Anakena Beach, Easter Island

Anakena Beach: The Best Beach on the Most Isolated Island on Earth

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is 3,500 kilometres from the South American mainland and 2,000 kilometres from the nearest inhabited island. It has 7,750 residents and roughly 100,000 visitors per year. It is one of the most remote places any commercial flight regularly serves, and Anakena Beach, on the sheltered north coast, is where you go when the moai statues have occupied the morning and you want the afternoon in the Pacific.

The beach has white coral sand – rare on an island where most coastline is black volcanic rock – and a sheltered bay that makes the water calmer and warmer than elsewhere on the island. Coconut palms grow here in numbers that justify the effort to reach the north coast.

The Moai at Anakena

Ahu Nau Nau at Anakena has seven restored moai, several with restored topknots and eye sockets. The eye restoration is significant: the original moai had eyes of coral and obsidian that were removed or destroyed, and only a handful of Easter Island’s moai have had this feature restored. The watchfulness it creates changes how you experience standing in front of them. The restoration is modern conservation work (1978) rather than original material, which is worth knowing.

Ahu Ature Huki, a separate platform with a single moai, holds the distinction of being the first moai restored on Easter Island, accomplished in 1956 by Thor Heyerdahl during his expedition to the island. Heyerdahl used a team of Rapa Nui islanders, a lever system, and ropes, and completed the task in 18 days – demonstrating that the traditional methods proposed by the islanders worked without mechanical assistance.

Oral tradition identifies Anakena as the landing site of Hotu Matu’a, the first Polynesian settler, around 400 CE. The sheltered bay, freshwater spring, and coconut palms that distinguish this location from the rest of the coast explain why a navigator arriving by ocean would have chosen it.

Visiting

All moai sites on Easter Island require a Rapa Nui National Park ticket, purchased at Mataveri International Airport on arrival. The island has a single-visit policy for some sites, so plan your route before buying the ticket. Most visitors allocate 3 to 5 days to see the major sites.

Anakena is about 20 minutes from Hanga Roa, the island’s only town, by car or scooter. You can eat at the beach shacks there; the food is basic but the setting compensates. Hanga Roa has more restaurant variety and better prices.

Getting to Easter Island

LATAM Airlines flies from Santiago, Chile to Mataveri International Airport; the flight takes about 5.5 hours. This is the primary route. Santiago is the only practical gateway. Book accommodation in advance for December through February and for the Tapati Festival in February, which fills the island.

Easter Island is expensive for what it offers in terms of accommodation and food infrastructure. The experience justifies the cost for the right kind of visitor. If you are going primarily for a beach, there are less expensive options. If you are going because there is nowhere else on Earth quite like this, then the cost equation is different.