Pro tips:

• Book flights ahead of time and be flexible on your dates. We found that flights were either $800 or $330 roundtrip. Luckily we were able to build our time in Chile around the dates that were $330 for flights. There is only 1 flight per day in/out of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) as of publishing this and was only serviced through Santiago.
• Don’t forget to fill out the Single Entry Form (FUI) before you get to the airport (we filled it out a week in advance). You will head to a different security line at the Santiago Airport (look for the signs pointing you to the right direction) and you will be asked to show your FUI.
• Update the time zone on your phone manually. Strangely when we landed, the time zone didn’t update it automatically like every other time I have travelled. Sonja & I headed down to the beach for sunset and were very confused with how the sun was still so high, yet was supposedly going to set in 30 min. We felt like we were in the twilight zone until we figured out we were 2hrs behind. We literally spent the whole day thinking it was 2 hours later than our phones were telling us. Thankfully we figure this out on our first evening as we would have been two hours early to our early morning tour the next day…
• We read very conflicting information online about whether there would be ATM’s on the island and whether we would be able to use credit cards. Given this we took plenty of cash (after scrambling to find an ATM that was open in Santiago). Turns out, there were two ATM’s on the island and other than our accommodation, literally everyone took credit card. My recommendation: take some cash, but you will likely be fine using your credit card 🙂
• We also read conflicting info on how good the grocery stores would be as well as how expensive restaurants would be so we actually brought a bunch of easy ingredients/groceries with us like ramen noodles. In hindsight it was probably overkill as the grocery stores were decently stocked with basics and restaurants were plentiful and truly weren’t much more expensive than Santiago.
• Cell service was honestly great! No stress about connectivity in town, although some of the more remote parts of the island were dead zones.

CITY: Easter Island/Rapa Nui

HOW LONG: 5 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

There are tons of hotels, B&B’s and guesthouses around the island. We stayed at Hostal Vieroto, which ended up being exactly what we needed. We loved the location right across from Playa Poko Poko, which offered a man-made swimming hole and grassy area under the palm trees to read your book. It’s about a 3-5 min walk to the main strip of restaurants and the beach where the turtles swim. The property wasn’t fancy by any means, but the beds were comfy and the bathrooms were clean. The kitchen wasn’t great but it did the job (we wish it was cleaner & was better stocked with cooking utensils). The owner also had two cute big dogs roaming about.

WHERE TO EAT:

We honestly ate a ton at the hostal, but I’d recommend the following three spots:

• Mikafe for ice cream in the afternoon. It’s very close to the turtle beach!
• Oheho Surf Cafe – Great reasonably priced restaurant for lunch or dinner. Food was fantastic, especially if you like fish!
• Iti Lafken – we had lunch here and it was a great choice.

WHAT TO DO:

Summary of options in Rapa Nui:

Pro tip: You need to purchase your Rapanui National Park Ticket ahead of time (we bought ours at the visitor center in town using a credit card). Also, most parts of the park require you to visit with a tour guide so a tour is basically the only way to go.

• Must do: Full day tour of all things Moai (We booked ours through Hahave, and would recommend them). We learned all about the history of the Rapa Nui people, everything they know about the Moai, and had a stop at the beach. Pro Tip: the completo (Chilean hot dog) at the beach is worth a try.
• Half day tour – You visit Rano Kau Volcano Crater & learn about the bird man competition. We actually thought this tour wasn’t great. We wish we had just hiked ourselves up to the crater and done it without a tour.
• Sunrise tour – Sonja did this (as we know I am not a morning person) and raved about it. Pro tip: take a look at the weather beforehand as you’d hate to wake up at 5am just to have a cloudy sky.
• Scuba Diving – it was definitely not the best diving I’ve ever done, but it was novel to see a (fake) Moai being integrated into the coral. It was also my first time scuba diving in South America

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, totally blew us away. We both expected to learn about the Moai statues & the mystery surrounding how they were moved around the island. We didn’t expect a tropical paradise full of sunshine, turtles & beaches AND incredible Moai statues. I can’t recommend this place enough. It just was so special to be in the middle of the ocean learning about this beautiful culture.

BUDGET FOR 5 DAYS IN EASTER ISLAND:

Easter Island is definitely not a cheap spot to visit, but it also wasn’t as expensive as I feared.

• Accommodation: $153 ($30.60 per night) – my half of the room since I split it with Sonja
• Food: $78
• Groceries: $20
• Activities: $211.60 (National Park Entrance ($75), two tours, & scuba diving)
• Local Transportation: $0

Total: $462.6 (Daily average: $93)

Transportation to next destination: $328 (RT Flights to/from Santiago)