Easter Island first popped up on my radar as a travel destination we might be interested in a little over a year ago, when I read about Ben's adventures at the Explora Hotel Rapa Nui. As I scrolled through his posts, curled up in a metal chair at a tiny airport in eastern Malaysia on…
Continue reading: Visiting Easter Island: Five Things To Do When You’re Done Seeing Statues
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I'm traveling solo to Easter Island before I hit up Patagonia, so reading your trip reports is giving me a better understanding of what to do. Thank you!
I do love Easter Island but renting a car is not recommend unless you are ok to risk driving without any insurance. There are no organized rental companies on the island just informal rentals that do not include any real insurance coverage. And no a credit card will not bail you out in such situations.
The remoteness itself is a great part of the charm, and all the ideas mentioned are good ones. After all how many statues of Kathy Griffin can you look at .
I was very happy that I hired a local guide on Easter island. It was only a bit more expensive than renting a car. We visited a bunch of cool places where it seemed like we were just driving through a field where there was no road. I never would have found them on my own.
Wow, what a great and insightful post. Easter island is on my bucket list and I had wondered what else I can do. Those short hikes would be perfect for someone like me. Thanks for sharing!
@CF Frost
To get into a car accident on Easter Island, you would have to be actively trying to do so.
If you are capable of driving around a giant empty parking lot without hitting anything, you can drive around IPC
Three activities I enjoyed:
1. Cliff/rock climbing free-hand up around Innuendo Spire to reach the top for the most sublime view.
2. Take part in a traditional Polynesian dance and
3. Get a Polynesian tattoo from Andres ‘Panda’ Pakariti
@ CF Frost
The biggest driving risks are not seeing a horse standing in the middle of the road (but if you can’t see a horse, you probably shouldn’t be driving), or jarring your back on a pothole. There are perfectly professional car hire companies there.
The car in the photo, incidentally, is a Suzuki Jimny - as is almost every car available to hire (about half of all the cars on the island). They’re tiny. But that’s because there’s no proper harbour, so cars have to be lowered from a ship moored off the island onto a smaller boat, and then ferried onto the island. A tiny Jimny is the biggest I’d feel comfortable ferrying on the modest launches.
Still no mention if the museum, eh? Did you not go?
Very nice report.. would just like to clarify that the tiny landing strip is actually 10900 feet (almost as long as JFK's longest one), since it was an emergency landing spot for the space shuttle prgram 🙂
I've been to "the island" more times than I can count and I think that the nicest thing of going there is being able to get in the island time.. and that requires longer stays of course. The most magical things for me (besides the moai and the history of the island) are the sunsets, the fresh food, the overall mood, the more unknown corners only reachable by bike or horseback riding and the pure skies.
Glad you enjoyed your trip!
@The nice Paul. I’ve spent lots of time there. The risk of an accident on Easter Island is indeed low. The fact remains that none of the rental companies offer insurance for physical damage or liability. Some are ok with that arrangement so it’s good to be aware.
Very well written piece, and I would say you hit every nail on the head bar one. The lava tube cave just a mile North of Hanga Roa was my favourite experience of the island not including the Maoi.
Easter Island is amazing and that feeling of being so remote was quite extraordinary. I can certainly recommend a trip there.
One note though: the landing strip is anything but tiny. At 3.3km long, it’s not tiny. Hehe! 😉 In fact, the runway was built by NASA in the 1980’s as an abort site for Space Shuttle missions. It was never used for that purpose but it sure helped to bring more visitors to the island.
Fantastic trip and we were fortunate enough to have stayed at the very special Explore which features mostly excellent native Rape Uni guides.
My wife and I visited there in 2014.
The night sky and southern stars are magical
Our guide told us he thinks less than 50,000 visitors have ever been there
I rented a car somewhat hesitantly. But the guy who set up the rental said I only needed one thing as a guide. There is an app called Imagina Isla de Pascua. It lists everything you can think of. Easiest app I have ever used. I downloaded for iPhone, cost was zero. It has all info in English, Spanish, and French. There are guides on how to get to some hidden gems that don’t have great signage (Ovahe Beach). It was a wonderful help. BTW, there are lovely tropic birds at the top of the volcano - graceful with their tails streaming behind them.
So funny!
I rented that exact car on my trip two years ago; it had 113,000 km on it at the time.
Loved the island.