10 causes to place Easter Island in your South American itinerary

Some of the distant spots on Earth, Easter Island is a tiny speck of land possessing extra mystical pull than nearly every other spot on the planet. Positioned in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, but part of Chile, this Polynesian island is a treasure trove of cultural intrigue, beautiful landscapes, and historic uniqueness.

Recognized domestically as “Rapa Nui,” the island emanates a magnetic, mysterious and otherworldly vibe, all of which make Easter Island one of many all-time highlights of South America. Whether or not you’re a historical past fanatic, an out of doors adventurer, a nature lover, or a household searching for a unprecedented getaway, the island checks all of the packing containers.

Right here, we discover what we take into account a number of the most fascinating and entertaining points of interest and actions that make this UNESCO-declared World Heritage Website a must-visit vacation spot.

(As a little bit of trivia, this volcanic island was named by a Dutch navigator who “found” it on the eve of Easter in 1722. Nonetheless, the individuals of the island proceed to name their island “Rapa Nui.”) 

1. Conventional Polynesian Performances

By attending a conventional Rapa Nui efficiency, you’ll be immersed within the expressive and vibrant Easter Island tradition. At one in every of these reveals, your full consideration can be captured by the dwell music, dance strikes and tales that replicate the spirit of the island’s Polynesia previous, which right now’s Rapa Nui neighborhood carries on. The complicated drumming, intricate costume and evocative choreography deliver to life the island’s myths and tales handed down from technology to technology.

The unique dances of Rapa Nui are often used to inform a narrative, with amazingly energetic dancers usually sporting the normal costume of flowing skirts manufactured from feathers or grasses. The participating music of Rapa Nui goes together with Easter Island’s conventional dances. The riveting music and charming dance mix to create an distinctive expertise that you simply gained’t quickly neglect. 

2. An opportunity to marvel on the moai

Not solely is that this volcanic island scenic in its personal proper, however witnessing its legendary “moai” statues up shut stirs a way of awe, thriller and marvel.

Undeniably Easter Island’s greatest draw, these imposing statues have been carved from enormous rocks someplace between 1200 and 1650 A.D. Utilizing a easy stone chisel known as a “toki,” the arms of little-known historical Polynesians crafted these iconic figures. The statues vary in top, with some towering at over 30 ft. Every moai is believed to characterize deceased ancestors and holds important cultural and historic worth. Many theories have emerged as to the explanations for his or her numerous areas, how they have been bodily transported or certainly carved in any respect.

Every of those commanding figures is alleged to characterize the spirit of particular person tribespeople, which is why each moai has totally different traits from the subsequent. Right now, it’s estimated that over 900 of those statues are strewn throughout the island, all barely totally different and few being totally understood. For wide-eyed guests, one of the best plan of action is just to see them for yourselves, and with so lots of them peppering the island, you don’t must go far to seek out one.

To totally recognize the moai statues, take into account hiring a neighborhood information who can present in-depth historic and cultural insights. Visiting at dawn or sundown affords a magical and serene environment, good for contemplation. 

3. The subline comforts of luxurious Rapa Nui lodging

Any one of many handful of high-end inns on Easter Island will can help you come into direct contact with the historical past, traditions and legends of this mysterious Polynesian paradise. On the identical time, although, you’ll be able to bask in touches of luxurious infused in each component of your elegant lodging.

Throughout your keep, take pleasure in every thing from complimentary minibars to deep-soaking tubs, fashionable coloration schemes and personal terraces.

In that guides and numerous excursions are offered by top-notch Easter Island inns, as quickly as you’ve had an opportunity to unpack and settle into your room, your skilled attendant will go over your detailed island itinerary that you simply’ve chosen.
These excursions embody a whole vary of actions, from diving, trekking, cultural contact, boat rides, and fishing, to visits to emblematic island websites, horseback driving, city strolling excursions, scuba diving, crusing and extra. All of that is an invite to resume your soul, be a protagonist, and on the identical time be an lively spectator of an historical tradition.

On the finish of any full day of exploring, you’ll be able to select to spend a lazy afternoon at your eco-outdoor pool or your lodge’s pleasant spa. At your spa, massages and coverings are supplied with pure substances from the island that can assist you renew your physique and spirit after an extended day of exercise.

