Hi Gabrielle, we did both trips and had a great time doing it. The biggest costs for us were getting to Ecuador in the first place. Though I will admit that visiting the Galapagos cheaply isn’t easy. Most people go with a set itinerary so they know their costs beforehand.

If you like La Selva, the owners of La Selva Ecolodge own a few boats that operate in the Galapagos Islands as well as they recently bought The Red Mangrove in Santa Cruz. You can check out The Red Mangrove site here. We actually stayed at The Red Mangrove ourselves however that was before it was bought out. You can read about our Red Mangrove experience in Santa Cruz here though I imagine that place has just gotten better since La Selva bought it.

You can check out the La Selva Galapagos cruises here. They also provide Amazon and Galapagos combined trips here which might be what you’re after.

It’s not hard to book your own flights online as well as book your own hotel or cruise with whichever company you prefer however if you don’t want to book it all yourself you can contact La Selva directly and they can help out or you can contact pretty much any decent travel agent in Ecuador or abroad and they should be able to set you up for a small fee. Safe travels!