Easter Island hotel recommendations..
 

Anyone recently been to Easter Island? Please do recommend the hotel you stayed and any pros/cons to it. We are 2 adults and a teenager planning to visit in Dec 2024. Thanks

this site (no affiliation) seems to have some useful info https://worldlyadventurer.com/visit-...-island-chile/

Explora is a top bet in Chile and Argentina, high prices though

https://www.explora.com/easter-island-hotels/

I am going in a few days time and can report back on my hotel if you haven’t secured a place yet, MNSWEEps . Explora did seem expensive to went with the next ‘tier down’ I guess; though it still wasn’t cheap for 4 nights.

In case it helps anyone, I stayed at Ohana Rapa Nui. It was absolutely delightful. I really recommend it. Might actually be the most comfortable hotel bed I have ever slept in.
However, the downside is that it is not in the town and that will take you about a 40 minute walk. Though I discovered that taxis will just charge you 5,000 pesos; approximately $5USD (Aug ‘24) so not exactly a deal breaker. Tour companies can also drop you in town at the end of a day’s excursions.

The tour company I used was Rapa Nui Dream and they were solid. One guide they make use of was Andres and he was exceptional.

There are some wonderful restaurants in town and the people on Easter Island are fantastic.

Four nights will likely be enough to make a good trip out of it. Though if I were to go again I would probably do an extra night or two at the Ohana and just relax and potter about. It’s not really any more expensive than comparable hotels on the mainland. However, please note I travelled in low season so the summer months may command higher rates.

We will be going to Easter Island early January 2025 and staying at Nayara Hagaroa ( all-inclusive) and will write up a little trip report after our stay. Seems little info out there for first-hand experiences.

Hope this helps out somebody in the future.

J.

We are in Uruguay now after a few days in Easter Island. We stayed at the Nayara Hangaroa and had two of their larger "suites" (we are 11/14/15 year Olds and two adults). It was expensive but probably worth it. Booked with Amex Plat and applied $200 savings per room, I think it was roughly $900 per night per suite, w breakfast/transfers and $100 per room f+b credits.
Said to be the best hotel on the island, it is generally good but nothing to really justify the cost other than its remote location. Food was good, interestingly dinner there was very good and not much more than random restaurants around town that were not the same quality.
The hotel has group tours but we hired a guide. What a great experience, had a van and a fun knowledgeable guide to ourselves! We had the best time at Rano Raraku (the main quarry site), gorgeous sun w white puffy clouds, green landscape and the blue sea on the horizon. And we had it almost to ourselves! What an experience! Again, the individual tour guide the hotel got us was amazing.
A couple of tips... If in business class, you are probably more than fine getting into the domestic terminal for the flight to IPC around 2.5 hours before takeoff. Everyone told.us 3 to 4 hours in advance, but we checked bags in10 minutes and we're through the dedicated document check and security line in another 10-15 minutes. On the return, especially if in business class, it is similar, a bit of hurry up and wait. You can check in early and even head back to town for a quick lunch, just need to be back to clear security about 70 min prior to departure.
From the hotel.you can walk (long but really nice to.do at own pace) through town and to Ahu Tahai. Another really convenient walk from the hotel is up the volcano Rano Kau.
Oh yeah, if you are staying in the Holiday Inn (between T1 and T2) after your flight back to SCL, know that half the rest of the plane is too! Thankfully I ran ahead of my family and got.us checked in before any line formed. We were having cocktails in the bar as a large line stretched out the doors for the next hour!

We are off to same hotel tomorrow...
 

We are going tomorrow, will give a little trip report too.