Your keep could be on the Hangaroa Eco Village & Spa, one of many main inns on Easter Island. Hangaroa goals to be a sustainable lodge, whereas the structure of its buildings pays homage to a longstanding tradition that defines this magical island. For instance, its grass-roofed models are erected with larch-wood pillars and stone partitions that mimic the traditional huts that have been as soon as scattered everywhere in the island and that the Rapa Nui individuals known as residence 

4. Delectable Rapa Nui delicacies

For those who journey hundreds of miles to get right here and need to take within the full expertise, make sure you deal with your palate. You possibly can actually style Easter Island’s distinctive tradition by savoring its distinctive delicacies, studying extra in regards to the native traditions and recent produce.

Because it’s an island, it’s logical that the delicacies of Easter Island is predicated on fish and different seafood. Fishing has been one of many principal and conventional actions of Rapa Nui. Easter Island’s staple substances, subsequently, embody seafood comparable to tuna, mahi mahi, lobster, and rape rape (a small lobster), in addition to agricultural produce like candy potato, hen, tarots and yam.

For cultural explorers, foodies, and people looking for an immersive sensory expertise, Easter Island represents an opportunity to relish genuine Polynesian fare. Exploring the culinary choices of the island is a necessary a part of experiencing its wealthy Polynesian tradition and traditions.

For an much more genuine island expertise, we encourage vacationers to enterprise outdoors their inns and past the principle vacationer areas to find native eateries and family-operated eating places that supply real and unpretentious Polynesian dishes. There, you’ll be able to work together with the cooks, proprietors and even native patrons to realize insights into the substances and cooking strategies utilized in conventional Rapa Nui delicacies. 

5. Astounding Rapa Nui stargazing

The distant location of Rapa Nui makes it some of the phenomenal locations to admire the night time sky. When the solar units the celebs come out in all their glory!

For those who dwell in a metropolis and don’t have the prospect to get out into nature all that always, you’ll be completely blown away by the readability and clearness of the night time sky on Easter Island!

The most effective half is you don’t even have to go away your lodge to see the Milky Method. Even for those who occur to be on the island throughout a brand new moon, the lights from the city of Hanga Roa have solely a small impact on the sky, which means you’ll be able to see every thing from proper there. 

6. Eye-opening trekking excursions on this magnetic island

Mountain climbing — strolling — trekking… regardless of the time period used, it’s a technique — if not one of the best — to find Easter Island. The island is a paradise for mountaineering lovers! For those who’re enthusiastic about nature, tradition and journey, you’ve come to the correct place. Off the crushed path, every thing contributes to improbable walks: the local weather, the landscapes, the historical past and the geography. Guided walks provide you with entry to areas of the island and its archaeological stays that may’t be seen apart from on foot.

Think about strolling alongside historical paths, surrounded by the monumental moai statues which have made Rapa Nui internationally well-known. Strolling excursions can help you get nearer to those enigmatic witnesses of the previous and uncover their fascinating historical past. In reality, merely taking a strolling tour of Easter Island is without doubt one of the biggest, most fulfilling and memorable experiences whereas there. 

7. Unwinding on Anakena Seaside

Venturing throughout the tiny island, you’re prone to end up amazed by the allure of paradisiacal Anakena Seaside, a picturesque and welcoming oasis nestled alongside the northern coast of Easter Island.

Together with the seaside’s white sands, heat turquoise waters, and exquisite palm timber are moai statues are set on two ceremonial platforms. This can be a good place the place archaeology, panorama and recreation all meet, making it a perfect retreat for rest and rejuvenation. Along with its pure magnificence, Anakena Seaside holds historic significance because the touchdown website of the island’s legendary founder, Hotu Matu’a.

Nature fanatics, sun-seekers, and households searching for a tranquil and family-friendly seaside expertise will discover Anakena a pleasant tropical escape. The mild waves and shallow waters are appropriate for kids and fewer skilled swimmers. 

8. Rapa Nui’s volcanic wonders

The triangular form of Rapa Nui is the results of three principal volcanoes that merged to kind the current island, with every volcanic website now offering compelling experiences for adventurous vacationers.

The primary of those websites is the expansive Rano Kau volcanic crater, the place a hike to the highest rewards adventurers with a way of accomplishment and unparalleled vistas. Climbing some 300 ft (100 m) above sea stage, you’ll see nearly a mile throughout the crater and get an important panoramic view of the island as an entire.

