Costs Incurred in Going to Easter Island
Easter Island is a destination that many travelers dream of seeing. For me, it’s been on my must do list since 1993. One of the reasons I put it off for so long was the expense. I’ve been watching airfares there for years and typically what I could find from Detroit ranged from $3,000 to $5,000. In June of 2018, that all changed. I found airfare for around $1700 a person and I jumped on it. Below are the costs of some of my expenses for my Easter Island trip. We typically had coffee at a restaurant in the morning, lunch was prosciutto, cheese and crackers from a grocery store, and dinner was spent in a restaurant with a view.
Airfare-Booked just over six months in advance on Vayama was $1727.
Rental car from Oceanic Rentals: $516.43 for four days, manual transmission: all wheel drive is a must.
Car insurance using American Express Premium Car Rental Protection $24.00.
Gasoline $58. We received the car on 1/8 of a tank and put 20,000 pesos in it twice during our four days of driving.
Hotel $172 per room for four nights. Booked on Hotels.com six months in advance for a stay at Hotel Atavai.
Cup of coffee with no refill was $2.88.
Admission to national park-mandatory fee $80.
ATM withdrawal 150,000 Chilean pesos was perfect for four days. I put all meals on credit card and used the cash for incidentals, souvenirs, or a drink or two.
Can of pop at the supermarket $1.30.
Cost to use a toilet $1.
Glass of wine in a restaurant $11.
Bottle of Corona in a restaurant $5.
Plate of pasta Alfredo $18.75.
Bottle of water in a grocery store $1.25.
Prosciutto in grocery store, 100 grams was $4.
150 grams of cheese $2.50.
Package of crackers (one stack of saltines) $1.43.
Local dish Pil Pil Shrimp $18.75. (Just an FYI they don’t devein the shrimp like we do in the USA).
Typical dinner bill for two people with drinks averaged $70. A “suggested” tip of 10% is added to the bill.
Overall, the prices were kind of high, but when one considers what stuff costs in Hawaii with a similar geographic location, the high costs do make sense. For me, it was just four days and it was a trip of a lifetime overall I would say it was worth every cent.
~Bella