room |
Garden view room |
Ocean view room (superior) |
|
Complete program with tours, meals and transfer during the cruise |
Complete program with tours, meals and transfer during the cruise |
Complete program with tours, meals and transfer during the cruise |
|
Garden view room |
Garden view room |
Ocean view room (superior) |
|
| Our Accommodations | |||
| Galapagos | Finch Bay Eco Hotel (Galapagos) | Finch Bay Eco Hotel (Galapagos) | Finch Bay Eco Hotel (Galapagos) |
| Quito | Vieja Cuba Hotel Quito | Vieja Cuba Hotel Quito | Casa Cangotena Quito Boutique Hotel |
|
Price per person (based on double occupancy) |
$ 6246 | $ 6285 | $ 7998 |
The booking is accepted when Cultural Immersion receives the first deposit from its clients. At this point in time the contract between client and Cultural Immersion is effective and legally binding.
In order to secure the trip, we will require a 30% deposit of the total package price by the time of your booking.
First Payment: 30% deposit by the time of booking
Second Payment: Full Amount, to be paid 45 days prior to your arrival
In the case the booking will be proceeded 45 or less days to the arrival, the whole amount will be required in once.
If the booking is made 45 days or less from the arrival time then the whole amount will be required at the time of booking.
The first and second payment can be made using credit card via PayPal, Payments made through credit card / paypal are subject to a 5% surcharge.
We accept Visa, Master Card and American Express
The first and second payment can be made using wire money transfer.
Wire money transfer should be made directly to our bank account
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Country: Peru
City: Cusco
Bank: Banco Internacional del Peru
Account Name: Cultural Immersion Travel Peru E.I.R.L
Account Number: 003-420-003003334943-79
SWIFT CODE: BINPPEPL
Account Address: Calle San Andres 477 - Cusco
Payments made by direct deposit are subject to your local bank charge.
Any cancellations or changes made by the client must be submitted in writing by the client at their earliest convenience
Client is responsible for any fees or charges incurred by the cancellation
Period before departure when written notification is received Cancellation fee (Percentage of the total package price)
90 days or more 10%
89 to 45 30%
44 to 30 40%
29 to 15 50%
14 to 6 75%
5 or less 100%
Change of dates after the deposit has been made: 5% plus any other additional fees that might occur.
Substitution of clients: If any person of of the group is not able to travel, it may be possible to transfer the reserved services to another person. An administration fee of USD plus all incurred costs charged by the service providers will be required.
All appropriate refunds will be made directly to your credit card or bank account, minus any fees indicated
AIR/FLIGHT Cancellations: All air packages and air tickets are subject to cancellation policies imposed by the airlines
We do our best to operate your tour as sold. However, we reserve the right to curtail or modify the itinerary, or to substitute activities, hotels, meals or transportation as we deem necessary
None of these modifications or changes will affect the land package price
We reserve the right to cancel a trip at any time for a reason that would compromise the quality of the trip or the safety of the passengers or any other circumstances beyond our control . In this case, we will either refund this part of your trip or aplly this cost to other services (eventual additional cost)
In case we need to cancel the tour (not related to situations beyond our control), we will refund your fully paid pre-payments or work with you to apply those payments to another tour
All prices shown on this web site are per person and expressed in US Dollars.
For children aged 4 - 9, the package price is based on sharing a room with adults. Prices will be confirmed or advised at the time you book
Once we receive your deposit, your tour package price is guaranteed and any subsequent price increases will be at our expense
We are acting as your agent only and have no liability or responsibility for the performance of services by the airlines including, but not limited to, accident, death, personal injury, property damage or flight delay
Flight bookings are totally non refundable or transferable.
The accommodations are specified in the accomodation section of our website
All prices shown for accommodations are expressed in US dollars and per person
We reserve the right to offer an alternative accommodation of a similar standard in the case the accommodation specified in our web site is overbooked or for any reason beyond our control. No changes will be made after payment
Important note: All accommodations within Peru will require you to show your passport and let them make a photocopy of it in order to check you in. This is a requirement for government and taxes purposes
We highly recommend you have adequate travel insurance for your trip. In order to obtain a quote please click HERE
Certain itineraries may include activities that present challenges that are not suitable for passengers with special needs
We strongly recommend that guests requiring assistance be accompanied by a companion who is capable of, and totally responsible for, providing assistance
Please let us know if special assistance is required
We will make every effort to accommodate special requests, such as smoking, adjacent or connecting rooms, bed size, dietary needs or any other special request
These terms and conditions, those contained in the Cultural Immersion S.R.L. website and the pre-departure materials constitute an agreement between all parties involved.