Puerto Ayora (Ayora's Port), has grown rapidly in comparison to the development of the other four urban centers of the islands. This city has become the economic and tourist capital of the archipelago. Most of the tour operators and travel agencies have their offices in Puerto Ayora.

This 7.000 people city, offers all kinds of modern comforts and natural experiences. You can enjoy swimming in the bay and several beaches, clean air, and tons of natural emotions. Now if you conect this to the internet and international specialty restaurants, you are on paradise.

A 20 minute walk will take you to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Tortuga Bay (turtle bay). A easy walk through the natural trail inside natural park land will take you into the world of cactus, land birds and lizards.

The Grietas is another tourist attraction of Puerto Ayora. The grietas forms because of the underground filtering of sea water, forming a beautiful, deep pond where you can practice diving into the water from 7- and 8-meter natural rock plataforms, you can also enjoy snorkeling. Just crossing Puerto. Ayora´s bay, for US$ 0.30, on a water taxi, you can reach the other side of town. In this part of town you can rest at the German´s beach or walk for 20 minutes until you reach The Grietas.

A very different attraction is the Bellavista caves, beautiful natural caves that you can walk through, will make you feel like you were in the middle of the Earth, deep inside the surface. The caves are beautiful, a 25 minute ride in a taxi will take to the caves in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island, where Puerto Ayora is located. This caves offer a great introduction to the geology on the Galapagos islands.

The Tintoreras cave, is a place where you can sea a type of shark, called tintorera, very closely. You can go there in a Bay Tour that will take you to other tourist visiting sites, or rent sea kayaks to go there, going with a guide is very advisable. You will row for some 30 minutes until you reach the entrance of the cave that has a legth of 30 meters approximately. At the end of the cave you will find the tintoreras, you can snorkel in the surface while the sharks remain on the bottom.

You can travel to the highlands of the islands, to El Chaco, here you can watch giant tortoises in their natural habitat, you can get there on a daily tour or taking a taxi, there are some great places to have lunch, ask the local tour operators and agencies, its a must-see site.

If you want to go a little further you can go to the Garrapatero beach, this is a beautiful beach, you can get there after a 30 minute taxi ride, and a 15 minute walk.

One of the attractions or Puerto Ayora, that you will not find elsewhere on the archipelago is the party time. Every night several restaurants, bars and discotheques welcome you to the night life of Galapagos.