What's on in Hanga Roa (Easter Island), Chile through the year

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Rule

  Thirty-day limit on visits

  1 Jan – 31 DecBook early

  Everyone arriving fills a form for the Chilean police and may stay a maximum of thirty days; the airline wants a return ticket and either a booked hotel or a letter from an islander before it boards you. Source ↗

• Rule

  Rapa Nui National Park ticket

  1 Jan – 31 Dec

  Every visitor buys the park ticket, valid ten days, before seeing the moai sites. Rano Raraku and Orongo can each be entered only once on it, so plan those two for your clearest day. Source ↗

Peak crowds — Tapati Rapa Nui, Summer holidays in Chile

• Festival

  Tapati Rapa Nui

  3–14 FebMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Two weeks of competitions between island clans — body painting, a sled race on banana trunks down a volcano, canoe and swimming heats in the bay — rather than a show staged for visitors. Source ↗

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

• Season

  Winter low season

  1 May – 30 Sep · usuallyOff-season shutdown

  The southern winter is the island's wettest and quietest stretch: fewer flights, cheaper rooms, and the ahu to yourself except for the tour groups off the one plane that landed.

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Busy — Winter holidays in Chile, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in June.

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Winter low season (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Busy — Winter holidays in Chile, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Winter low season (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Winter low season (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Fiestas Patrias, Fiestas Patrias recess in Chile

• Holiday

  Fiestas Patrias

  16–21 Sep · usuallyNational holidayCrowdedBook earlyClosures

  18 and 19 September are Chile's biggest holidays, often stretched into a long weekend. Fondas serve empanadas, chicha and cueca dancing, long-distance buses and flights sell out, and offices and many shops close. Source ↗

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Winter low season (1 May – 30 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Festival

  Mahana o te Re'o

  30 Oct – 10 Nov · usuallyMajor festival

  The island's language day, usually in the first days of November, has schoolchildren and families performing song, dance and recitals in Rapa Nui. After Tapati it is the biggest date in the local calendar. Source ↗

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec)

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Mahana o te Re'o (30 Oct – 10 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — travelers describe it as peak season, Summer holidays in Chile

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Thirty-day limit on visits (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Rapa Nui National Park ticket (1 Jan – 31 Dec)