The Galápagos Islands sit on the equator. The weather does not behave like it. The Charles Darwin Foundation, which has kept weather records at Puerto Ayora since 1965, puts it plainly: the climate is not as tropical as you might imagine. The Pacific Ocean and its winds set two seasons.
At Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz, afternoons average 88°F (31°C) in March and 76°F (24°C) in August and September, and the sea cools from 78°F (26°C) to 71°F (22°C). Rain is limited on the coast, about 17 inches (440 mm) in an average year. The highlands get well over twice as much. Mainland Ecuador keeps a different calendar, covered in our Ecuador weather guide.
Puerto Ayora figures are our own averages of the Charles Darwin Research Station’s daily records for 1991–2020, sea temperature included; the lows stop at 2019 because the Foundation flags its 2020 minimums, and the sunshine figures in the text cover 2004–2020. San Cristóbal figures are the 1981–2010 climate normals of INAMHI, Ecuador’s meteorology institute, as reported to the World Meteorological Organization; they carry no daytime highs or lows. A rainy day has at least 0.04 in (1 mm) of rain.
| Month | Average high | Average low | Rainfall | Rainy days | Sea temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 83°F (28.6°C) | 73°F (22.8°C) | 2.1 in (53 mm) | 5 | 76°F (24.5°C) |
| February | 87°F (30.4°C) | 74°F (23.1°C) | 3.1 in (80 mm) | 7 | 78°F (25.4°C) |
| March | 88°F (31.0°C) | 73°F (23.0°C) | 2.8 in (70 mm) | 5 | 78°F (25.7°C) |
| April | 86°F (29.9°C) | 73°F (22.9°C) | 3.2 in (82 mm) | 5 | 78°F (25.4°C) |
| May | 83°F (28.3°C) | 73°F (22.9°C) | 1.9 in (47 mm) | 4 | 76°F (24.7°C) |
| June | 80°F (26.7°C) | 71°F (21.8°C) | 0.7 in (19 mm) | 3 | 74°F (23.5°C) |
| July | 78°F (25.4°C) | 69°F (20.7°C) | 0.5 in (13 mm) | 4 | 72°F (22.3°C) |
| August | 76°F (24.4°C) | 67°F (19.7°C) | 0.5 in (13 mm) | 4 | 71°F (21.5°C) |
| September | 76°F (24.2°C) | 67°F (19.6°C) | 0.4 in (11 mm) | 3 | 71°F (21.5°C) |
| October | 77°F (24.8°C) | 68°F (19.8°C) | 0.4 in (11 mm) | 3 | 71°F (21.7°C) |
| November | 78°F (25.5°C) | 69°F (20.4°C) | 0.6 in (14 mm) | 4 | 72°F (22.3°C) |
| December | 80°F (26.8°C) | 71°F (21.6°C) | 1.1 in (27 mm) | 5 | 74°F (23.2°C) |
| Year | 81°F (27.2°C) | 71°F (21.5°C) | 17.3 in (440 mm) | 53 | 74°F (23.5°C) |
| Month | Average temperature | Rainfall | Hours of sunshine |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78°F (25.5°C) | 3.1 in (78 mm) | 202 |
| February | 80°F (26.5°C) | 4.2 in (106 mm) | 195 |
| March | 80°F (26.4°C) | 4.1 in (105 mm) | 227 |
| April | 79°F (26.1°C) | 3.4 in (86 mm) | 230 |
| May | 78°F (25.6°C) | 1.6 in (41 mm) | 245 |
| June | 76°F (24.2°C) | 1.3 in (33 mm) | 204 |
| July | 73°F (23.0°C) | 0.8 in (20 mm) | 183 |
| August | 72°F (22.1°C) | 0.4 in (10 mm) | 168 |
| September | 71°F (21.9°C) | 0.3 in (8 mm) | 168 |
| October | 72°F (22.4°C) | 0.4 in (11 mm) | 176 |
| November | 74°F (23.2°C) | 0.5 in (13 mm) | 176 |
| December | 76°F (24.3°C) | 2.1 in (53 mm) | 185 |
| Year | 76°F (24.3°C) | 22.2 in (564 mm) | 2,359 |
February to April is hot and brings most of the year’s rain; August to October is cool, grey and close to dry on the coast. If you are weighing those months against the wildlife, our guide to the best time to visit the Galápagos takes it from there.
