Easter island how many days

Another day could be spent going to Orongo on the crater and then maybe doing the loop to the North of town Ahu Akavi, caves. Another day could be spent visiting locations you didn't see earlier, with some time at Anakena beach. And maybe some time can be spent just visiting the sites near town or just shopping.

As for night, I did go to 3 of the shows. The Kari Kari show is a good choice. The Re Raia dinner and show is also nice. You view the food being brought out of the pit, have a little entertainment, then have a fantastic buffet meal, and end it with a show. This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one. We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.

Skip to main content. Sign in to get trip updates and message other travelers. How long to stay in Easter Island? Browse all Easter Island topics ». Watch this Topic. Browse forums All Browse by destination. Here are a few more pictures of Rapa Nui to show you just how wonderful this island is!

The flight from Santiago to Easter Island is about 5 hr 45 mins and from Tahiti 5 hr 20 mins. Getting Around: The best way to see the island is to rent a vehicle. This allows you the freedom to go where you want and the flexibility to spend as much time as you want. We recommend renting a Jeep or truck since the roads are ridden with big potholes. Please note that there is no damage insurance available on the island, so take care when driving.

We used Banco Estado and had no issues using our Canadian bankcard. Language: The official language is Spanish because Chile owns the island but Rapa Nui is also spoken. English is not widely spoken. The language barrier was a big challenge and we relied heavily on our Google Translate app. Food Costs: Food in Easter Island is very expensive because most of it has to be flown in.

We decided to buy groceries and cook at our cabana most nights in an attempt to save money. Groceries were still quite pricey and the selection in the mini-markets was very limited. We ate a lot of pasta and tomato sauce! Drinking Water: The tap water is purified at the treatment plant so should be safe to drink, but we decided to stick to bottled water.

I did use the local water for brushing my teeth though and had no stomach troubles. Business Hours: Most businesses in Easter Island open late, at or am. I read they close for lunch between and pm and then re-open until pm, but we were never in town during the afternoon to see for ourselves.

Keep in mind it will be closed for lunch from pm. Travel Insurance: Make sure you have comprehensive travel insurance that includes air ambulance service if you are seriously injured. The cost of being airlifted off the island would be astronomical! It was a great resource for us as independent travellers, providing background information and practical tips for visiting each of the individual archaeological sites in Easter Island.

If you prefer not to explore on your own, here is a trusted site where you can book tours of Easter Island. For your convenience, here is a list of hotels in Easter Island. Please consider booking your Easter Island accommodations through the included link. It costs nothing extra and helps support this website. Thank you! We were looking for a rustic, natural experience during our time in Easter Island so we decided to stay at Cabanas Morerava, located in a rural area near the edge of Hanga Roa.

This property has four eco-friendly cottages that are built with sustainable materials and use solar power to heat the water. We loved the fact there was a fully equipped kitchen in our cabin so that we could cook supper rather than eat out. There was a TV no English channels and free Wi-Fi, but that required a bit of patience to upload photos to social media the WiFi is not great anywhere on the island.

We spent our evenings relaxing in the hammock out back or sitting on the porch with the three puppies that lived there.

These little cuties were more than happy to play with us each and every time we returned to our cabin. The hospitality and assistance we received at Cabanas Morerava was top-notch, despite the language barrier. We were greeted at the airport with flower leis, given a tour of town and surprised with a nice bottle of Chilean wine on my birthday!

The manager sat down with us and did her best, using pictures and gestures, to explain some of the sites on the map. She gave us her phone number so that we could text if we had any questions about the cabin. We did have to contact her about the hot water system, as it was a bit complicated to use.

The hot water pressure was low and the heat was variable day to day. Since the cabins are eco-friendly, there are no furnaces. Instead each cottage has a small portable heater that plugs into the wall and extra blankets. Although it can get cold at night, we were always warm in bed because the duvet was amazing and made for a very comfortable sleep.

Overall, we had a pleasant stay at Cabanas Morerava during our 4 days in Easter Island. We enjoyed feeling like part of the island culture and appreciated that the property respects and protects the delicate local environment. The beautiful location close to nature, wonderful hospitality, and friendly dogs made Cabanas Morerava feel like a home away from home! A portion of our stay was hosted by Cabanas Morerava. As always, I speak only the truth and hosts have no editorial influence on articles.

