Las Grietas
Las Grietas
4.5
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  • Krysten J
    Washington DC, District of Columbia15 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Unique and spectacular!!!
    Make sure to bring the $10 per person entrance fee in cash and wear closed toe shoes for the walk to the water. But what a beautiful place! The water is so clear that you can see fish standing at the top of the water...!!!
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 22, 2023
  • DrRobertGuido
    North Las Vegas, Nevada11 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Swimming in a lava tunnel: do it on your own
    The snorkeling experience doesn’t stand up to other experiences in Galápagos but you can’t beat the idea of swimming through a lava tunnel and seeing the few fish in the water. Well worth the $10 entry fee. DO NOT pay for a guided experience that is advertised in the town for $35-$40. You can do this for $12 per person on your own. Take the water taxi and just follow the path. It’s about a 15 minute walk. Do yourself a favor and stop at German beach when you’re done as there is excellent snorkeling at the beach to include sea turtles.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written July 2, 2023
  • Jenny S
    13 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Super beautiful
    It was worth the time and effort. Might be one place taking a tour there would be useful. You must wait for a tour to begin and they only go every hour or two. Make sure you rent a life jacket and snorkel if you aren't on a tour. They are available just inside the gate. Otherwise you will miss seeing all of the fish! Oh and don't go on yhe weekends! Apparently very full.
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written August 8, 2023
  • Brendan S
    Arlington, Virginia1,688 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Delightful swimming hole
    Las Grietas is a saltwater swimming hole nestled between lava cliffs (apparently, cliff diving was allowed previously but no longer is). It’s accessed via water taxi from Santa Cruz and a walk through a salt lake and marsh. One hour reservations are required. This is a good thing as you have the pool to yourself and one hour is sufficient. The pool is about 75 yards long, very deep and about 70 degrees. There are a few fish, and apparently some eels, but it’s more about swimming in the scenic grotto between cliffs than seeing aquatic wildlife.
    Visited December 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written December 22, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles2,512 reviews
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duhoz
Beroun, Czech Republic6,315 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020
There are 3 pools but many people just stay in the first one. This place has crystal clear water but it is all day too crowded to have a nice and relaxing experience. Not really possible to lay down or safely put the stuff. From the water taxi (0,80$) drop off it is about 10-15 minutes walk passing Playa de los Alemanes and pink salt flats. Then register at the boots and walk down the stairs. If you want to stay longer bring snack/drinks but there is small bar next the salt lake to get drinks.
Written March 25, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Tim G
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2022 • Solo
As of 2022 tourists are required to hire a guide and pay $10 to visit Las Grietas, while locals are allowed to visit for free without a guide. This is a new policy that is not reflected in most guidebooks - access used to be free for everyone. Even if I thought visiting Las Grietas was worth $10 (it's not), I would refuse to pay the entrance fee on principal, due to the discriminatory rules. There is no logical reason why only tourists and not locals would require a guide. In fact, there is no reason a guide would be needed at this site for any visitor, based on either safety or environmental factors. This new rule is a sneaky attempt by Puerto Ayora to extract even more money from tourists.

Please avoid visiting Las Grietas until free access is restored for everyone. Otherwise these discriminatory practices will be copied in other places and you will begin to see tourist fees and guide requirements for other sites in the Galapagos that are currently free. Vote with your wallet and let the local authorities know that this is not acceptable.

There is a nice beach (Playa de Los Alemanes) just before the entrance to Las Grietas that has excellent snorkeling at high tide. In about 15 minutes there I saw sharks, eels, rays, huge schools of fish, and a large variety of very colorful reef fish including some I hadn't seen anywhere else in the Galapagos. The snorkeling is vastly better here than at Las Grietas, and best of all it's free and you won't have a useless guide following you around.
Written November 20, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

oretro
oretro16 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021
Top 3 worst things:

1. The wasps. They are EVERYWHERE near las grietas. Saw one guy who was exiting the water get stung... sounded painful.

2. The guide. She made us wait at multiple points before going to Las Grietas - I'll never get back those 45 minutes she spent inching us towards Las Grietas to keep to a timeline.

3. The time enforcements. We had to wait to form a group to go in. Then, we were given just twenty minutes to spend in Las Grietas. (We had spent ten of our precious thirty minutes putting on wetsuits, which we didn't know counted against our time).

