- The mysterious moai
- Rano Kau crater
- Enjoy friendly Polynesian hospitality
- The unique history of the island
Easter Island Extension
Culture
Activity Level
Easy
See our Activity Level Guidelines to check if this holiday is right for you.
Itinerary
Fly to Easter Island; free time to explore Hanga Roa.
Transfer to the airport for the morning flight to Easter Island. On arrival we transfer to the hotel. Free time, options include a visit to the local museum of Hanga Roa ‐ ‘Padre Sebastian Englert’. Hanga Roa is the small capital town of the island. This is where the great majority of the population lives (about 4,000 inhabitants).
Accommodation: Hotel Otai or similar
Tour of Orongo and Ranu Kau volcano; visit Ahu Akivi in afternoon.
Morning half‐day excursion to Orongo, the ceremonial site for the Birdman Cult, whose stone houses are set right by the circular crater of the Ranu Kau volcano. The Birdman Cult only emerged after the collapse of moai culture and was focused on fertility rites and the Birdman competition. You will visit an interesting cave with cult rock paintings at the foot of the volcano. Later, from the rim of the crater, you will be able to savour a spectacular view overlooking the crater’s large lake, as well as the sea and the three Motu Islands. These small islands were the focus of the young men chosen during the ceremony of the Birdman Cult, held at Orongo. One individual per clan swam out to the Motus, to climb and steal the first swallow’s egg of the year. The winning clan was allowed to nominate Rapa Nui’s king for the following year. In the afternoon, you will visit Ahu Akivi, one of the few Ahus not located by the sea. The seven resurrected moais are sited according to the equinox, which indicates the advanced knowledge of astronomy once known on Rapa Nui. The next stop is the Puna Pau quarry, where the headdresses made of red stone that were set on many moai were produced. Today’s tour ends with a transfer back to the hotel.
Accommodation: Hotel Otai or similar
Visit Ahus Vaihu and Akahanga; explore Rano Raraku quarry.
We take a full day excursion today with visits to Ahus Vaihu and Akahanga along the south coast. Later we drive on to Rano Raraku, which is the site where moais were carved out of the island’s very unique bedrock. There are still approximately 400 statues standing and lying here in different stages of completion. The largest is nearly 22m tall and weighs approximately 250 tons. From here we drive to Ahu Te Pito Kura and the ‘Navel of the World’. Finally we visit the beach of Anakena with its Ahu Nau Nau before heading back to our hotel.
Accommodation: Hotel Otai or similar
Free morning; return to Santiago.
The morning is free before we transfer to the airport for the flight back to Santiago.
Accommodation: Hotel Providencia or similar
End Santiago.
End Santiago.
Reviews
Add your own reviewFantastic place but make your own arrangements
I booked the Easter Island extension with Exodus at a cost of £1299 plus compulsory single supplement of 345. There was no loyalty discount. Flights from Santiago to EI were not included but if you book your own flights with LATAM it is possible to add the EI return to your ticket for far less than a standalone return ticket which costs around £800.
For the money charged by Exodus you get:- group transfer from Santiago hotel to airport for EI flight (a taxi would cost £25-30)
Picked up from airport and taken to hotel in EI (hotel offers a free pick up service)
3 nights at the Hotel Otai – per notice in reception charge for single room was $190, double room $260 us dollars
Two separate half day tours in a minibus and one full day trip – these cost around £25 for each half day tour and £70 gor full day with lunch but are multi lingual. We had mainly English speaking morning trip but Spanish/English in afternoon and mostly Spanish on day trip. When asked, our Guide suggested that you could have a private guide for around £100 a day – this would be preferable as English speaking and you could visit the various Moai sites at the best times of the day.
Transfer back to EI airport – again offered free by hotel.
Pick up at Santiago airport and taken to hotel – taxi would cost £25-30.
One night B&B at Santiago hotel
Airport transfer from hotel to airport for homeward flight but be warned – Exodus expected us to leave hotel at 05.20 for a flight leaving at 17.00 because they were only offering one transfer and one of our group was flying to Mexico on an early flight. Attempts to contact Exodus in UK went unanswered and local agent only arranged transfer after we had booked a taxi through hotel.
I fully appreciate that Exodus need to make a profit on their tours but there is a difference between making a profit and ripping off loyal customers.
It is much easier for couples to make their own arrangements than solo travellers but you could save almost half what Exodus charge by making your own arrangements and it would be straightforward to pre book tours, hotel etc.
Most Inspirational Moment
Seeing Moai.
Thoughts on Group Leader
You're on your own!
Advice for Potential Travellers
Read up on Easter Island before you go and make your own arrangements.
Visit but not with exodus
We added Easter Island to our Discover Chile tour (which was excellent) but were very disappointed with the Exodus service. The accommodation in Hotel Otai was very good but could easily be booked direct and there are lots of alternatives near the centre. The main reason for the review was the very poor guide service. We expected Exodus to maintain it usual high standard especially in a location as dramatic as Easter Island. On the 1 day tour our guide was hugely disappointing – she didn’t accompany us around the sites; her knowledge was very shallow; and she was just not interested. On day two we had a younger male guide who was engaged and knowledgeable but catering for a group of 21 across 2 languages was a major shortfall. We also found that the flight costs wold have been cheaper if we booked direct. My recommendation is definitely to visit the island; make the arrangements directly; three nights is sufficient; book a day long individual guide locally; and rent bikes to revisit the places you liked.
Most Inspirational Moment
The quarry and the large platform nearby
Thoughts on Group Leader
We have travelled on 8 occasions with Exodus and the quality of the guide is a major reason to remain loyal. On Easter island the service used by Exodus fell woefully short of our expectations – both in terms of quality and also in terms of group size – I was sitting on the pull down seat in the aisle of a small minibus for the duration of the tour.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Definitely to visit the island; make the arrangements directly; three nights is sufficient; book a day long individual guide locally; and rent bikes to revisit the places you liked. Hanga Rua and Pea restaurants on the seafront are recommended
Reply from Exodus
We would like to thank Eamon for his review, although we are very sorry that he was disappointed with the guide service on this trip. We appreciate that there is a difference between a tour leader and a local guide, but we expect that the guides we use will provide a positive experience for our clients at the sites they are guiding. We understand that the first guide was feeling unwell on this day and that this may have affected her performance, but we nonetheless regret that this impacted Eamon’s experience. Whilst we were pleased to read that Eamon found the guide on day 2 to be engaged and knowledgeable, we regret that he was disappointed with the size of the group he guided and that he was required to speak two languages. We have updated the trip notes to include more information about this in order to help better prepare our clients for what to expect on the Extension, as we recognise that the set-up is rather different to those on our main tours. The prices we charge clients are reflective of the costs we incur, but in our flight-inclusive prices we also include an amount to cover the cost of flight related issues for which we may be liable in accordance with our obligations under the Package Travel Regulations. Our customer services team have written to Eamon in more detail regarding all of the issues he has mentioned. Malcolm Parkinson – Product Manager
Would you like to include flights with your booking?
- ATOL protected
- Competitive flight prices
- Full refunds in the event of FCDO cancellations or major disruption at your UK departure airport
- Specialist support to rearrange flights and transfers
- Regional flights available from many UK airports
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