Practical Information for visiting Easter Island

Getting in: one airline flies from Santiago de Chile, about five and a half hours, with a weekly connection to Tahiti in some seasons. That is the only scheduled way in, so flights are expensive and book out well ahead, particularly around Tapati.

Entry rules: visitors must show a return ticket, a booking with a registered host and a completed form, and stays are limited to 30 days under the 2018 residency law.

On the island: a hire car, scooter or quad is the usual choice, and roads are paved on the main circuits and rough elsewhere. There is no petrol station open at all hours — fill up when you can.

Bicycles work for the nearer sites but the wind is a serious factor.

Walking: Hanga Roa is small enough to cover on foot, and there are good coastal walks.

Guides are required at most park sites.

Coverage for mobile networks reaches Hanga Roa and much of the island through the Chilean operators, with 4G in the town and weaker signal at the far corners.

Internet is slow and expensive by mainland standards. The island depends on satellite capacity, and bandwidth is shared across 8,000 people plus visitors, so video calls and large downloads are often not realistic.

Wi-Fi is offered by most guesthouses and cafes, with the same caveat.

Chilean SIM cards work and are cheapest bought on the mainland before flying.

Power is generated locally from diesel and is generally reliable; the supply is Chilean standard.

Plan on being less connected than usual, which most people end up appreciating.

Spanish is the official language and is used in administration, schools and most business.

Rapa Nui is the indigenous Polynesian language, closely related to Tahitian and Marquesan. It came close to being lost and is now taught in schools and used daily by a substantial part of the community; hearing it, and seeing it on signage, is part of the island’s reassertion of itself.

English is spoken by guides, in hotels and by many people working with visitors, and rather less elsewhere.

Useful Rapa Nui: iorana for hello and goodbye, maururu for thank you, pehe koe for how are you, and ka oho for let’s go.

Place names are Rapa Nui and worth learning: ahu is a platform, rano a crater, ana a cave and hanga a bay.

Rapa Nui is one of the safest places anywhere — crime against visitors is rare and the community is small and self-policing. The risks are the sea, the sun and the terrain.

• The ocean is the main danger. There are strong currents, sudden swell and very few safe entry points; Anakena is the only genuinely swimmable beach, and people have drowned at the rocky coasts.
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• Cliffs at Rano Kau and Poike are unfenced with long drops and undercut edges.
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• Sun and wind: there is almost no shade, and the wind masks how much sun you are getting.
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• Loose lava underfoot at most sites; ankle injuries are the commonest problem.
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• Caves: some have low roofs and unstable floors, and a torch is needed.
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• Road hazards: free-roaming horses and cattle, especially at night.

Medical facilities are limited. Hanga Roa has a small hospital that handles routine care and stabilisation, but anything serious means an evacuation flight to the mainland — five and a half hours away, and only on days a flight is available. Comprehensive travel insurance including medical evacuation is genuinely important here, more so than in most destinations.

No vaccinations are required beyond routine cover; there is no malaria, dengue or yellow fever.

Bring your own medication. The pharmacy stocks basics, but anything specific may simply not be available and cannot be obtained quickly.

Sun is the most likely thing to spoil a trip; the combination of high ultraviolet, wind and no shade catches people out daily.

Tap water is safe but mineral-heavy; bottled is widely drunk.

Dental and optical problems are difficult to deal with on the island.

Do not touch, climb on or walk on the moai or the ahu. This is the rule that matters most. They are burial platforms and sacred objects, the tuff is soft, and prosecutions have followed. Keep to the marked paths and the distances the ropes indicate.

Take nothing, not even a pebble. It is illegal and it is also deeply offensive locally.

Drones require authorisation and are prohibited over most sites.

Ask before photographing people, particularly during ceremonies at Tapati.

Use the name Rapa Nui where you can; it is the islanders’ own name for the place and for themselves.

Stay limits: 30 days maximum for visitors, with documents checked on arrival.

Pace: things happen when they happen. Impatience reads badly.

Emergency numbers: 133 for police, 131 for ambulance and 132 for fire, as on the Chilean mainland.

Medical. Hospital Hanga Roa handles routine and urgent care. Serious cases require medical evacuation to Santiago de Chile by air, which depends on flight availability and is very expensive without insurance. Confirm your policy covers evacuation before travelling.

Sea rescue is coordinated by the Chilean navy detachment on the island; conditions can prevent a launch.

At the sites, park rangers are the first point of contact, and there is signal at most of the main locations but not everywhere.

Flight disruption: with one route and a few flights a week, a cancellation can mean days. Build slack into onward plans.

Consular help is in Santiago de Chile; there is no representation on the island.