Easter Island, Chile

Easter Island (Rapa Nui): Getting There, What You’ll Actually Find, and Why Most Visitors Get It Wrong

The “walking” theory of moai transport, that the statues were rocked from side to side using ropes, moving upright on their flat bases, gained significant experimental support in 2012 when archaeologist Carl Lipo and his team demonstrated that a team of 18 people could move a 4.5-tonne replica moai upright down a road using this method. The technique matches oral tradition recorded by Rapa Nui elders, which described the moai as “walking.” The alternative theory, that the statues were moved on wooden sledges and rollers, was the consensus view for decades but required the island to have been heavily forested, and the deforestation that preceded it may have been less extensive than previously thought. The moai transport question is still debated, but the walking hypothesis has changed the terms of that debate.

Easter Island sits 3,700 kilometres west of the Chilean mainland. The nearest inhabited land is Pitcairn Island, about 2,000 kilometres to the west. Flying from Santiago takes roughly 5.5 hours; LATAM operates most of the flights on a limited schedule. The island is approximately 25 kilometres long and 13 kilometres wide, with a population of around 8,000, most concentrated in the single town of Hanga Roa.

Most visitors come for the moai, which are the right reason to come. Understanding the actual context of the moai changes the visit from a photograph collection into something considerably more interesting.

The Moai

Around 900 moai were carved between approximately 1100 and 1680 CE by the Rapa Nui people. They were carved from compressed volcanic ash (tuff) at the Rano Raraku quarry on the eastern side of the island, then transported using a method still debated by archaeologists (the “walking” theory, using ropes to rock the statues from side to side, has gained significant recent support) and erected on stone platforms called ahu around the island’s coast.

The moai face inward, watching over the communities they were built for. Nearly all of the upright coastal moai were toppled during the internal warfare of the 17th and 18th centuries. What stands today is mostly the result of restoration projects beginning in the 1950s and continuing through the work of Santha Faiia and others with Japanese funding in the 1990s.

Three sites are essential:

Rano Raraku, the quarry and statuary, contains approximately 400 moai in various stages of completion, still embedded in the hillside. Some are buried to the neck; the full figures extend deep into the ground. Walking among them at dawn, when the tour groups haven’t yet arrived, is the experience that justifies the journey. The largest unfinished moai here, El Gigante, would have been 21 metres tall if completed.

Ahu Tongariki, the coastal platform with 15 restored moai, was swept 100 metres inland by a 1960 tsunami (triggered by the Chilean earthquake of that year) and restored between 1992 and 1996 with Japanese crane and funding. The silhouette of the 15 figures against the sunrise is the most reproduced Easter Island image. The site is accessible before the official park opening at dawn for those willing to negotiate access with the guard.

Anakena Beach, on the north coast, has two ahu with moai and the island’s only sandy beach. The contrast between the white sand, the turquoise water, and the stone figures is visually striking. The beach is swimmable and less crowded in the afternoon when day visitors have returned to Hanga Roa.

The Living Culture

Rapa Nui culture is not only archaeological. The Tapati Rapa Nui festival, held over two weeks in February, is the island’s primary cultural celebration and involves competitions in traditional crafts, music, dance, canoe racing, and body painting. The festival is Rapa Nui for Rapa Nui, not a performance for tourists, though visitors are welcome to watch. The imagery on the body painting competitors references the rongorongo script, one of only three or four independently invented writing systems in human history, which remains undeciphered.

The issue of cultural sovereignty and land rights has been ongoing for decades. The Chilean government controls most of the island; the Rapa Nui people have sought greater autonomy and control of the national park revenues. This context is worth understanding before visiting.

Getting Around

The island is small enough to drive around in a day. Rental cars, ATVs, and bikes are available in Hanga Roa. A car is most practical for covering all main sites; the roads are paved to the major archaeological areas. The island is best explored with a guide for at least the first day: the context provided by a knowledgeable Rapa Nui guide transforms what you’re looking at.

Practical Notes

The island’s entry fee (payable on arrival, around US$80 as of recent years) funds park maintenance and is charged separately from your airfare. The fee is paid in cash or by card at the airport. Accommodation ranges from the high-end Explora Rapa Nui (all-inclusive, expensive, very good) to family guesthouses in Hanga Roa at much lower prices. Book in advance for the January-February peak and for the Tapati festival weeks.

The island’s single main street in Hanga Roa has a handful of restaurants serving local fish, tuna ceviche, and po’e (banana pudding). The seafood is fresh; everything else is expensive relative to mainland prices because of shipping costs.