Quito VS Guayaquil – This is a fact, that if you are planning to visit the Galapagos I would strongly recommend you to the things the right way, and save yourself a few extra dollars, let me tell You why right now, Ecuador has two main International airports: Quito and Guayaquil, they are about 200 miles from each other, it doesn’t sound much you might think, but here is the key Quito’s airport is so high on altitude over 9000 feet in the middle of the Andes the whole approach circling on the mountains will give you a headache and Guayaquil is right on the coast in the Pacific ocean which also is the closest point from Ecuador’s mainland into the islands. Also Guayaquil’s Airport is the newest airport of the country and the company that runs it offers the low discount prices of the country. On the other hand, Quito’s old airport is listed as top 3 most expensive airport in Latin America. Compare only the airport tax from Quito is almost 50USD vs only 27 from Guayaquil, they are overcharging tourists for the construction of the new terminal. One thing is for sure, if you end up in Quito, they will make you flight domestic to Guayaquil and then to the Galapagos, of curse you will get charge for the Quito-Guayaquil-Quito route that you don’t need, plus airport tax domestic and International out of Quito so you probably needed to add over 200 to your package unless someone already added to you.