Easter Island or Rapa Nui (Big Island in Rapanui language) is an island of Chile located in Polynesia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 3,600 km west of Caldera. It has an area of ​​163.6 km ² (which makes it the largest island of  insular Chile) and a population of approximately 3,800 inhabitants, mainly concentrated in Hanga Roa, existing capital and only town. The nearest land is Ducie Island, belonging to the British territory of Pitcairn.

Rapa Nui or "Tepito Ote Henua" ("Navel of the World"), as the locals call it, is the most remote inhabited island on the planet. No other piece of land in the world so isolated in the sea and this condition gives a fascinating aura of mystery.

It is estimated that the first inhabitants of Rapa Nui arrived from the Marquesas Islands in the sixth century and over a thousand years they had no outside contact. That is until Easter Sunday 1722 was discovered to the West by Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen, who described the Rapa Nui as "a subtle people, beautiful women and men kind."

The island is one of the leading tourist destinations odue to its natural beauty and its mysterious ancient culture of Rapa Nui ethnic group, whose only remains are huge statues known as moai. To preserve these characteristics, the government managed through CONAF the Rapa Nui National Park, while UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site in 1995.

The climate is tropical rainforest and is the only place in Chile where reigns a tropical climate, thermal regime shows the full extent of the influence oceanic thermal oscillation limited both daily and annual rainfall and, in turn, are distributed regularly over throughout the year. The average annual temperature is 21.8 ° C reaching its maximum of 24.6 ° C in January and the minimum 19.2 ° C in August, very wet tropical climate, so in general the winters and summers are temperate.

How to get there

From Santiago, seven flights a week leave for the airport Mataveri in Hanga Roa (5 hours 25 min). Currently there are no flights to the island from other cities.

Seaway. During the months of December through April, cruises calling at the island from Europe.

Within the island there are different means, either taxis or rental cars and motorcycles.

Activities

Diving in Easter Island is an unforgettable adventure, this island for its volcanic underwater topography is composed of caves, arches, cliffs, lava platforms, etc., which together with the large amount of coral, tropical fish, color and clarity of its waters make diving an amazing experience fascinating. You can not visit Rapa Nui and enjoy this wonder.

The visibility and temperature of our sea invites snorkeling, beach Ovahe Recommended places, sector Hanga Roa, the Motu, Coral giant among others.

For fishing enthusiasts can talk directly to the creek with the fishermen to go fishing or hunting.

Horseback riding from the museum sector through Akivi Ahu, take a path to Ahu Akivi and climb to a volcanic crater lake called Rano Aroi and there is reached the highest point of the island, "Maunga Terevaka" (560 - 580 MTS).

Undoubtedly the most important festival is the Tapati Rapa Nui, this festival takes place the first fortnight of February each year, brings many cultural, ancestral dances, crafts, food and sports. To this date are required flight and accommodation bookings several months in advance.

The rest of the time doesn't decreases the charm of the island. Its climate is consistently warm, its tourist infrastructure and services steadily improved and quiet and beautiful surroundings, with the grace of its people, make you want to go back forever.

Rapa Nui National Park, declared World Heritage by UNESCO, which has everything for everyone: beaches with pink sand, like Ovahe or with idyllic charm as Anakena, volcanoes and meadows to explore on foot or horseback, sea flora and fauna to discover diving, caves to explore in silence, and moais who witnessed the rise and fall of a stratified and complex society.