Easter Island Transportation

  LAN Flight
by pure1942
 
  • LAN Flight
      LAN Flight
    by pure1942
  •   Transportation
    by Lunaina
  •   Transportation
    by Lunaina
  •   Transportation
    by Lunaina
  • Arrival by plane is without pain.
      Arrival by plane is without pain.
    by melosh
 
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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

A possible flight route from Europe

by balint01

As an airline employee I had the privilige that I could choose my itinerary and flights freely as I only paid for the distance travelled. So on my way to Easter Island I left Budapest, Hungary with a Malév B737-700 NG to Madrid, from where I took an Iberia A340-300 directly to Santiago de Chile, and from there it took another 5 and half hours with a LAN Chile B767 to Mataveri Airport on Easter Island. (red on the picture)On the way back I took another route: Easter Island to Santiago with LAN again, from there to Paris (through Buenos Aires - technical stop) with Air France B777, and from Paris back to Budapest with an Air France Airbus A319-200. (blue on the picture)You can replace Budapest with any other European city as there are connections to both Paris and Madrid from all the major cities on the Old Continent.

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Mataveri International Airport

by balint01

Mataveri is THE real PORT of Easter Island. Here I realized, why "airport" has the word "port" in it. This facility is basically the only connection to the world, and every plane is awaited like the ships were awaited in previous centuries: half of the town is there!! It is really an experience to arrive there, but also to go there when you are not traveling only to see the life surrounding the arrival of a plane.The Airstrip is the biggest in the Pacific Ocean, as it is a back-up landing strip for the Space Shuttle! But the airport itself is probably one of the smallest international airport buildings in the world, really cute and unique!They take away the checked-in luggage by hands from the check-in desks! :)At the Arrival area you can find kiosks of basically all the accomodations on the island!

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LAN is the way to go

by Assenczo

Considering Easter Island is one of the most remote corners on Earth, it might look as if the mere logistics of arriving there are quite the task. Maybe it was the case some 50 years ago but not anymore thanks to… LAN. This Chilean company is the only one communicating with the mainland. The route seems to be lucrative – crowds of tourists and locals disembark the flying machine every other day. My feelings about LAN are mixed. I had trouble buying a ticket expecting a better deal through their well-advertised South America Pass. Unfortunately, there was no saving at all due to the verbal meanderings of the marketing team. Eventually, on my way back I was upgraded to business class, for unknown reasons and the experience was memorable. Looking back at the pluses and minuses, I have to admit that they have won me over.

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Rent a scooter

by vtveen

Off course you are coming to Easter Island to explore the island and to visit the (main) sights of interest. Getting around on this rather small island is not difficult, although there is no public transportation at all. You need a guided tour, a taxi or a rental car/motor or scooter.I would recommend to rent a scooter. It is not expensive as renting a car or motorcycle and especially when the weather is fine (as we had during our whole visit) it is great fun to drive through the impressive scenery of Rapa Nui, enjoying the moai, the landscape, the sun and the wind. Besides it is very easy to drive, because the scooters don't have a gear. Everybody is able to drive around and you don't need a license. Some roads in the inland are very bumpy and dusty, so be careful and don't wear your best clothes.You can rent your scooter for the day, but also for a couple of hours. It is ideal for a...

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Rent a 4-Wheel Drive

by easyoar

The only way to get around Easter Island properly is by 4 Wheel-drive. It isn't impossible to see some of the main sights by car, but really you are going to need a 4 wheel-drive to see everything you want to see. These are easy to rent, but on Easter Island, there is no insurance, so it is a bit daunting when you rent one and feel as if you are signing your life away. The good news is that as long as you are sensible, there is not much to go wrong!

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Hitch-hiking at its best

by Claus_Qvist

Since virtually everybody live in Hanga Roa, there is close to no public transportation at Rapa Nui. No trains, no buses, no ferries.Thus, getting around can be done in a number of "alternative" ways. One of the better ones is to rent a horse, but even hitch-hiking is quite useful.Despite the low number of cars and no obvious reason for them to be moving at all, it's very easy to get a lift, and don't be surprised if the ride ends up in an invitation to join the family for the evening.

Tourist Fees

by CulturalCompetence

Tourists from the USA entering Chile are required to pay $100 fee. This MUST be paid in US cash (no charge cards!). Even if you are only "passing through" the mainland airport, you must pay this fee in order to enter the airport. We saw a backpacker nearly breaking into tears as she gave up her last bit of currency to pay the fee. She was stuck with credit cards for the remainder of her trip. NOTE: Arnold didn't have to pay the fee because the European Union has a different pact with the Chilean government than the USA does (Arnold has Dutch citizenship).

Lan Chile flights

by CulturalCompetence

Lan Chile flies to Easter Island a few times a week via Santiago (Chile) and Papeete (Tahiti, French Polynesia). We flew from Miami to Easter Island, stayed a few days in Easter Island, then flew to Tahiti. We then returned to Easter Island for a few more days and flew back to Orlando (via Santiago and Miami). It was a nice "perk" to add on the Tahiti trip (see our Moorea posts!)...and we can now say that we've been to Easter Island twice (ha ha ha)! Lan Chile was a comfortable flight for us (keep in mind that Arnold is 6'3"!). Be sure to grab some blankets and pillows before take-off. Each passenger seat had a television screen and you can choose which movies you would like to see or games you would like to play. I was addicted to Tetris for a large portion of each flight!

Reservations when renting a jeep

by mayasmin

Make reservations at least the day before you plan to rent a car. We have to go to different car rental offices after we changed our mind with regards to renting a 4x4 jeep instead of a bicycle. Most of the agencies already rented out their jeeps for the day, and they called up different rental agencies that they know. In the end, we got stuck with paying $30 more for the jeep rental since the the only agency w/ an available jeep is the one in Hanga Roa Hotel (which also happens to be the most expensive hotel in the island).

Take a Residencial Kona Tau Tour

by wrjones

We stayed at the Residencial Kona Tau. They offered a 6-8 hour tour for $35 per person. Clemente, seemed to run the place and was also the guide. He seemed quite knowledgeable, his English is good enough and he was a nice guy. I feel he really gave us our moneys worth. We were not pushed at all.While others seem to think going it on their own with a rented 4x4, car, bike or even a horse (how many weeks do you have on this island?) is the best way, these tours worked for us. Even though the island is crawling with tourists zipping from place to place, we would often be the only vehicle around. Our guide took us to places that were not well marked. One time we actually were bouncing through a horse pasture.We seemed to spend more time at each site having things explained to us in depth, while other more independent souls would drive up, walk around and quickly leave.

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Questions and Answers

ANNE930 profile photo

Q:  Hi All, I live in Macau PRC and am thinking of visiting Easter Island which is always one of my dream places. But travelling to... 

langlanglangpelikan profile photo

A: Hi! Was on that amazing island a few years ago. And then the only flights from South America was from Santiago, Chile. But there were also possible to fly there from... 

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