Galápagos Entry from Guayaquil: Transit Card and Park Fee

The Galápagos is a province of Ecuador, not a separate country, yet you pass three separate checks run by three different public bodies. The Governing Council of the Special Regime issues the TCT, the biosecurity agency ABG searches your luggage, and the National Park Directorate charges the entry fee. Each has its own counter, its own rules and its own receipt, and knowing which is which makes the Guayaquil airport morning much calmer.

What do you need before flying from Guayaquil to the Galápagos?

The Council's TCT questions and answers say every person entering as a tourist or temporary visitor must hold the card, citing Article 44 of the Galápagos special-regime law (LOREG). The card is shown on arrival and again when you leave the islands.

The Council's FAQ, citing new review and validation processes, asks passengers to reach the airport three hours before the flight. The page gives no revision date, so treat three hours as the safe margin.

Online payment: two official versions

The Council's November 2023 notice on the digital TCT described registering online, paying by credit card and showing a QR code at the Quito or Guayaquil counter. The later November 2024 notice and the FAQ describe a different flow: pre-register online, then acquire and pay for the card at the airport counter, with advance purchase only through travel agencies at least 48 hours before the flight. Follow whatever the pre-registration system offers on the day; either way, the card is validated at the airport.

The 60-day rule

A tourist may stay a total of 60 non-extendable days in a year, counted from the first entry, across one or several trips. The Council warns that overstaying starts a sanction process that can end in removal from the province. Tourists may visit protected areas and the towns but may not carry out paid work.

How much is the Galápagos park fee since August 2024?

The fee was raised by Council Resolution 002-CGREG-24-02-2024, approved on 24 February 2024 and in force from 1 August 2024. Its recitals record the jump: from USD 6 to USD 30 for Ecuadorians and from USD 100 to USD 200 for foreigners. The Council's announcement said the plenary approved it by five votes to four and that the rate had not changed in 26 years.

The park's fee page now cites a provincial ordinance of 30 June 2025 (No. 001-CGREG-30-06-2025) as the legal basis, with the same amounts.

Children under two pay nothing. Residents of Ecuador over 65 or holding a CONADIS disability card pay USD 15; the reduced senior and disability rates in the table apply to residents, not to foreign tourists. The Andean Community countries are Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru; Mercosur here means Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Where the money goes

Article 2 of the resolution splits the fee: 45% to the National Park Directorate, 20% to the Council, 5% to the biosecurity agency ABG, 10.9% to Santa Cruz municipality, 8.5% to San Cristóbal, 5.6% to Isabela, and 1% to each of five rural parishes. The park's arrival page summarises this as half going to protected-area management, which matches the park and ABG shares combined.

The park reported 279,277 visitors in 2024, 55% of them foreign, and USD 22.1 million in fee revenue, USD 4.2 million more than in 2023, which it attributed to the August 2024 update.

What can't you bring to the Galápagos?

ABG's product list, updated by its board under Resolution D-ABG-065-11-2023, sorts goods into permitted (green), restricted (yellow) and not permitted (red). The logic is processing: goods processed so far that they can no longer carry pests are allowed, raw goods are not.

The green list is broader than many visitors expect: pasteurised beer and wine, UHT or powdered milk, dried fruit and roasted nuts are among the permitted items, although all are still inspected. The US State Department's Ecuador page simply notes that Ecuador restricts certain items and points travellers to ABG.

Since 31 January 2026 the paper goods declaration has been withdrawn. ABG's notice says every passenger over 18 must complete the digital declaration in its SIABG system, up to 72 hours before travel, and show the QR code or record number to inspectors at Baltra or San Cristóbal; false or missing answers can bring legal sanctions. ABG also says it is installing new X-ray scanners at the Guayaquil and Quito filters, which it expects to cut inspection from 5 to 7 minutes per passenger to 1 to 2 minutes.

Arriving at Baltra or San Cristóbal

Before landing, the aircraft cabin is sprayed with a product that the park says is harmless and approved by the WHO; the crew announces it. After landing you hand over the TCT, pay the park fee to the rangers, and an ABG inspector checks hand luggage for organic products.

From Baltra, the park describes a free bus to the Itabaca Channel (about 10 minutes), a USD 1 barge across (about 10 minutes), then a bus of about USD 2 to Puerto Ayora (about 45 minutes) or a pickup taxi at USD 25 for up to four people. San Cristóbal airport is about 10 minutes from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, with bus or taxi fares of roughly USD 1.50 to USD 3. The same bag inspection applies at the docks when you travel between inhabited islands.

What the official pages leave open

The park's pages do not say whether the fee can be paid by card at the airport, so have the full amount in US dollars as a fallback. They also do not say how a child who is exactly 12 is classed, since the tables use "over 12" and "under 12", and the Council's FAQ does not mention an exemption from the TCT for infants. Ask at the Council counter in Guayaquil before you queue for check-in, when there is still time to withdraw cash.

If your route goes through Quito instead, the same Council counter and ABG filter operate at Mariscal Sucre airport; with a spare day there, our guide to the Mitad del Mundo and the real equator line covers a half-day trip north of the city.