Puerto Chino
San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos Province, Ecuador
Puerto Chino is a small, white sand cove on the southeastern tip of San Cristóbal Island in Ecuador's Galápagos, about 24 kilometers from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Sea lions and green sea turtles are a near constant presence in the water, and a modest beach break here gives it one of the island's few easy surf spots.
It's genuinely one of San Cristóbal's quieter beaches, with real wildlife and a surf break most visitors overlook, though there's no lifeguard, and posted current warnings show up from time to time.
How we score beachesNo guide is required to visit on your own, unlike some Galápagos sites, so a taxi from town plus the short walk in is all it takes.
It's roughly 24 kilometers, about 30 to 45 minutes, from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno by taxi, tour, or rental car via the highlands road to a trailhead near Cerro Verde.
From the trailhead, a well maintained but unpaved trail through dry forest and cactus scrub runs about 15 minutes to the beach, not built for strollers or wheelchairs.
The same garúa (cool, dry, roughly June through December) and warm, wet (January through May) split applies here as elsewhere in the Galápagos. The surf break needs a south swell, which tends to show up more during the garúa months.
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