From January to May the southeasterly winds weaken, and the cold water brought by the Humboldt Current from Peru and by the upwelling along the equator loses its hold. The Charles Darwin Foundation calls this the hot season: warmer sea, warmer air, showery rain.
February to April is the peak. Puerto Ayora averages 86–88°F (30–31°C) in the afternoon and 73–74°F (23°C) at night, and San Cristóbal gets about 4 inches (105 mm) in each of February and March. Wet, by Galápagos standards. The wettest month at Puerto Ayora, April, still averages only 3.2 inches (82 mm). This is also the sunny half, with close to eight hours of sun a day at Puerto Ayora in March. The season’s length varies: a hotter hot season tends to start earlier and finish later.
From June the winds strengthen and cooler weather takes over. August to October is the coolest stretch: afternoons of 76–77°F (24–25°C) at Puerto Ayora, nights near 67°F (20°C), and averages of 71–72°F (22°C) at San Cristóbal, where August to November each get half an inch (13 mm) of rain or less.
Guaranteed sunshine it is not. Puerto Ayora averages about two hours of sun a day from July to September. The coast still logs three or four rainy days a month, adding up to well under an inch. Grey, then, rather than wet.
December sits in between: the Foundation counts it as cool season, yet Puerto Ayora averages 80°F (27°C) by day, with the sea at 74°F (23°C).
On a small ship you live with the wind, and the southeasterlies blow stronger in this half of the year. Keep that in mind when you compare our Galápagos cruises, the Petrel catamaran among them.
On the coast it is dry. Climb a few hundred feet and it changes. Bellavista, in the Santa Cruz highlands at about 730 ft (223 m), averaged 47 inches (1,194 mm) of rain a year from 1991 to 2013. From June to December it collected 20.6 inches (524 mm) against Puerto Ayora’s 4.5 (115 mm) in the same years, with rain on 16 to 18 days a month from July to September and under an hour of sun a day in August and September.
In the cool season, the Foundation explains, a layer of shallow cloud sits on the higher windward slopes and drizzles almost continuously, while the rest of the archipelago stays nearly rainless. That highland fog is the garúa, an essential source of water for the islands’ plants and animals. Nights are cooler up there too: 63°F (17°C) on average in September and October, against 67–68°F (20°C) at Puerto Ayora.
The sea follows the air. At the Charles Darwin Research Station it averages 78°F (25–26°C) from February to April and 71°F (22°C) from August to October, with the cold Humboldt water back in play. From June to November, about one day in ten came in below 68°F (20°C), most often in August.
For snorkeling, that means warmer water from January to May and cooler water, worth a wetsuit on longer swims, for the rest of the year. The rest of what the islands offer is on our things to do in the Galápagos page.
Near the end of each year the ocean warms along the coasts of Ecuador and northern Peru, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center notes, and in El Niño years the west coast of tropical South America turns wetter than normal. Around the islands, a NOAA report records sea temperatures rising from the low 70s°F well up into the 80s during the 1982–83 El Niño.
On land, that means rain. In 1983, 109 inches (2,769 mm) fell at Puerto Ayora, more than six times the 1991–2020 average. In 1997 and 1998 it was 65 and 69 inches (1,655 and 1,751 mm), and the sea stayed near 79°F (26°C) from August to October 1997. Those years pull the average up: in half the years from 1991 to 2020, Puerto Ayora got 10.7 inches (271 mm) or less. In an El Niño year, expect a warmer sea, more rain and a reason to keep a spare day in the plan.
From January to May, bring light clothes, a hat and sun protection for afternoons in the mid-80s°F, plus a light rain jacket for the showers. From June to December, add a fleece or a warm layer for evenings on deck, when Puerto Ayora’s nights average 67–71°F (20–22°C), and a rain shell if you head into the highlands, where the garúa keeps everything damp. Our Galápagos packing list covers the rest.
Our Destination Consultants can design a custom Galápagos trip around the season you prefer, or you can browse our Galápagos tours.
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