Need to know
Rooms
14 rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, including two suites.
Check–Out
Flight times dictate check-in and check-out times at the lodge, and staff will make sure your room is available on your arrival.
More details
Rates include all meals, snacks, local wines and beer. Transfers between Seymour airport and the hotel (and access to the VIP lounge in the airport) are included in rates, as are all excursions on land and the lodge’s private yacht.
Also
The currents that pass through the islands bring ample food for marine life to the shores – so you’re pretty likely to come across dolphins, orca whales and hammerhead sharks, as well as the usual residents of the Galápagos waters: manta rays, sea turtles, black and white-tipped sharks and schools of fish. It’s also the only place on the equator to hear the pitter-patter of penguin feet.
Hotel closed
The lodge closes from 1 September to 16 October every year
At the hotel
Restaurant, bar, infinity pool, mountain bikes to borrow, spa with Jacuzzi and sauna, treatment room, lounge with books, films and a 3D TV. In rooms: WiFi, TV, tea- and coffee-making facilities, minibar, robes and slippers, hairdryer, Pikaia backpack and water bottle, biodegradable Sumaq toiletries.
Our favourite rooms
Every room has floor-to-ceiling windows and panoramic views, but we love how the balconies in the second-floor rooms jutt out, rather dramatically, over the crater.
Poolside
They sure know how to make the most of natural resources at Pikaia – the impressive crater-side infinity pool is strategically placed to bask in maximum sunlight all day. The pool is set in Peruvian travertine marble and walled by comfortable day beds, with views over the forested hills of the island.
Spa
The eastern-facing Sumaq spa has 270-degree views out to a tapestry of greens and blues where Santa Cruz meets the Pacific. Take in the vistas from the comfort of the mosaic-tiled Jacuzzi or loungers. There’s a treatment room where you can indulge in facials, massages and body wraps enhanced by local ingredients – such as Galápagos volcanic ash. Embrace indigenous wisdom with the Shamanic massage: a 90-minute treatment using palo santo oil (chosen for its healing properties) and a rainmaker stick. The small but serviceable workout room has Life Fitness equipment and free weights.
Packing tips
Pikaia lodge are members of Pack for a Purpose – an initiative that asks you to replace those just-in-case outfits and underwear with much-needed donations for local communities. In Pikaia’s case, school supplies are most helpful, such as book bags, pencils, pens, calculators and Spanish dictionaries. These are donated to the local school in Cascajo village, which the lodge already supports.
Also
Before flying out to the Galápagos, you'll need to purchase a transit card (around US$20 a person) at Quito or Guayaquil airport, and on arrival a VIP lounge assistant will help to process the park entry fees (US$100 an adult, US$50 a child under 12).
Sustainability efforts
This is a guilt-free Galápagos getaway: the lodge goes above-and-beyond with its environmentally-friendly measures. Its gloriously green surroundings weren’t always that way, having once been home to a cattle ranch: the hotel planted more than 11,000 endemic trees to reforest the former pasture land. You’ll be invited to help with restoration efforts by planting your own tree, too. Solar panels and a wind turbine generate much of the energy needed to run the lodge, without polluting or emitting any greenhouse gases. Pikaia is carbon neutral (and so is the dining – dishes are made with produce from local farmers and fishermen), favours biodegradable toiletries and limits the use of plastic. It was built using eco-friendly methods and materials: including local Galápagos lava stone and tiles, Peruvian travertine and sustainable bamboo. Water is a particularly precious resource in Ecuador, and the lodge’s roofs are designed to collect rainwater, which is then treated, purified and used throughout the hotel, avoiding the need for plastic bottles. Sunshine, on the other hand, is a resource put to good use: optimal placement of solar water-heating panels and UV reflecting glass support energy conservation throughout the hotel.
