Of the ten most-visited islands, Isabela is by far the biggest and also best – but certainly not the only – place to see the giant tortoise. This lava-strewn, tectonically torn island with its 1,124-metre-high volcano is also home to marine and land iguanas and a nesting site for hawks, boobies, frigate birds, gulls and flightless cormorants. A similar selection of birds as well as land iguanas can be spied from Fernandina. Both of these islands are in the west of the archipelago.

Centrally located Santa Cruz offers great views from its peaks, two huge vegetation-filled sinkholes, perhaps the best of the beaches (although San Cristobal also has some superlative shoreline), several places to see giant tortoises in captivity and land iguanas aplenty.

Cacti-spiked Santa Fe is home to both land and marine iguanas, and – along with Española, Floreana, Rabida, North Seymour and the white sand-fringed Santiago – is sea lion central.

Besides its snorkelling possibilities, Española is one of the best islands for bird-lovers (followed by Isabela and Genovesa). Here, you can watch blue-footed boobies and waved albatross taking flight off the steep cliffs.

Finally, Bartolomé could offer the chance to snorkel near Galápagos penguins and definitely does boasts the classic viewpoint towards Pinnacle Rock and beyond.