I can understand having different prices for locals vs. visitors, so that is less the issue.
It was EXTREMELY crowded with tour groups coming and going. We were there at 10:15 a.m. on a Wednesday.
Written August 21, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Leaky B
Boulder, CO375 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
Las Grietas is a swimming hole from the viewpoint of human users where fresh and sea water mingle (brackish). You walk along a path for 20-30 minutes to get there. It had rained that day, so the path seemed a bit slick. There are prickly pears (opuntias) growing along the path, lots of lovely little black finches, and of course, an abundance of marine iguanas. Along the path you will go past a salt pond — a small lake with little water that is white and orange with salt and ? There is also a bar where you can stop and have a beer with an Italian bartender. If you’re not planning to swim, you can just stop at the top of the stairs and look at the swimming hole. But as I said, it had rained, so the stairs seemed rather treacherous. We only looked and didn’t feel comfortable descending them (and we are fit).
Written January 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

product-of-canada
Toronto, Canada2,389 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022
Definitely a worthwhile stop while on Santa Cruz Island, and you have the time.

It was a bit surreal swimming in a cave-like environment. I would say it is worth the scramble through the rocks, at the mid-way point, to get to the other side of the Greitas. Much less busy over there. I did so, and I was the only one there.

If you do not want to scramble the rocks in the water, I noticed that they are building a wooden staircase on the other side. So you could just walk the perimeter to the back, and then enter the water from the back.

The reason for my 4/5 scoring is the lame, new $10 USD fee to enter. This was free pre-pandemic. There is no way there should be any charge for a government run/protected site after paying a $100 USD (cash only) fee at the airport. Boooooo!
Written September 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Cam
4 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2022
You must pay $10/person in order to get into the area and guided into the pools of water. The time you are allowed to swim is quite short (30-45 minutes), but it is very beautiful. There are many people in each group so be aware that you will be with many people and getting good pictures of the water may be difficult. They are mostly finished with a second area for swimming, which from my understanding will be split into day visitors and big tours. Hopefully that will help with how crowded this place can get.
Written June 20, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mfjaramillo
Quito, Ecuador153 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2019
Las Grietas is a beach on the other side of the Puerto Ayora pier. I believe the only way to get there is by water taxi, although you might also be able to get there by car and then walk (probably quite a lot). It's a beach inside a volcanic rock crevasse so it's pretty safe and awesome to swim there. Try to get there early in the morning because around midday and the afternoon there's a lot of people. You might also want to swim further into the crevasse to see more fish, turtles, and other animals.
Written January 2, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Hedy R
Reisterstown, MD13 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2023
Contrary to the folks who described this as a tourist trap, our family (we took our 2 twenty-something kids) thought this was well worth the trip and $. We had a wonderful guide and a group of about 8-10 tourists. It was a decent length hike and was over some very rocky terrain. Wear hiking shoes or sturdy sneakers for this part and bring water shoes for the swim as the rocks where you enter and can stand on are slippery. Our guide was great and provided a lot of info during our hike about the salt flats and other scenery. We were given a full 45 min to swim. Not too many fish to see, but a beautiful place to cool off and relax. You don't need to worry about "climbing over the rocks" to the other side as is described on some websites. They now have one side for land based tours and one side dedicated to cruise ships. The cost is reasonable (would have cost much more where we live in the Baltimore/DC area), the guide helpful in explaining what you see, and the "tour"necessary to control crowds and keep the environment safe.
Written February 25, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Polly E
35 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2022 • Couples
We visited here after a two week visit to the Galapagos. We had already seen and learned so much from our other tours but still the guide was able to give us information that we hadn’t heard before. That is one reason why you pay $10 - the other is that the unique landscapes and wildlife can only survive if numbers of visitors and their behaviour are limited and controlled. The swimming hole is not enormous and would be uncomfortable and potentially dangerous if uncontrolled. Instead, the guides monitor the numbers snd make sure every has a fair time in the pool. They will be opening the second pool sometime in summer 2022 - the new steps were going in while we were there so that will help with capacity. Overall worth a visit.
Written June 5, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jorit N
West Melton, New Zealand111 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Family
We spend an afternoon at Las Grietas and the nearby beach, and had a great time snorkelling and relaxing. You can see lots of fish. Recommend to head into the third lagoon you climbing over the first set of rocks and then dive through a small tunnel into the third. Very quite there.
Written January 19, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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