Explora Rapa Nui — Hotel in Easter Island

Summary:|This place is amazing! You don’t realize how beautiful it is until you’re here and can experience what it has to offer.||Getting here:|It’s about a 6hr flight from Santiago and flights are limited to one a day.||It’s definitely an island feel. It reminded me of a French Polynesia. Chickens and dogs running around everywhere. I wasn’t expecting the humidity but it is an island. ||The explorations:||Since Rapa Nui is designated a UNESCO site I was so excited to come and learn more. I had always seen the pictures of the moai and how peculiar it was that these statues were built or not finished and left. ||There are five main things they want you to experience. I was able to do 4/5. The caves was not accesible due to high water. Disappointing but have to go with the flow. ||The bird man hike was probably the hardest and my favorite. The views are spectacular. Walking through the cow fields was fun seeing all the baby cows. ||Mahatua was also a great hike. We had great weather until we had to hike the little hill to the beach in torrential rain.||Learning about how the people of Rapa Nui came here and why they created these statues was really interesting. There’s a lot of history here and you can learn a lot if you want.||The guides:||The guides are extremely knowledgeable. Many are native to the island or have a strong connection. You can learn a lot if you want. Ask questions, they love that! ||I had Tavi for three of my excursions and he’s super knowledgeable. Hani has such close ties as in her grandfather helped with some restorations and she has lineage to the last king of Rapa Nui! Tita was also great. Pepe helped plan a couple days and that’s the great thing about the guides. At the end of each day you pick what you’re doing the next. ||The room:|Waiting in my room was a note from Maha at Atacama to welcome me to the island she’s from. It’s the kind of thoughtfulness you get with Explora. So appreciative!! 🤗||The room is awesome. Great views and very comfortable. ||A lot of closet and storage space. ||The staff:|Everyone was great. Since it was my birthday my first day there they even made me a cake and I got a traditional Icelandic crown made of bougainvilleas and other flowers. All were accommodating with my broken Spanish and I appreciated the opportunity to practice with everyone. ||The food:|Best choices and meals I’ve had at any lodge as part of my stay that wasn’t a restaurant. The vegan food was sooooo good. The peras al vino was my favorite dessert that I had twice. The passion fruit ice cream was so good!! Having the buffet with fresh things like plain lettuce and oil and vinegar was refreshing and light. I would come back just...

Everything about this hotel and island is special. Explora prides itself on being "part of the land" and this hotel exemplifies that. It is almost hidden, stretching out like great wings on either side of a wonderful lobby, hugging the terrain and with wood and stone that look like it was always there. We saw it from the road one day and it was almost impossible to see it's so beautifully designed.

Come here for the amazing guides and tours of the Big Heads (called Moai, pronounced MO-EYE). Every evening the guides meet and talk to you about where you might want to go, what's to see, how strenuous the hike might be, and alternative hikes/rides/mountain bike trips you might like. The guides are a great mixture of local Rapa Nuians and Chileans from all over Chile. But the one thing they have in common is a fierce pride in Rapa Nui and what they are showing you.

The rooms are simple and small. They have huge windows where the sunrise wakes you every morning and great air conditioning for those days where you need more to cool off. The showers and beds are good and there are plentiful towels. There is WiFi at the lodge center, but it's not particularly strong. And the island has spotty phone coverage, so come prepared to enjoy "island" time.

The food is terrific! I"ve stayed at other Explora lodges and this was by far the best food. Wonderful fresh fish every day, cooked and ceviche'd in all sorts of ways. Great vegan options, all tasty and clearly prepared by someone who likes their food to have rich flavor. And the desserts were always worth having - passion fruit tart, mango sherbert, and all homemade.

This is a special special place and I cannot recommend the hotel and the guides and the...

My husband and I stayed at the Explora Lodge for 3 nights in March 2025. Our room was very comfortable, and the service was quite good. The staff did a good job of explaining the excursions available and helping us to maximize our time on Rapa Nui. The location of the lodge was lovely, and we enjoyed the beautiful views from our room as well as the common areas.||I have a few observations that I hope will be helpful to others considering this trip. First, for us 3 nights was plenty. There are many interesting things to see here, but it is a very small island. We were able to easily hit the highlights in 3 days. Second, the food here is good but not excellent. Since everything except fruit has to be shipped from the mainland, I am sure it is a challenge to prepare high quality meals. I have no specific complaints in this area, but given the price of the lodge I want to inform others who may be expecting a gourmet experience. Third, some of the guides do not have excellent English. We were always able to communicate successfully, but sometimes it took a little back and forth to either get our question or their answer understood.||That said, we had a very nice stay and I would definitely recommend Explora Lodge to anyone considering a visit to this...