Easter Island -- my experience
#31
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,378
Ouch. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully, we will encounter the reasonable ranger as my 7 year old is coming on the trip. Or someone who is staying in our hotel might let us borrow their receipt. The fees for reciprocity and park entrances do add up. We are also going to Machu Picchu and finding cheap intra-Peru LAN flights without paying the gringo price has been difficult.
We used LanPass miles for the intra-Peru LAN flights to avoid that gringo tax. It was a crazy good deal last year, when LANPass had a promo. If you can't use ff miles, consider LAN's Peruvian competitors. I think there's a lot of internet discussion about this topic because flying LAN in Peru is silly at the prices they want to charge foreigners.
#32
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 65
cityfishing, believe me that your trip to Chile is going to cost you less in entrance fees to national parks, museums, visas etc. than the equivalent a Chilean family would pay visiting your country.
The entrance fee to the park for children, foreign and national, is CLP$5000 - roughly US$10.
http://www.conaf.cl/parques/ficha-pa...pa_nui-60.html
The entrance fee to the park for children, foreign and national, is CLP$5000 - roughly US$10.
http://www.conaf.cl/parques/ficha-pa...pa_nui-60.html
#33
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,378
cityfishing, believe me that your trip to Chile is going to cost you less in entrance fees to national parks, museums, visas etc. than the equivalent a Chilean family would pay visiting your country.
The entrance fee to the park for children, foreign and national, is CLP$5000 - roughly US$10.
The entrance fee to the park for children, foreign and national, is CLP$5000 - roughly US$10.
http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm
The Visa fee is the same, as the Chileans engage in "reciprocity." Museum admissions are hard to compare.
#35
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Body in Downtown YYZ, heart and mind elsewhere
Programs: UA 50K, refugee from AC E50K, Marriott Lifetime Plat
Posts: 5,131
#36
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 65
That's simply not true. A Chilean family can come to the United States and visit every National Park Service site and federal recreation area in the country for a year for the grand total of $80.
http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm
The Visa fee is the same, as the Chileans engage in "reciprocity." Museum admissions are hard to compare.
http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm
The Visa fee is the same, as the Chileans engage in "reciprocity." Museum admissions are hard to compare.
#37
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: CHICAGO
Programs: HILTON,MARRIOTT,SHERATON,UAL,AA,SW,DL,ETC
Posts: 9
Recent visit to easter islands
Just returned last week from easter island. Great place to visit but make sure your guide knows what they are talking about. We were fortunate that our guide was from the island and was honest and said he did not know when he did not know instead of giving us some lip service.
The moai are 'just' 300-400 years old; they are not ancient. Since the island had, at most , 20,000 people, it seems that, prior to tribal warefare, their whole existence must have been carving out moais and moving them to their present positions.
We stayed at what is considered one of the 'better' places, the altiplanico (hope i spelled it right). About a 10 minute cab ride from the 'city'. (1970 era toyota cabs seem to be the general rule). No airconditioning, of course (bad for the environment), limited internet access (strongly suggest one buy/rent a phone while on the mainland if you want to stay in touch with the world), and so-so food for the limited b'fast buffet.
I was sort of hoping to find nirvana on the island. It is so far from anywhere, i was hoping to find a place to get lost in for a 2 or 3 week period annually (in order to relax and get away from daily hustle and bustle) but easter island is not the place for me. I think the lack of comforts....yes, i am relatively spoiled... Was a turnoff for me.
Words of wisdom...watch out for horse manure; horses are owned by families but allowed to roam where and whenever they wish. They appear poorly nourished and it bothered me to see young colts with their ribs sticking out.
I know i am rambling but i am glad i visited the island; i doubt if i would go back.
The moai are 'just' 300-400 years old; they are not ancient. Since the island had, at most , 20,000 people, it seems that, prior to tribal warefare, their whole existence must have been carving out moais and moving them to their present positions.
We stayed at what is considered one of the 'better' places, the altiplanico (hope i spelled it right). About a 10 minute cab ride from the 'city'. (1970 era toyota cabs seem to be the general rule). No airconditioning, of course (bad for the environment), limited internet access (strongly suggest one buy/rent a phone while on the mainland if you want to stay in touch with the world), and so-so food for the limited b'fast buffet.
I was sort of hoping to find nirvana on the island. It is so far from anywhere, i was hoping to find a place to get lost in for a 2 or 3 week period annually (in order to relax and get away from daily hustle and bustle) but easter island is not the place for me. I think the lack of comforts....yes, i am relatively spoiled... Was a turnoff for me.
Words of wisdom...watch out for horse manure; horses are owned by families but allowed to roam where and whenever they wish. They appear poorly nourished and it bothered me to see young colts with their ribs sticking out.
I know i am rambling but i am glad i visited the island; i doubt if i would go back.
