The Galápagos Islands

It’s not often that you come across a place that’s unique in the world. All too many “must-sees,” no matter how glowingly described by guidebooks and friends, seem to pale in the harsh light of reality. But the Galápagos Islands exist truly without parallel, and I have yet to meet a disappointed visitor. Huddled far out in the Pacific Ocean, the archipelago protects a bubble of life like nowhere else on earth.

  Initial impressions of the islands certainly don’t promise much—the bleak, plant-stubbled landscape carries all the impact of a cheap movie set at first glance. But within a day or two of beginning your tour, you’ll see things you’d never have believed existed: tortoises the size of armchairs, iguanas that swim, and birds with huge blue feet that are all completely nonplussed by your presence. By the end of your stay, you’ll have gotten a taste of what the earth was like well before the human race showed up and started throwing its weight around. You’ll go home understanding how a short visit to the islands more than a century ago sparked one of the greatest scientific insights in history.

Charles Darwin Research Center: Researchers at the research station in Puerto Ayora are working to help the giant tortoises—including infamous Lonesome George—to survive. (read more)

Punta Espinosa: On Fernandina Island, watch flightless cormorants dry their useless wings in the sun near more marine iguanas than you’ll ever see anywhere else. (read more)

Post Office Bay: On Floreana Island, leave a postcard in the barrel like a whaler of yore and see if some kind stranger delivers it in person—and vice versa. (read more)

Punta Suárez: Waved albatrosses and an abundance of boobies are the highlights of this spot on Española Island, one of the islands’ best visitors’ sites. (read more)

Wolf and Darwin Islands: These far-off islands are known as one of the best dive spots in the world. (read more)