Days 34-42 (Nov. 11-18) Rapa Nui / Easter Island - Our summary

And here are the details regarding the frequently mentioned note in the daily reports: “… more about this at the end of this description …”

… unfortunately, also leaving us with a rather mixed summary:

About Day 2 and the tour with our landlord: Of course, we did not want anything for free and intended to compensate him for the time and the car (even if it was rickety and ancient). When we asked how much he wanted, there was suddenly a very strange hesitation and, despite multiple inquiries, no answer. Instead, he awkwardly walked away. We were quite baffled.

After about 20 minutes, his wife came and more or less explicitly urged us to also utilize her husband's services, including the car, for the following days... the price could be discussed later!

By now, alarm bells were ringing for us! We then made it quite clear: “No agreement for tomorrow without clear price information!” Reluctantly, and with many words, and becoming increasingly unfriendly during the monologue, we finally got the desired information: $75 per day (approx. 6 hours) for the accompaniment by her husband (a very nice person, but unfortunately he spoke little English and his explanations in Spanish were very hard for us to understand) and €45 for the nice large and comfortable car (the aforementioned rickety old pickup 😆).

So we reluctantly laid down $120 for the first day - and canceled the second day. 😏😔

Especially this clumsy and brazen way of “vehicle refinancing” was something we really had no interest in.

God, was our landlady angry afterward - her lovely business model (husband + car for high fees to guests) had just gone down the drain 😂

After that, she spoke only one sentence to us during our entire vacation (“Check-out is at 12 am”)😳😂

Moving on to the topic of “business model”:

To visit the interesting historical sites, a ticket is required. Okay - but $100 per person seemed a bit steep, and upon purchase, of course, “Please, your passport”!

Then off to the car rentals (Check24 or Booking.com do not exist here): the cheapest price for a somewhat decent car was $65/day. Also quite steep, but this was the only way to individually visit the attractions of this island without large tour groups (there is no public transport here) - so we reluctantly paid.

Ticket in hand, rental car under our seats - now on to great deeds. Nice thought, but unfortunately the story ends here: Every attraction is now surrounded by a fence with a checkpoint: show your ticket and … “Please, your passport”!🤣🤮 … and

… “where is your guide, please?!”😳😳😳

In other words, without a guide, one may not enter even the larger and some smaller archaeological sites here (Galapagos sends its regards).

And such a guide costs (as mentioned above) about $70-90/day.

Speaking of guides: as far as we could find out, every islander born here is by definition a guide.😳😂

So let’s summarize the monetary facts of a multi-day visit for 2 people on this island:

Rental car for 4 days: about $200, ticket (valid for 10 days) $200, guide for 3 days €240

In total, over $600, “just” to be able to see these Moai statues!!!

Of course, one could have booked guided tours for half the price - but we didn’t want to spend the entire day among 10 - 20 tourists, “bound” to a group.

Added to that are the flights and the quite expensive accommodations…

The island seems to have developed into a gigantic tourist cash cow in recent years - the “business model” with the logic of “ticket - rental car - guide” is sheer “tourist” nonsense.

So despite being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we do not recommend it: 👎👎👎

BUT: Apart from these regulatory and bureaucratic guidelines, conditions, and restrictions: privately, I've rarely met such hospitable, helpful, and nice people! 🤝🥰🤗☺️

For those who still wish to go there: 4-5 days are, in our opinion, completely sufficient:

3 days with a rental car and 2 “on foot” days.

For one of the 3 days with a rental car, additionally book a “guide” and solely visit the “guide”-required locations with him (this works without a hitch!).

On the other two remaining rental car days, visit the other sites without the necessity of a guide. Particularly, Anakena is worth a second visit.

The two “on foot” days can be very nicely spent in Hanga Roa and nearby. The Kauna is also within walking distance.

When choosing a guide, pay attention to local and historical competence - many tell a lot here - unfortunately with very different content.