Iguana Crossing Boutique Hotel

Our stay was absolutely wonderful!!! The service was extraordinary, attentive and incredibly friendly. The room was large and comfortable with a beautiful balcony overlooking the ocean beach, which was just steps away from the hotel. We saw many marine iguanas, birds and other sea creatures. Our dinners were delicious and the breakfast buffet had a good variety. After a busy day touring, relaxing around the beautiful pool with a tasty drink was a lovely way to end the day.

We stayed at Iguana Crossing Boutique Hotel for 5 days as the second half of our Galapagos expedition. Situated at the end of the town’s main sandy street it has a feeling of seclusion overlooking the beach and the beautiful coastline extended further away. It’s about 30 metres from the hotel door to the beach - almost literally in your doorstep, with the sound of the waves lulling you to sleep at night. We stayed in the Master Suite on the first floor and it was massive with a double shower cubicle and two wash basins in the bathroom. A short corridor leads to the bedroom where there’s a big double bed and two day beds plus a large balcony with more chairs that overlooks the beach and coastline - absolutely stunning. The shower is on a timer (press a button for ~10 seconds supply) and it took a few goes to work it out but then it was fine - we soon mastered the art of holding the button with one hand and washing with the other although I think you’re supposed to ‘wet, pause to lather, soak’ ! The mirrors in the bathroom are in intriguing places and one of you needs to pop out of bed to turn the main lights off at night - but this soon became a fun habit. The room is lovely with two powerful air conditioning units if you want to cool off. The door to the balcony needed a special touch to shut but we soon got the hang of that too - and also positioned one of the many towels provided to catch the condensation that ran off the door windows at night. The Master Suite really felt very special and if you want space - it’s like your own apartment - then it’s worth the extra cost. The staff in the hotel were superb - helping wherever they could without being overbearing or smarmy. The breakfast is fairly simple and unchanging but we enjoyed it and particularly that the chef cooked us sautéed vegetables with fried plantain for breakfast as we’re vegan and didn’t want the usual eggs. There’s no kettle in the bedroom but there is coffee and hot water for tea on hand at no charge. Dinner at the hotel was very good with the chef cooking us a special Asian style rice with a chilli kick, proceeded by a delicious beetroot hummus and tortilla chips. Very tasty. Variety of food options for vegans isn’t that big but there are a range of restaurants in town which only 5 minutes walk away or there’s Coco’s beach shack right next to the hotel that does tasty empanadas, fried rice and vegetarian platters. We didn’t use the swimming pool but others did and the area around it with day beds looked good. There’s a jacuzzi up on the roof but we didn’t get to that either - we spent most days out on a trip of which there are many available. Snorkelling at Cape Rosa Tunnels was a highlight. On Santa Cruz we stayed at Finch Bay and felt luxuriously pampered in a hotel where you felt any slight ware and tare would be instantly fixed. Iguana Crossing feels more like an isolated island hotel where things happen (eg an occasional power cut or water leak after heavy rain) but that a

Iguana Crossing looks beautiful and clean from outside. Once you step into the lobby it’s very quiet, no vibe. Some soft background music would be nice! The services and staffs are good, except the owner, never smile! The breakfast selection is basic. The room (Jr. Suite) furnitures and deco are standard basic. The lighting is a bit dark for night time. I like bright room. Upon check in, the owner told us the property is trying to conserve water, so the shower stop every 3-5 seconds, we need to keep pushing the button. This is very annoying and difficult! Because you only have 1 hand to wash yourself, and your other hand needs to keep pushing the button. A 10 minute shower becomes 20-25 minutes long. It doesn’t save any water and perhaps uses more water. Also it takes a while for hot water to come, it actually wastes water. This is why I gave the property 2 stars. Overall the property is far from luxury. This is a basic lodge with nice exterior and excellent beautiful beach view.