Not only does Red Mangrove provide excellent land accommodations in the Galapagos, but they lead very special tours. The Aventura lodge has beautiful and unique rooms. We stayed there twice on our tour and each room had different decor and layout. We are our meals on the patio which was populated with sea lions and iguanas. The food was just ok all around, but we didn't come for the food. Instead we went on some great excursions in Santa Cruz. Our guide and naturalist really made the trip.

Then we went to their Floreana location. Floreana is an island with a population of only 120 people. This lodge is very modest. In fact, it looked and felt like a bunch of camp cabins. If you went to summer camp, you'll love this! We snorkeled and hiked and ate our meals at the home of a local family that owns the land where the lodge is set.

The last stop is in Isabela Island, right on the beach! Rooms here are large, tiled, cool and full of natural sunlight. Isabela is beautiful island and if we had booked a longer trip we would have had more time there.

I haven't been on one of the cruises so I can't compare, but I can say that I highly recommend Red Mangrove.

Red Mangrove runs several properties on the Galopogos Islands. I stayed at three, including the Aventura Lodge. I would highly recommend this hotel.

Before I gush over the Red Mangrove experience, I want to highlight an area that needs improvement. The food service at Red Mangrove Adventure Lodge was abysmal each meal we ate. Expect incorrect orders and long waits. Even allowing for "island time" the wait time for a food or drink to travel from the kitchen to the table was inexcusable. Poor hiring or training I expect to be the culprit.

So let me now emphasis that I still highly recommend this hotel. The beautiful setting along with the attentive staff more than compensates. In fact, everything was so perfect that I suspect the food service will soon be remedied to match all the other positive attributes. That's was my experience- the Red Mangrove staff was focused on my enjoyment and did everything to make my stay positive. Mission accomplished.

I recommend for anyone thinking about going to the Galapagos- especially if you are considering a tour. The ability to have Red Mangrove plan the duration of your stay and provide a trip coordinator is invaluable.

We joined the 5 days Darwin Triangle Tour (Santa Cruz, Isabella and Floreana Islands) and had a fabulous time. Overall, Red Mangrove runs a very efficient and organized operations with different tour groups rotating around the 3 lodges across 3 islands. The land transportation, luggage, snorkeling equipment, boat transfers, hotel check-ins, meals were arranged smoothly and effortlessly. We never had to wait for anything, no mess ups, and nothing or nobody left behind.
There were 9 people in our group and one naturalist. The naturalist basically stayed and traveled with his/her group the entire time, It worked out great. We enjoyed meeting a diverse, multi-nationals and ended up exchanging e-mails in the end.
A few other highlights during our time with Red Mangroves:
1. Love the outdoor dining area at the Aventura Lodge. There are so many wild life around to watch and fantastic view of the harbor. The front desk staff were helpful, efficient and friendly.
2. Dinner at a local family home at Floreana Island
3. Snorkeling with sea lions at Floreana
4. Wild life at Tintoreras (penguins, white tip sharks, iguanas)
5. Visit to the Giant Tortoises Farm

A suggestion for the hotel: Buffet meals were just okay. Whenever we had the option to order from several choices and food were prepared as ordered, the food quality seemed a lot better. Perhaps, consider giving guests the choices to order from a menu.

A few side notes:
1. If your schedule permits, consider spending extra time at Isabella Island. We were only there for 1 night and it was not enough. There were so many things to do and see there. The beach is beautiful. You can bike around the national park. There is flamingo lagoon. Most people in our tour group ended up extending their stay at Isabella Island. Red Mangrove is great at accommodating special requests such as this.

My husband and I stayed at three Red Mangrove Lodges in January 2012 - and it was an absolutely wonderful wonderful experience! The lodges (on Isabela, Floreana and Santa Cruz Islands) were very different. At each site the staff were helpful, cheerful, and professional. Nearly all were bilingual so there were no language issues for us. The food was excellent, the rooms had everything we needed, and we were sad to leave. From the time our plane landed in the Galapagos, all our needs were met. All we had to do was get ready for hiking, exploring, snorkeling or whatever the next activity was. The naturalists employed by the Red Mangrove were top notch and very knowledgeable about all things related to these special islands.