Easter Island (Rapa Nui) trip report
I'm posting this as I often use reddit for travel research and feel I should give back. The shirt version though is that it is Rapa Nui is definitely worth it IMO.
Key details - 6 days, 5 nights - Couple - one waiting 20 years to go and another just happy to be there. - total cost incl flights, tours, park tickets, food accommodation & airprot taxis to and from Santiago airport - $1,658 or $829 pp. - Flights $652 return for both $326 each booked two months before departure.
Planning/research Mostly reddit trip reports, guide geek GPT, and reviews online
Tour Company Hahave tours - 2/5 stars would suggest you take a risk with another company or at least book some with another company.
Pros: budget friendly, all tours took place and most, though not all, of the staff are nice.
Cons: very poor on communication and details.
We asked for an outline of tours several times but did not get it. This had a materially negative impact on several yours. E.g. did not inform us that one tour ended with a two hour beach stop, which led to us waiting to go for 2 hours to go home rather than enjoying the beach as we didn't have towels/shorts etc. It's still nice but could have been much better.
Did not offer information on what to bring, etc.
Told us to be outside for 05.40 to be collected for sunrise. Did not arrive until 06.25, no apology or acknowledgement of lateness, and did not provide us with information until we sought it from them when they were 20 minutes late.
Overall, I would not recommend it to a friend.
5 tours we did were:
I had been waiting years to come here and often found myself filling in details for my partner, but honestly, it was tough to follow even if you sometimes knew what was coming.
Accommodation Pua Vaenga (Would recommend) - $247.50 for 5 nights. Private room shared bathroom. Collected at and dropped off to the airport included.
Pros: cheap, excellent staff, good facilities. Nice atmosphere. Family owned, and they are very nice. Nice common area.
Cons: not the cleanest and a 30-minute walk from town. But it's still worth it.
Food Combination of grocery shopping and restaurants. I found the food in restaurants very good. Groceries were more expensive than the mainland but mostly okay. We could not find chicken in stores, though.
The tap water tastes very odd. Only place I've been where I couldn't drink it. Bottled and filtered water everywhere, though, so it's not an issue (though bottled water is expensive)
Was pleasantly surprised by the wine selection (I know Chile is wine country. I just didn't expect it to make it that far).
Overall
It's an incredible place, and despite the tour company, just being there really carries. You feel so tiny surrounded by water with no other population for 2000 km. And the the history and heads are just enthralling. It's absolutely worth it, but you could do it for less money and in a shorter time frame.
If you are stuck, you could very much get away with tours 2 and 4 above and still feel like you did what needed to be done. That being said, I am definitely glad we stayed longer and took it slower.