If you're booking a Galápagos cruise through Dana Tours, your stay with us in Mindo may cost less than our published prices — in some cases nothing at all. This page explains how that works, because it's not a coupon and it's not automatic, and we'd rather set expectations correctly than have you arrive disappointed.
How it works
When you book a Galápagos cruise with Dana Tours, we can put together a personalized offer for your Mindo stay. What we're able to include depends on three things:
- The cruise you've booked — which boat, which class
- The days — how long the cruise is, and how your Mindo stay fits around it
- The party size — how many people are travelling
Depending on how those combine, the offer can include complimentary nights at the lodge, complimentary meals, transfers, or the full all-inclusive program at no cost. Short cruises with two travellers will usually get less than a longer cruise with a bigger group. We won't pretend otherwise.
What we won't do is quote a fixed rule on a website, because the offers are genuinely individual and the rules change. Anyone who promises you "X nights free with any cruise" is simplifying something we prefer to keep accurate.
What a typical combination looks like
The most common shape is a Mindo extension before or after the cruise — the cloud forest before the islands, or as a decompression after the flight back to the mainland. The length and content of your Mindo stay come from our own programs:
- Mindo 2 days, 1 night — the short version
- Mindo 3 days, 2 nights — the balanced one
- Mindo 4 days, 3 nights — the deep version
- Or a customized program built around your dates
Where the complimentary part lands — nights, meals, transfers, or the whole thing — is what we work out when you ask.
How to find out what you qualify for
Ask us. That's genuinely the whole process: send an enquiry with the cruise you're considering (or the one you've booked), your dates, and how many of you there are. We come back with the concrete offer for your case — what's included, what isn't, and what the remainder costs.
No spreadsheet on this page, no eligibility calculator, because we'd have to maintain it and you'd have to trust it. A direct answer from the people running the lodge is more accurate than either.
Why we do this
Dana Tours runs Galápagos cruises and runs Las Terrazas de Dana in Mindo. When you book both with us, the whole trip has one operator, one point of contact, and one set of logistics — which is why we can afford to give some of the Mindo side away. It's not charity; it's what makes a single-operator trip work.
It also means the connection between the two halves is handled. See our transfer logistics between Galápagos and Mindo for how the days actually connect.
Questions people ask
Do I have to book the cruise first? No — tell us which cruise you're considering and we'll tell you what the Mindo side looks like before you commit to either.
Does this apply to cruises booked with other operators? No. The offer is tied to booking the cruise through Dana Tours.
Is the full all-inclusive program ever complimentary? It can be, for some combinations of cruise length and party size. It's also common for part to be complimentary and the rest at a reduced rate. Ask with your specific case and we'll give you a specific answer.
We're two people on a short cruise — is anything complimentary? Possibly, possibly not. We won't guess on a web page; the enquiry is free and the answer is concrete.
Facts checked: September 2026