Itinerary Expand all Day 1 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). Hotel Otai or similar Meals included: Breakfast Day 2 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. Hotel Otai or similar Meals included: Breakfast Day 3 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. Hotel Otai or similar Meals included: Breakfast Lunch Day 4 Free morning; return to Santiago. The morning is free before we transfer to the airport for the flight back to Santiago. Hotel Providencia or similar Meals included: Breakfast Day 5 End Santiago. End Santiago. Meals included: Breakfast
Chile British, most European and most other nationalities, including Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders, do not require visas. All other nationalities should contact the nearest Chilean Embassy if in doubt. Citizens of Australia pay a fee on first entry into Chile by air (cash US Dollars only, no credit cards or cheques) $95 - valid for only 90 days). There is no fee for other nationalities at the time of writing. The one-time charge is valid for the life of your passport so keep the stub stapled in.
Chile There are no mandatory vaccination requirements. Recommended vaccinations are: Tetanus, Typhoid, Hepatitis A. Dengue fever is a known risk in places visited. It is a tropical viral disease spread by daytime biting mosquitoes. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available for Dengue, and therefore the best form of prevention is to avoid being bitten. We recommend you take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites.
Hotels We stay in comfortable three-star hotels on this extension. Rooms are en suite and of a good standard. The hotel that we typically use in Hanga Roa has a swimming pool and is within walking distance of restaurants. A minimum of 2 people are required on the extension, otherwise a single traveller supplement will be applied. Single accommodation is available on request.
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Reviewed January 2019 Eamon Keating Trip: Easter Island Extension (4 nights) 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. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? The quarry and the large platform nearby What did you think of your 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. Do you have any 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 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