Facebook Instagram Twitter Pinterest. Join the Facebook Group. We describe our travel style as "laid back luxe" and enjoy a mix of outdoor adventures and historic sites. Support Travel? Others lie half-finished and partially submerged underground. Though all different, the moai statues of Rapa Nui reveal a rich civilization of master craftsmen and engineers. We spent four and a half days in Rapa Nui and rented a car for two of them. On our first evening of our Easter Island itinerary, we meandered around the town of Hanga Roa and headed to Ahu Tahei for sunset.

The guesthouse—offering basic, yet clean private and shared accommodation—allowed us to enjoy one of the most expensive places on Earth at a reasonable price.

After checking into our guesthouse and reserving a rental car for the final two days of our visit, we set out to explore Hanga Roa. Hanga Roa itself has few tourist attractions, but its main church is an interesting sight. Blending Christian motifs with Polynesian elements, this unique place of worship makes for a brief, yet interesting, visit.

The moai statues of Ahu Tahai are a short walk from downtown Hanga Roa. Restored in , they sit on a grassy field that serves as an open air museum of Rapa Nui culture. A few fully restored and painted moai near Ahu Tahai give an impression of what the sculptures must have looked like centuries ago.

Perched precariously between the lip of the Rano Kao Volcano and a cliff that plunges into the cobalt ocean, the Orongo Ceremonial Village boasts a dramatic setting. Orongo, one of the most interesting and spectacular archaeological sites on Easter Island, can be easily reached on foot from Hanga Roa. The pleasant walk to the summit of the crater takes roughly two hours each way. From town, we followed the shoreline south, past the Hanga Piko Harbor and the airport.

Once past the airport, we cut inland and followed a well-groomed path up to the summit of the Rano Kao Volcano. The fee, payable at the airport upon arrival, is valid for six days. The Orongo Ceremonial Village consists of circular houses that have walls of horizontally overlapping stone slabs. The houses have grass-covered roofs and appear partly subterranean. Near the houses, a cluster of boulders contain petroglyphs with depictions of the birdman.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Orongo was the focus of an islandwide birdman cult. The birdman competitions took place on the fall equinox every September and consisted of competitors climbing meters down a cliff wall, swimming out to the islet of Motu Nui and retrieving a sooty tern egg. The first competitor to retrieve the egg and return it to the village intact, was declared birdman for the year.

I'll tell you right now that if my one opportunity to visit Ahu Tongariki, the gorgeous quarry, or the volcanic crater was in the rain, I would be very, very angry.

So lets say you want to have enough time on Easter Island to see it all without the rain. Taking the probability of rain being about once every other day, you'll want to multiply your visit duration by two. So that brings us to four nights which will give you three full days and a half day on the day you get there. Since driving in Easter Island is tricky to plan as most rental companies charge a daily rate as a calendar day and not a hour period, renting a car on your first day may not make a lot of sense.

Those who are active and ready to go can easily walk around Hanga Roa, do some shopping, possibly visit the local museum, and see the sunset on the first day pending the rain. This option will give you three full days where you can rent a car and hope that the rain will behave itself during that time. If the odds are with you, you may have only one day lost to rain. You will likely have enough time to drive around the entire island a few times you'll want to, trust me , ample time at your favorite spots, the ability to hike to the highest point on the island, and the opportunity to go see sunrise at Ahu Tongariki twice.

If we had to pick out one of our favorite moments on the island, it would be the minutes we had completely alone at Ahu Tongariki because we waited for the tour groups to pass us by. Words cannot describe how amazing it is to be next to the moai there, on a sunny day, completely and utterly alone. You'll want that opportunity too. There are several situations which would justify having more nights on Easter Island.

Planning for a minimum of one additional night past the basic requirement is only logical considering the amount of money and energy you are spending to reach this unique destination. We ended up spending six nights on Easter Island and do not regret having that extra time even though we only rented a car for three days.

We spent a lot of time shopping, hiked around the coast, and explored other options outside Hanga Roa the two days we were without a vehicle. The weather cooperated with us pretty well, so we also had some leisurely downtime during the heat of the day. Would I have liked to have the car or taken a guided tour during those extra days?