Hotel Fiesta

Hotel Fiesta is one of those places where you continually find yourself saying, “Wow, this is nicer than I expected.” The free breakfast is tasty, the large pool is well kept, the gardens are manicured, and the prices are consistently reasonable. Because of this excellent value, Hotel Fiesta attracts all types of travelers, from Ecuadorian families with children, to American backpackers, to European retirees. The hotel’s gated entrance is simply decorated with a wooden sign and red bougainvillea. Inside the gate, a shaded courtyard leads to the hotel’s lobby, a tiny room with a front desk and a small seating area. Cushioned rattan chairs are framed by a wall-mounted TV and an artistic map of the Galapagos islands. There’s a tiny bar adjacent to the lobby that overlooks the hotel’s gorgeous outdoor patio.  

Hotel Fiesta is located on a quiet side street in Puerto Ayroa, the main city on the island of Santa Cruz. It’s within a 10-minute walk of downtown shops and restaurants, along with popular tourist attractions like Laguna de las Ninfas and Tortuga Bay. Santa Cruz is the most populous island in the Galapagos with about 12,000 residents. Puerto Ayora is a busy town, with tons of lodging options, restaurants, and tourist-oriented services, but some travelers may find its gift-shop laden streets a bit inauthentic. Santa Cruz is one of the Galapagos’ most accessible destinations. Daily flights from mainland Ecuador land on Baltra Island (GPS), a small land mass across the channel from Santa Cruz.From the airport, Puerto Ayora is about an hour -- first, a five-minute free airport bus ride to the ferry, a 10-minute ferry ride, and then a 45-minute drive (via bus or taxi). Many travelers choose to start or end their trips on Santa Cruz, due to the island’s accessibility. Some can’t-miss sights include the Charles Darwin Research Station, Tortuga Bay, Las Grietas, and the island’s many lava tunnels.  

Before we say anything else about rooms at Hotel Fiesta, we must first make it absolutely clear that they are tiny. Twin and Double Rooms are barely big enough for two travelers, never mind all of the luggage that typically accompanies them. But if size isn’t an issue, rooms at Hotel Fiesta are lovely. Decorated in a neutral palette of whites and creams, rooms look clean and neatly kept. Hotel staff members decorate the beds with flower petal welcome signs and creative towel animals. Mounted flat-screens and local artwork are the only things to adorn the white walls, but floral curtains bring a little color to the otherwise bland rooms. In lieu of closets, open shelving and clothing racks act as storage space. Additional in-room features include mini-fridges, air conditioners, safety deposit boxes, and small desks. Bathrooms are minuscule and tight on space. They have just about enough room to accommodate a shower, toilet, and small vanity. Many guests complain that hot water is iffy or even nonexistent in the showers. It’s not advisable to drink the water anywhere in the Galapagos, so Hotel Fiesta provides guests with pitchers of purified water for drinking and brushing teeth.There are three different room types at Hotel Fiesta: Twin Rooms, Double Rooms, and Triple Rooms. Twin rooms have two twin-size beds, while double rooms — also known as matrimonial rooms — have one double bed. They’re both around the same size, and can both accommodate two people. Triple Rooms are slightly larger and can accommodate up to four people. 

For a budget hotel, Fiesta has a lot of nice features. Its grounds are incredibly well kept, and its outdoor spaces feel private and secluded. The pool and its surrounding patio are where many guests congregate in the mornings and evenings — before and after days of sightseeing around the island. The rectangular pool is large by Galapagos standards, and is open year-round, though it definitely gets a lot more use during the warmer months (December through April). Cushioned lounge chairs and umbrellas surround the pool, while the adjacent patio has several mosaic-tiled cafe tables. There’s also a covered, outdoor game room with pool and ping-pong tables. Hotel Fiesta serves free breakfast every morning in its open-air breakfast room. The breakfast consists of fresh fruit and juices, yogurt, pastries, eggs, and cheese. It’s served in courses as guests sit down, so there’s no need to worry about cold buffet eggs or warm yogurt. There is free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, as well as two desktop computers that guests can use for free. The internet connection is slow and spotty, but this is quite common anywhere in the Galapagos.