How to visit Rapa Nui: requirements, tickets and rules

Requirements to enter the island

Since 2018 Law 21,070 governs who enters, how long they stay and who may reside on Rapa Nui. This is not decorative bureaucracy: the island has hard limits on water, energy and waste treatment, and the law exists so they are not exceeded. It is enforced at the check-in desk in Santiago, before boarding.

1. Single Entry Form (FUI). Mandatory for everyone, Chilean or foreign. Completed online with the PDI before flying, free of charge. Carry the confirmation email: without an approved FUI you will not be allowed to board.
2. Valid identity document. Chilean ID card or passport.
3. A non-transferable return ticket with a return date within 30 days.
4. A booking with a SERNATUR-registered accommodation provider, with the address. The alternative is a letter of invitation from a member of the Rapa Nui community, with a reference number from the Provincial Presidential Delegation.

The maximum stay is 30 days and it is only extended for force majeure. Rapa Nui people, those registered with CONADI and others covered by the law are exempt from that limit.

The National Park ticket

The National Park covers around 43% of the island and contains virtually every archaeological site. Since 2018 it has been run by the Ma'u Henua Polynesian Indigenous Community, made up of Rapa Nui people themselves. The ticket is not a toll: it is what funds site conservation, environmental control and local employment.

• Valid for 10 consecutive days from your first entry to a site.
• Personal and non-transferable. Shown together with your passport or ID at every checkpoint.
• Where to buy: online on the official Rapa Nui National Park site, or in person at the Ma'u Henua office in Hanga Roa.
• Save the QR code offline. There is no signal inside the park, and even in Hanga Roa the connection is not always reliable.

Why a guide is mandatory

To visit the National Park sites you must be accompanied by a guide accredited by Ma'u Henua, or by a resident Rapa Nui host over 18. It is the rule, and it is checked at each site entrance along with your ticket.

Renting a car does not exempt you. It is the most expensive misunderstanding of the trip: people plan their own circuit, drive to Rano Raraku and are turned away at the gate.

The reasoning is twofold. The heritage is fragile and stands in the open, with no railings or display cases. And the story of each site is told by the community that guards it, not by a sign: much of what makes an ahu intelligible is oral history that is written down nowhere.

Single entry, opening hours and sites

This is the planning detail people most regret afterwards: one ticket lets you return as often as you like to almost every site, but Rano Raraku and Orongo admit one visit only. Those happen to be the two most important sites on the island.

• General hours: 09:00 to 18:00, Rapa Nui time.
• Special access: sunrise at Ahu Tongariki and sunset at Tahai, under conditions set by the park.
• Plan around it: save Rano Raraku and Orongo for unhurried visits with a guide, never as a quick stop between two other things.

The rules that carry fines

The framework is Law 17,288 on National Monuments plus the park regulations. Breaches carry heavy fines and can involve prison sentences. This is not a theoretical warning.

• Do not touch, climb or lean on the moai, the ahu or the petroglyphs.
• Do not leave the marked paths. The ground around the sites holds remains and burials.
• Do not remove stones, coral or fragments. Not even as a keepsake.
• Do not scratch or mark any surface.
• No camping and no fires inside the park.
• Drones only with authorisation, and never over private property.
• No pets, no alcohol and no smoking at the sites.
• Take all your rubbish with you. There are no bins at archaeological sites or beaches: what comes in, leaves with you.

What you cannot bring (or take away)

Chile's agricultural service (SAG) inspects luggage at boarding. Rapa Nui holds an exceptional sanitary status — it is declared free of the world's main bee diseases — and a single product is enough to lose it.

• You may not bring: honey and all its derivatives (wax, royal jelly, propolis, pollen), uncertified wood, pineapple, avocado and potato, plus other high-risk plant and animal products.
• You may not take away: stones, coral, archaeological remains or any plant or animal material. Taking a stone from Rapa Nui is not a souvenir: it is removing heritage.

Frequently asked questions