Nayara Hangaroa
 

Just got back from 5 days at the Nayara. A very nice stay. We had the All-Inclusive package. 1. Location is great, short walk to town. If you are not on the All-In rate, lots of restaurants to choose from. 2. Rooms are spacious. Shower, good, hot and strong. Beds comfortable. Very quiet. We didn't hear any roosters ( not directly on the property, which can be an issue some places we've stayed). 3. Food was good. We found breakfast very good. IF you are looking for "high end" dining, not the place for you. But, good to very good, not oversized portions ( which is good if you are eating 3X per day) and doing activities. Deserts were very good. 4. Excursions. Becasue we were All-In, setting up excursions was easy. 2 per night stay, per person, with substitutions allowed. ALSO, if you don't use and excursion, you can get a massage instead!!!! We only did one, non-incluced excursion. Horseback riding to the highest point on the island. They came and picked us up, outfitted with chaps and helmets. It was excellent. And we did substitute a massage for one excursion since our arrival flight was delayed, and we just walked to town for exercise the 1st night of arrival.. We also chose the snorkeling which was great!! It's "deep water" snorkeling, not shore snorkeling, and they give you a shorty wetsuit, but I dont like the cold water, and the water was very, very pleasant. As compared to the FREEZING Galapagos water. THe other tours were great. Tour guides, excellent. All transfers included, very organized. Also, we got to the airport for departure, about 1.5 hours early, and it was fine. Any questions, just ask.

Looking to travel to Easter Island early Jan of 2026.... part of a trip to Chile & Peru

Nayara Hangaroa looks wonderful - but about 2.5x cost of other top hotels. Worth it? More than wiling to pay more as long as it's that much better.

Also.....
\Want to purchase 2 Business Class seats on the 787-9 from SCL to IPC on Sat Jan 3 and then return the next day - also in Business Class. According to the LATAM website, there are ZERO Business Class seats offered on this route as of Jan 1 onwards.... but the Seat Map for available seats starts at Row 12 with Economy Seats (consistent with info on aerolopa.com). So there are clearly Business Seats physically on the plane - this is not an all-Economy flight.
I reached out to LATAM to see if maybe these Business Class fares have not been loaded yet and was told that only Economy Cabin is available to passengers and that Business Class may be offered at some point in the future.
So a plane will take off with Business Class seats that are not offered for purchase - seats that provide more revenue/profit than the ones offered?
Am I missing something here?

Any feedback greatly appreciated!

Trying to recall
 

We were on Easter Island this January, and asking DH if he recalls what we actually saw on the plane. I think it's just 3 seat row, middle seat blocked. He has no memory. If we fly economy ( which we did to Easter) if it's a 3 seat row, we try to get aisle/aisle. We know we are "different" and since we spend 24 hours away together on our extended months long travels, we don't need to be right next to each other. Wish I could recall what I saw exactly.

We really enjoyed Nayara, but it is $$$$. The only advice I can give is location.... The "downtown" area, waterfront is where all the restaurants and tour booking spots are. So, if you dont have an all-inclusive like Nayara or Explora, I would think you would want to be near-ish that area.

Thanks for the follow up....
Not sure about your flights, but seems like LATAM usually flies at 787 with lie-flat 2/2/2 Business Class. Again, just seems very weird that they are not making ANY of these seats available for purchase from Jan 1st onwards.

Nayara looks incredible..... and figure this is the one and only time we'll be on Easter Island so leaning towards just taking the plunge.

No lie flat
 

Hmmm.. Don't know? We didn't even think about booking anything but main cabin. The flight is not that long, and we were already spending a LOT on the hotel. Saving some $$$ where we could on the flight was OK with us. We were going to be in South America for 3 months ( and actually just got home this past Monday). We had a 5 day pay trek planned in Patagonia, and another Estancia stay as well in El Chalten. Then 2 more months of travel in Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia.
Sorry, wish I could help more. We also figured it would be our only shot at Easter Island. It was incredible. We've been to Antarctica, the Galapagos, Arctic, Amazon, and it was one of our favorite places.

Got it...
Makes sense.
Sounds like you guys had a great trip!
Thanks again for the feedback.

I was able to book Business class seats far in advance (july 2024 for now... ) by using a VPN set to Chile and the Chilean website. Doing it this way costs less than $800 USD per person and is well worth it... I think if you use the US website to book that's what you'll pay for economy. I just checked the Chilean website from here and it's selling J for January 2026 still at this price...
We just arrived here on one of these - great flight - and the captain invited my young daughter to visit the cockpit on arrival. Not many places she's gonna have a pic in the right seat of a Dreamliner with palm trees right outside the window !!