Our Travelers Say
Posted on Tripadvisor Olivia Z University of Scranton Study Abroad My experience was so great. Our guide Paul was so informed about the wildlife of the islands and all the cool spots to go. This was the trip of a lifetime!! I wouldn’t have been able to go without their guidance.Posted on Tripadvisor Amelia R Breathtaking trip with absolutely top-notch guide! Paul was our guide for some 12 days in the Galapagos with 15 students and another professor and I. He's a brilliant naturalist and is incredibly experienced with the islands having lived there for 30+ years. His company helped us create an personalized itinerary that took us seamlessly from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz to Isabela Island (and back). We had excellent accommodations and Paul was fantastic in adjusting the schedule to our needs as the adventure unfolded. Whatever we needed, he and his team was able to provide. We snorkeled nearly every day and Paul worked hard to make sure everyone (beginners and more advanced) got everything they could out of the experience and was comfortable. We also had three chartered cruises out to special snorkeling spots (Kicker Rock, North Seymour, and Bartolome) with great crews and additional guides. On hikes, Paul took time to cover the ecology and geology of the many different zones. He's also well versed in the islands' history and provided excellent socioeconomic context. He knows all the best spots and is good at working with other guides to help the group see various wildlife. I can't imagine doing this travel course with any other guide.Posted on Tripadvisor Harry J Amazing Guides had the great pleasure of being taken on a tour by Galapex to North Seymour Island and had one of the best ever experiences i have had travelling. What stands out is the guides and staffs genuine knowledge and passion which was a great privilege to see. Very well organised and incredible service.Posted on Tripadvisor June L GalapEx are the best way to visit Galapagos Paul organised a great tour for us with a bunch of other people on a cruise and he was our guide. It was an absolutely brilliant experience with loads of snorkelling, entertaining story telling and top rate natural history information and interpretation. We spent three weeks in the island and the second week was the cruise. I highly recommend Galapex with their incredible organisation and communication. It was if we had been friend for years.Posted on Tripadvisor Tim H Tour of Santa Cruz, Cristobal and Isabella Paul is an amazing guide, friendly, hospitable, knowledgeable, charismatic and organised This was our second trip to the islands and Paul was also our guide in 2012 This was the tour Paul organised for us this year Day 1 - Bartholome Island tour - fantastic information from Paul on its formation Day 2 - Highland tour, chance to see the large tortoises in the wild and to see if we fitted into the old tortoise shells Day 3 - North Seymour day tour - Saw frigate birds, blue footed boobies, land iguanas, had a snorkel and swam with sealions and many different types of fish Day 4 - Isabella Island - Great couple of days snorkelled with many turtles, sealions golden rays and marine iquana's. Day 8 - Tintoreras probably the single best tour of the whole trip - don't know who was the most scared, the 7 white tip sharks or the tourists (AKA shark alley), swam with turtles, penguins and saw a sea horse Day 9 - Santa Cruz Day tour (chocolate, coffee, moonshine and woodwork) - One large Hammerhead shark was purchased, as well as some chocolate and moonshine Day 10 - North Seymour diving - Bucket list stuff, dived with Hammerhead sharks with my son Day 11 - Floreana Diving - Saw hammerhead sharks once again Day 12 - Charles Darwin Centre - Saw Lonesome George (stuffed) we did see the live version in 2012 Day 13 - San Cristobal Island - Day trip to see where Darwins boat first docked great lunch at the Midori restaurant Following this we are back again in April 2026 with Paul as tour guide Tim HollandPosted on Tripadvisor GK J This company and it’s people are knowledgable, passionate, and kind. This was the trip of a lifetime. This company is absolutely amazing. I had the pleasure of Paul being the tour guide for my group. He’s a very kind and outgoing person and is obviously passionate and knowledgeable about everything in the Galapagos. We went as a group of highschool students and had the most amazing trip of our lives. All of the activities were very well structured, and we had plenty of time to explore everything there was to see on the islands that we visited. If you are looking for a company to do a tour with, this is absolutely the one to reach out to.Posted on Tripadvisor Freedom66706420031 I've traveled many times with GalapEx and they are totally great! I am a college professor who has taken mixed undergraduate/graduate student groups to Ecuador including the Galapagos with GalapEx many times. I have also taken tourist groups there with Paul as well. Paul not only organized all the in country experiences, but often was our guide in the Galapagos as well. Each and every trip has been extraordinary and wonderful. We've had all sort of unexpected adventures--like blizzards here in the states delaying our departure, volcanos near Quito affecting flights, rainstorms in the rainforest (who would have guessed?), as well as unexpected great things--animal encounters i will never forget (like snorkeling over sea turtle cleaning stations, watching birds clean giant tortoises, ginormous anacondas, and 11 species of primates in the Ecuadorian rainforest). Paul makes it all work!Posted on Tripadvisor Bret B The very best educational tour of the Galápagos! I have been relying on Paul McFarling and GalapEx to organize and coordinate Hofstra University's study abroad experience in the Galápagos Islands for over 20 years (10+ trips!) For the students, this is a life-changing experience. The instruction from Paul and his fellow National Park guides is comprehensive and up-to-date and the activities planned for us are both fun and educational. The students have a great time while learning an incredible amount about ecology, animal behavior, volcanoes, Charles Darwin, and the challenges of sustainably managing the most unspoiled oceanic islands left on the planet. I cannot recommend GalapEx highly enough - if you are looking to plan a student trip to the Galápagos this is the organization you need to be working with.Posted on Tripadvisor 1AB4 Mind blowing experience! In February I was part of a student group visiting the Galapagos Islands. The trip was organized through Galapex and it all worked wonderfully. Our naturalist Paul McFarlin was fun, very knowledgeable and made learning interesting. This was a great experience; it opened our minds to the richness of nature and the importance of conserving it. I recommend this tripPosted on Tripadvisor willyAnnArbor Great planning + excellent execution = happy students + professor Over the past decade, l've gone a few times with my student groups on tours of Galapagos and Ecuador. Every time GalapEx organized the whole trip for me. They designed a great itinerary that fits within my budget, found nice accommodations, good meals, reliable local transportation and excellent local guides. My students always had a great time and I could focus on teaching my class without having to worry if our bus would come on time or our next hotel would be adequate. That's peace of mind.
