Eco-Friendly Hotels on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) — Your 2026 Guide to Sustainable Stays

The Moai — Who Built Them, How They Were Moved & What They Mean

The moai are ancestors made stone. Each figure represents a deified ancestor of one of Rapa Nui's kin groups — the eyes (made from white coral and red scoria, installed only during ceremonies) were believed to contain ariki mana, a spiritual power that would radiate over the island and protect the people. Most moai face inland, gazing over their descendants' territory rather than toward the sea. They are not, as is sometimes said, watching the ocean for incoming visitors — they are watching over the living.

The quarry at Rano Raraku is one of the most extraordinary archaeological sites in the world. Some 400 moai remain in various states of completion on the quarry hillside — some still attached to the bedrock, some partially extracted, some buried to their necks in sediment accumulated over centuries. The quarry walls are scarred with the marks of basalt stone picks; some carving tools still lie where they were dropped. Walking among them, it is impossible not to be struck by the sudden abandonment — as though the carvers simply stopped one day and never returned.

• 887 total moai documented on the island; the average moai weighs approximately 12–13 tonnes
• Ahu Tongariki — the largest restored ahu, with 15 moai re-erected after being toppled by a tsunami in 1960 and restored in the 1990s with Japanese funding; the sunrise view here is exceptional
• Ahu Akivi — unique in that its seven moai face the ocean (toward their ancestral Polynesian homeland), not inland
• The walking moai theory — experimental archaeology has demonstrated that moai can be "walked" upright using ropes and a rocking motion, matching oral traditions that say the statues "walked themselves" to their platforms

Volcanoes, Beaches & Marine Life

Easter Island's three extinct volcanoes are as compelling as the moai and far less crowded. Rano Kau, at the island's southwestern corner, holds a lake more than a kilometre in diameter inside its crater — one of the island's few freshwater sources, its surface covered in floating peat islands supporting endemic plant species found nowhere else on Earth. The crater's interior rim offers vertiginous views down to the lake on one side and out to the open Pacific on the other; on clear days, the ocean horizon extends uninterrupted in every direction.

Orongo — The Birdman Cult

At the rim of Rano Kau sits Orongo, a ceremonial village of 53 stone slab houses built into the crater's outer edge for an annual ritual known as the Birdman competition. After the construction of the moai ceased — for reasons that remain debated — a new religious system emerged centred on the god Makemake. Each spring, representatives of the island's clans competed to retrieve the first sooty tern egg from the islet of Motu Nui, 1.5 kilometres offshore through shark-infested surf. The winner's clan leader became the Tangata Manu (Birdman) — the living embodiment of Makemake for one year. Orongo's stone houses and extraordinary rock art (over 1,000 petroglyphs) make it one of the most evocative archaeological sites in the Pacific.

Anakena Beach

Anakena is Easter Island's most beautiful beach — a crescent of pink-white coral sand fringed by coconut palms, framed on one side by the restored Ahu Nau Nau (seven moai with elaborate red topknots). The water is warm, remarkably clear, and suitable for snorkelling over coral reefs. This is also where, according to oral tradition, the Polynesian founding ancestor Hotu Matu'a landed after crossing the Pacific from an unknown western island. It's a 45-minute drive or 2-hour bicycle ride from Hanga Roa.

Marine life around Easter Island is exceptional:

• Sea turtles nest on Anakena Beach and are commonly seen while snorkelling off the island's rocky shoreline
• Whale sharks are occasional visitors to the waters around the island in summer; diving operators offer encounters
• Manta rays and dolphins patrol the offshore waters regularly
• Reef fish — the isolation of Easter Island has produced a number of endemic reef fish species, including the Easter Island damselfish
• Southern right whales pass through during their northward migration

Responsible Tourism & the Rapa Nui People

Tourism is Rapa Nui's primary industry — accounting for roughly 95% of the island's economy — which makes responsible visitor behaviour unusually consequential here. The island's 12,000 residents are simultaneously the hosts, the heritage custodians, and the community most directly affected by tourist behaviour. Practical guidelines for respectful visiting:

• Never touch or climb the moai — the stone is fragile, oils from human hands accelerate deterioration, and the statues are sacred to the Rapa Nui people
• Stay on marked paths at all archaeological sites — the ground around many ahu contains unexcavated artefacts and is archaeologically sensitive
• Bring reef-safe sunscreen — chemical sunscreens are prohibited at Anakena Beach to protect the coral
• Buy from local artisans — Hanga Roa's market has authentic Rapa Nui woodcarvings, tapa cloth, and jewellery; avoid imported imitations
• Hire Rapa Nui guides — licensed island guides offer archaeological and cultural interpretation that is both more accurate and more meaningful than self-guided exploration

The Rapa Nui National Park charges international visitors approximately $80 USD entry, valid for the duration of your stay. This fee funds archaeological restoration, trail maintenance, and cultural programming. The joint management committee that administers the park includes Rapa Nui community members in all major decisions — a model of community co-management that has become a reference point for indigenous heritage governance internationally.

How IMPT Makes Your Easter Island Stay Carbon-Negative

The flight from Santiago to Easter Island produces roughly 300 kg of CO₂ per passenger — one of the highest-carbon travel segments in South America. When you also book your Easter Island hotel through IMPT, we retire 1,000 kg of UN-verified carbon removal credits per night — 28 times what your hotel stay produces. While we can't offset the flight from IMPT's hotel commission, we can make every night you spend on the island deeply carbon-negative.

• €5 free credit when you sign up — applied to your first Easter Island booking
• 5% back on every stay — 3% funds carbon projects, 2% as travel credit
• 8M+ hotels worldwide, 195 countries
• Free cancellation on most rates up to 48 hours before check-in