#38
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,378
LIM flights "temporarily" suspended
Just a heads up if you booked, or are trying to book, the new LIM-Easter Island flights. LAN has "temporarily" suspended these flights for about 7 months beginning in April. There are also some other flight changes due to runway work on Easter Island.
http://chile-reise.com/news/en/lan-c...ril-2011-1919/
We'll see if the LIM flights actually resume. It seemed like an odd route to me, so I wonder. The biggest advantage for Americans is that it avoided the $140 "reciprocal" fee collected at SCL if you land there on an int'l flight.
http://chile-reise.com/news/en/lan-c...ril-2011-1919/
We'll see if the LIM flights actually resume. It seemed like an odd route to me, so I wonder. The biggest advantage for Americans is that it avoided the $140 "reciprocal" fee collected at SCL if you land there on an int'l flight.
#39
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: YVR
Posts: 2,120
OMG Thank you for that post! I booked my flight LIM-IPC in Dec for April 24-May 1 directly through LAN but they have not sent me any email warning of a potential problem. If you hadn't mentioned it I would have been oblivious until much closer to the date (I have been prewarned to confirm, confirm, confirm for any SA flights, but I honestly didn't expect they'd just cancel and not tell me!). I was so looking forward to an Easter Island stamp in my passport, this sucks.
#40
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: IAH
Programs: UA MM, AA almost MM
Posts: 1,162
Just a heads up if you booked, or are trying to book, the new LIM-Easter Island flights. LAN has "temporarily" suspended these flights for about 7 months beginning in April. There are also some other flight changes due to runway work on Easter Island.
http://chile-reise.com/news/en/lan-c...ril-2011-1919/
We'll see if the LIM flights actually resume. It seemed like an odd route to me, so I wonder. The biggest advantage for Americans is that it avoided the $140 "reciprocal" fee collected at SCL if you land there on an int'l flight.
http://chile-reise.com/news/en/lan-c...ril-2011-1919/
We'll see if the LIM flights actually resume. It seemed like an odd route to me, so I wonder. The biggest advantage for Americans is that it avoided the $140 "reciprocal" fee collected at SCL if you land there on an int'l flight.
#41
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,378
iahphx... I am planning a June trip to Easter Island with a stop over in LIM on the return. Indeed, the LIM -> IPC non-stop is gone. Because SCL is the Chilean city I will land, I will to pay $140 per person, even though I am only transiting, right? Do I need a visa to visit Easter Island?
That, of course, was the beauty of flying LIM-IPC, even if you wanted to visit SCL at the end (IPC-SCL is domestic, no fee collected). Of course, with the flight pulled (at least temporarily) that option has vanished. The only way now for an American to directly get to Easter Island without paying the fee is to fly there from Tahiti. I'd love to do it that way but, as we all know, it ain't easy.
Your other choice is to "sneak" into Chile by land. Like take a bus from Mendoza, and then fly to IPC from SCL. Not easy, either -- and most of Chile's neighbors now have "reciprocity" fees, too.
#43
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: New York
Programs: SPG Platinum, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Intercontinental Platinum, AA Gold
Posts: 229
So your first point of entry into Chile (including Easter Island) is SCL? If so, yes, if you're an American, you have to pay the $140. It's not a "visa" -- it's a "reciprocity" fee charged to the nationals of countries which charge Chileans for visas. If you don't enter Chile at SCL (which is tricky to avoid) you don't have to pay the fee.
That, of course, was the beauty of flying LIM-IPC, even if you wanted to visit SCL at the end (IPC-SCL is domestic, no fee collected). Of course, with the flight pulled (at least temporarily) that option has vanished. The only way now for an American to directly get to Easter Island without paying the fee is to fly there from Tahiti. I'd love to do it that way but, as we all know, it ain't easy.
Your other choice is to "sneak" into Chile by land. Like take a bus from Mendoza, and then fly to IPC from SCL. Not easy, either -- and most of Chile's neighbors now have "reciprocity" fees, too.
That, of course, was the beauty of flying LIM-IPC, even if you wanted to visit SCL at the end (IPC-SCL is domestic, no fee collected). Of course, with the flight pulled (at least temporarily) that option has vanished. The only way now for an American to directly get to Easter Island without paying the fee is to fly there from Tahiti. I'd love to do it that way but, as we all know, it ain't easy.
Your other choice is to "sneak" into Chile by land. Like take a bus from Mendoza, and then fly to IPC from SCL. Not easy, either -- and most of Chile's neighbors now have "reciprocity" fees, too.
help me out here. this is the route i plan on taking, taking advantage of BA's unlimited stopover perk:
NYC to Lima
Lima to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires to Santiago
Santiago to Easter Island
Return Flight is
Easter Island to Santiago
Santiago to NYC
if i am understanding you correctly, i would have to pay the $140 reciprocity fee entering santiago (i guess because argentina would charge chileans the same $140 fee)? off topic, but do you know if lima or buenos aires would have similar reciprocity fees?
#44
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Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
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Fee is based upon the passport you are traveling on, not based upon where you are coming from.
#45
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,378
Free travel can be expensive with multiple reciprocity fees.
If you can, try not to enter Chile at SCL and Argentina at EZE.