Peering down 200 meters beneath Rano Kau’s ridge, you’ll additionally see a crater lake almost coated in a bathroom of floating totora reeds. Resembling an enormous witch’s cauldron, Rano Kau is a wild greenhouse of endemic biodiversity.

However there’s much more right here. On a skinny strip of land between the crater and a sheer cliffside that drops all the way down to the cobalt-blue ocean beneath, teeters the ceremonial village of Orongo. Right here, you’ll uncover ingenious historical constructing strategies which have stood the take a look at of time, in addition to some of the full units of petroglyphs within the area. These petroglyphs, also called kohau rongo-rongo, characteristic symbolic motifs, anthropomorphic figures, and geometric patterns, every holding important which means and reflecting the ancestral beliefs of the Rapa Nui individuals.

Wandering between and contained in the buildings is a good Easter Island expertise and one thing to not be missed.

A second volcanic website that vacationers can go to is the Rano Raraku volcanic crater, which was the digital “birthplace” of the moai, because it was a quarry of statues. Right here, some 400 good-looking heads and torsos relaxation in numerous levels of carving, nonetheless ready to be transported throughout the island to their numerous ahu (the flat mounds or stone pedestals upon which the moai stand). Whereas the heaviest erected moai statue weighs 86 tons, one of many quarry’s unfinished sculptures would, if accomplished, weigh between 145–165 tons and stand an astounding 69 ft (21 m) tall.

The third volcanic website, the Poike Volcano, is in a extra remoted location with harder entry, which makes it a much less visited spot. Nevertheless, this mysterious volcanic space holds secret corners and historical legends that invite vacationers to find and be taught extra in regards to the island’s previous.

Round Poike are three archeological websites together with the “Cave of the Virgins,” inside which one can view intricate rock carvings that supply a charming glimpse into the island’s Indigenous artwork and cultural heritage.  

9. Best scuba diving situations and experiences

Whereas visiting the island, you’ll be able to select to go on a scuba diving tour, which is a magical Rapa Nui expertise. Few locations on the earth have such extraordinary diving situations as these of the island, with waters that vary in temperature between 64˚F and 78˚F levels, the chance to study marine species that can’t be discovered wherever else, and visibility as much as 196 ft deep. The unbelievable visibility below the ocean that bathes the island’s coasts permits you to benefit from the corals and swim with sea turtles.

(As a bit extra trivia, the underwater moai off Easter Island isn’t an authentic one. It was dropped there for a film titled “Rapa Nui,” produced in 1994 by Kevin Costner however by no means launched) 

10. Scenic horseback driving adventures

Exploring Easter Island on horseback presents a novel and immersive method to expertise the island’s landscapes, shoreline, and lesser-known points of interest. Driving fanatics can traverse the island’s community of meandering paths and coastal routes, encountering breathtaking vistas, hidden coves, and verdant environment alongside the way in which.

For skilled riders, novices or anybody in between, Easter Island equestrian excursions supply the last word alternative to discover the magnificent landscapes and historical websites of the island.

Saddle up and put together for a security briefing and an tools test earlier than heading within the course of well-preserved moai statue websites, historical still-intact indigenous villages, or petrified lava caves shaped many millennia in the past and as soon as believed to be a hiding place for fleeing locals throughout instances of battle.

With no such troubles on Twenty first-century Easter Island, there’s nothing left however to easily demount and revel in each the view and sense of isolation earlier than driving again to your restful lodging. 

For those who actually need to get away…

For these desirous to get away from all of it, Easter Island clearly matches the invoice. Thought-about probably the most distant and remoted inhabited island on the earth, Easter Island is a few 2,300 miles from mainland Chile and over 1,000 miles from the closest inhabited island.

And as soon as there, you’ll uncover a heady vacation spot of cultural intrigue, folklore, fairytale, and outside actions, plus a completely distinctive historical previous.

So, if contemplating a South American getaway, make sure you maintain Easter Island in thoughts as one of many area’s prime luxurious trip spots.

Alfonso Tandazo

Alfonso Tandazo is President and CEO at Surtrek Tour Operator. Surtrek Tour Operator is a well-established agency, specializing in custom-designed luxurious excursions in Ecuador, the Galapagos and all through the remainder of South America. If you need to be a visitor blogger on A Luxurious Journey Weblog with the intention to increase your profile, please contact us.