Day walks around Easter Island

There’s no better way to immerse yourself in all Easter Island has to offer than on foot.

One unmissable route is the 14km cliff-top walk to Anakena beach, showcasing the gloriously rugged coast and the endless Pacific beyond. Nobody lives along this remote shore, so the walk allows you to absorb the sense of total isolation as you stumble upon forgotten Moai lying toppled in the grass and wander past long-abandoned Rapa Nui villages.

Eventually you’ll reach Anakena beach: an archetypal Polynesian paradise complete with swaying palms and turquoise seas. It’s an astonishing sight, and all the more so after you’ve traversed the forbidding cliffs and stony bays more typical of the island’s coastline.

Another walk we’d particularly recommend skirts the rim of the vast Rano Kau crater, leading to an impressive view of a handful of evocative crags marking the land’s last stand against the ocean