When it comes to helping others with their trips to Easter Island, we seem to get one question over and over again.
It is simply this: how many nights do I need?
Considering Easter Island is only about 60 square miles and you can drive around it in a few hours, you may think you only need two or three night there.
But in order to truly see it all, we have determined that the magic number is five nights to visit Easter Island, and we have a very good reason for it.
“Is it possible to visit Easter Island without spending a lot of money?”
This is a question we’ve been asked quite frequently since our trip to the island. To answer this question in a single statement, the best we can say this: It depends on what you define as “a lot“.
If you are looking at spending under $50/day, Easter Island (also known as Isla de Pascua or Rapa Nui) will not be the place to visit unless you happen to fall within a very unique circumstance that we’ll talk about later on.
For those who have a slightly higher budget, there are still many ways on how to get to Easter Island without breaking the bank too much.
If there was one thing about exploring Rapa Nui that surprised us the most, it would be that there was an incredible range of accommodation options available for visitors.
For an island so remote, we thought we’d be paying an arm and a leg to stay there, and as it turns out there are options available for everyone- from the most frugal budget traveler to those wanting all the bells and whistles (except for good internet- that one is impossible on the island, unfortunately).
As this information is often lacking in most reviews of visits to the island, and may be the deciding factor on whether or not you visit (you should), we wanted to publish this guide to Easter Island hotels so you know just what you are looking at when planning a visit to this incredible spot in the middle of nowhere.
Easter Island is one of the smallest islands I have ever stayed on, and definitely the smallest I’ve ever driven on. At about 10 miles at its widest point, you can drive around the island in a full loop in just over an hour with a few quick stops.
Prior to our Easter Island visit, we were quite torn about renting a car. We read many stories online about some of the difficulties that other travelers faced, and were not even sure it would be necessary considering how tiny the island really is. Once we realized that there is no public transportation on the island, and a rental doesn’t cost that much more than a round-trip taxi doing an island loop, picking up a rental car for half our stay was a logical choice.
But even with our eagerness to get out and explore Easter Island, we did have to consider those difficulties we’ve read about online time and time again. Luckily for you, we think they’re quite overblown.