Experience the best of Baltra

Baltra is a small, flat island in the centre of the Galápagos, just north of Santa Cruz across the narrow Itabaca Channel. It is the site of Seymour Airport, one of the archipelago's main gateways, and many visitors who arrive by air step off the plane here. The airfield was built by United States forces in the Second World War to guard the approaches to the Panama Canal.

The island itself is low and dry, with scrub, prickly pear cacti and palo santo trees. Its native land iguanas disappeared in the twentieth century and were later brought back from nearby North Seymour, a small island to the north-east where frigatebirds and blue-footed boobies nest. A short ferry crosses the channel to Santa Cruz, and a road runs on to Puerto Ayora.

There is little to eat on Baltra itself, and the fish, lobster and ceviche of Santa Cruz are the meals of the visit. The island stays dry and warm for most of the year.