Easter Island Travel Guide

Easter Island sits 2,300 miles off the Chilean coast, a five and a half hour flight from Santiago on the only commercial route that serves it. Rapa Nui is politically Chilean and culturally Polynesian, and it is worth understanding that the distance is not an inconvenience to be endured on the way to the moai. It is the fact that produced them.

Nearly 900 moai were carved here, and most of them are still lying in and around the Rano Raraku quarry where they were made, in every stage from rough outline to finished and abandoned in transit. Fifteen stand restored in a row at Ahu Tongariki with their backs to the sea, which is the image most people arrive knowing. However, you can enjoy the island beyond the numerous archaeological sites, whether that is the beach at Anakena, the crater at Rano Kau, or simply time in Hanga Roa.

Because there is only one flight route, this is a place to plan early. We would suggest five or six days, which gives you room for the weather to turn and still see everything without rushing.

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