Hanga Roa Travel Guide

Hanga Roa is Easter Island's (or Isla de Pascua as it's called in Spanish, or Rapa Nui as it's called locally) only town, and has fewer than 4,000 inhabitants. Connections to Easter Island are made from Santiago or Tahiti, and it is far from both. The closest inhabited landmass "close" to Easter Island is Pitcairn Island, more than 2000 km away, and the coast of Chile itself is more than 3,000 km from here.

Easter island is roughly triangular, with the widest part measuring just 23 km from surf-pounded coast to surf-pounded coast. The main attraction on the island is visits to the various moai, sturdy giant statues that dot the coast, and in some spots, the interior of the island. It is possible to visit some of the quarries where the giant statues where honed, yet questions about their purpose and how they were hauled from one place to another on the island are still unanswered. Many people find Easter Island to be a mystery, in that this very important feature lies relatively unexplained.

Two-thirds of the people who live on the island are Pascuense, that is to say, from there, and of polynesian descent. The other third are from continental Chile or from other countries. The first airstrip was built just 50 years ago, in 1968, and before then contact was made just once a year. Now LAN flies to the island daily during high season.

Where to Go in Hanga Roa