Experience the best of Puerto Villamil

Puerto Villamil is a small town on the south-east coast of Isabela, the largest island of the Galápagos, with sand streets and a long beach of pale sand backed by palms, where marine iguanas lie on the lava rocks. The town is named for José Villamil, who organised Ecuador's first settlement in the islands in 1832.

Behind the beach, brackish lagoons hold flamingos, herons and stilts, and a boardwalk through the wetlands leads to the Wall of Tears, a huge wall of lava blocks built by convicts of the island's penal colony in the mid-twentieth century. A breeding centre raises young giant tortoises for release. Boats take visitors to Los Túneles, where lava arches shelter seahorses and turtles, and to Las Tintoreras, home to white-tipped reef sharks.

The day's catch of fish and lobster is grilled and served with rice and plantain, with fruit juices and coffee for the long hot afternoons. From June to November a cool mist, the garúa, drifts in, and the rest of the year is warmer and brighter.