Early morning departure from London Heathrow by Iberia to Madrid (2 hours 20 minutes) and continuing by non-stop flight to Quito (11 hours). On arrival in the afternoon, you will be met and transferred to the Hilton Colon.

Morning sightseeing of Quito and the Equatorial Monument. Quito’s colonial quarter is one of the largest and best preserved of South America and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Your walk starts at the Independence Plaza, flanked by the Cathedral, the Presidential Palace, the Municipal Building and the Archbishop’s Palace. Visit the temple of La Compañía de Jesús and its awesome gilded interior. Continue on to the Monastery of San Francisco, one of the great religious buildings of the New World; its impressive façade and atrium that lead to its Baroque interior influenced by Moorish style, with the winged Virgin of Quito at its main altar. Afterwards continue to the Equatorial Monument, 25 kilometres north of Quito, which marks the exact Middle of the World, latitude 0º, where you can stand with a foot on each hemisphere. Visit the Ethnographic Museum inside the monument, which shows the different Native American groups living in Ecuador. Beside the monument there is a colonial-style town, complete with main square, church, post office, bullring, cafeterias, restaurants and many gift shops with postcards and souvenirs. The afternoon is free.

Free. Optional excursions can be booked locally.

Morning flight to Baltra on the Galapagos Islands (3 hours with stop at Guayaquil en route) and embark on La Pinta. On arrival, after your welcome briefing, lunch will be served and La Pinta will sail to North Seymour Island. Afternoon disembarkation (dry landing) for a walk along the coast and the interior of the island, observing bird colonies of blue footed boobies, frigate birds, swallow tailed gulls and also sea lions and marine iguanas. In the evening you will be briefed on the following day’s expedition plan, this will happen each evening during the course of your cruise.

Arrive in the morning at the youngest island, Punta Espinoza (Fernandina) where you will disembark (dry landing) for a two kilometre walk. Punta Espinoza has an amazing combination of barrenness with lots of wildlife. Having no introduced mammals, it has a very unique environment with the highest density of marine iguanas. They share the island with sea lions, sally lightfoot crabs, hawks, penguins and the flightless cormorant. Lunch will be served on board. The afternoon will be spent on Punta Moreno on Isabela Island. Punta Moreno has a low-lying rocky shoreline surrounded by black and red mangrove lagoons, and abundant shore birds. It also offers close views of volcanoes Alcedo, Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul and has a desolate and pristine landscape of impressively immense black lava flows and unusual arid-zone vegetation. Darwin's finches, Galapagos doves, mockingbirds, penguins, cormorants, brown pelicans and blue-footed boobies can all be seen here.

Today you will have the opportunity to snorkel from the pangas or a ride on the glass-bottom boat around Champion Islet off Floreana Island. Afterwards you will return to the boat and be taken to Post Office Bay. After a wet landing at the historic barrel that served as a post office, you will learn about the human side of the islands, its early inhabitants and the adventures of pirates and whalers. After lunch, you will disembark at Punta Cormorant on Floreana (wet landing) for an easy walk where you will see flamingos that inhabit a brackish-water lagoon, and other birds, including ducks, stilts and sandpipers. You will then return to the beach where there will be the option to swim (there is great snorkelling at this site) or kayak.

In the morning, disembark at Rabida Island (wet landing) on a beach which is reddy coloured, due to its unusually high content of iron in the volcanic material. A stroll along the beach of this small island leads to a large colony of sea lions, marine iguanas, mockingbirds, yellow warblers and several species of Darwin’s Finches. Very close to the beach, hidden behind a strip of green saltbush, is a salt pond where, at times Greater Flamingos migrate to. This is a great place to snorkel from the beach, both for beginners as well as for experienced snorkellers, due to the unique combination of underwater species and submarine landscapes. On the sail to Santa Cruz, it can be possible to see dolphins. In the afternoon visit Las Bachas (Santa Cruz Island) where the sand is made of powdered coral, which makes it both white and soft, and a favourite site for nesting sea turtles. The sally lightfoot crabs are abundant on the lava rocks along the water's edge, however flamingos, hermit crabs, black necked stilts, and whimbrels can also be observed.

After breakfast visit the highlands of Santa Cruz Island (dry landing) which consists of the Scalesia forest and the twin pit craters geology formation, Los Gemelos. From December to mid-April, if weather conditions are good, a visit to see the giant tortoises in the wild may be included. Lunch will be at one of the farms in the highlands. Afternoon visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station to see the giant tortoises that are bred at the station. Also see tiny tortoises too! You can then stroll along the main street of Puerto Ayora, before returning to La Pinta.

Two sites are scheduled to be visited on James Island today. Sullivan Bay is on the east coast of Santiago just across Bartolome Island. Today you will land on a white coral sand beach and begin your walk over lava that flowed less than 100 years ago. This is the perfect place to see and feel the volcanic origin of the Galapagos. This site is most interesting for the geography of the lava flows, the intricate squiggles, cracks, and the designs of the liquid lava as it solidified. Life is now starting to return to the flows, with occasional tufts of grass and cactus growing in the cracks. Afterwards there will be the option of a panga ride, a trip in the glass-bottom boat or snorkelling. A wet landing in the afternoon will lead to a walk on Puerto Egas (James Island). Most of the landscape is tuff-stone layers and lava flows. This is a great opportunity to see land and marine birds. At low tide, marine iguanas graze upon the algae beds and there is a colony of Galápagos fur seals. There will also be a chance to snorkel and swim from the beach.

Disembark at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno the provincial capital of the Galápagos Islands. Visit the San Cristóbal Interpretation Centre, located in a natural setting, where visitors can obtain information that will help them understand the natural history of the Galápagos. Later this morning you will visit the tortoise breeding centre (La Galapaguera) at Cerro Colorado which will include a 45-minute bus ride. Seeing the semi-saddle back shape of the tortoises can be a great way to understand their adaptation to dry-tropical environments. The rewarding fauna of this island does not only include the giant tortoises, since many island-specific endemics are found here. These include mockingbirds, lava lizards, and the vermilion flycatchers. In the afternoon, a dinghy ride along the shores of tuff-stone layers leads to Cerro Brujo for a wet landing at a white coralline beach. The beach is a great open walking area, with rewarding bird-watching. Seabirds you might encounter here include the blue-footed boobies, nazca boobies, herons and frigate birds. Also, look for Galapagos sea lions. Highlights ashore include the Chatham mockingbird and the Chatham lava lizard; both species are endemic to this island and seen nowhere else in Galapagos. You may also spot yellow warblers and Galapagos flycatchers. In the evening there will be a farewell cocktail and a departure briefing.

Disembark at Baltra and transfer to the airport in time for the return flight to Guayaquil where you stay overnight at the Hilton Colon.

Late morning transfer to the airport. Depart by LAN Airlines non-stop flight to Madrid (11 hours).

Arrive at Madrid, continuing by Iberia flight to London Heathrow (2 hours 20 minutes).