Easter Island has a good mix of accommodation, from budget hostels to hotels and self contained cabins. We chose a cabin at Cabañas Raupa in Hanga Roa for two nights, and it worked really well as a practical base for exploring Rapa Nui.
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If you’re still planning the wider trip, start with our Easter Island Travel Guide: How to Plan a Trip to Rapa Nui.
Where is Cabañas Raupa?
Cabañas Raupa is in Hanga Roa, the island’s main town, in a residential area close to the waterfront. We could walk into Hanga Roa for restaurants, shops and the coast. The Airbnb listing also puts Tahai around a 10 minute walk away, making it easy to reach one of the island’s best known sunset spots on foot. The property also had an on-site shop where we could pick up drinks and snacks, which was useful when we were coming and going between tours.
What was our cabin like?
Our cabin was simple but spacious, with a large bedroom, private bathroom and plenty of room for two people.
The cabin also had a kitchen, fridge, WiFi and free parking. Having our own kitchen gave us more flexibility and helped keep costs down, as we could sort out simple breakfasts, lunches and snacks ourselves rather than eating out every time. The small on site shop was useful for picking up drinks and snacks to keep in the fridge.
The main thing was that it was clean, comfortable and practical. We were spending most of our time exploring the island, so we didn’t need a resort or lots of additional facilities.
They can help arrange your Rapa Nui tours
We had only booked our full day tour for Saturday before arriving on Rapa Nui. When we checked into Cabañas Raupa, they were able to arrange an additional half day tour for the same afternoon, which meant we could visit Rano Kau and Orongo rather than losing that part of the day.
If you’re arriving without every tour booked in advance, it’s worth asking your accommodation what they can arrange. Many locally run properties on Rapa Nui have connections with guides and tour operators.
You can see exactly how we fitted the tours together in our 2 Days on Easter Island: Our Rapa Nui Itinerary.
What was check-in like?
Check-in itself was straightforward and the people running Cabañas Raupa were helpful, particularly when it came to organising the extra tour. One thing to be aware of is that English was limited during our stay. My boyfriend is fluent in Spanish, so this wasn’t an issue for us, but it is worth bearing in mind if you don’t speak Spanish.
I wouldn’t see that as a reason not to stay here, but having a translation app downloaded before arriving would make communication easier.
Is Cabañas Raupa a good location without a car?
Absolutely. Hanga Roa itself is compact enough to explore on foot, and staying close to town meant we didn’t need to hire a car just for restaurants, shops or evenings.
You will still need transport for most of Rapa Nui’s major archaeological sites because they are spread across the island and generally require an accredited guide anyway. For that reason, we found it much easier to use organised tours for sightseeing and walk around Hanga Roa independently.
What we liked about Cabañas Raupa
The biggest advantages for us were the location, amount of space and help arranging tours.
We particularly liked that:
- we could walk into Hanga Roa
- our cabin had its own outdoor terrace
- there was an on-site shop for snacks and drinks
- the accommodation could arrange tours locally
- the cabin gave us much more space than a standard hotel room
What to know before booking
The main thing we would flag is the language barrier. The people we dealt with spoke minimal English, so being able to communicate in Spanish made things much easier.
It’s also more of a self contained cabin stay than a full service hotel, which suited us perfectly but may not be what everyone is looking for.
If you want a large resort, hotel restaurant, pool and concierge style service, this probably isn’t the right choice. If you want somewhere comfortable and well located to use as a base while exploring Rapa Nui, it makes much more sense.
Would we stay at Cabañas Raupa again?
Yes. For a short Easter Island trip, Cabañas Raupa gave us exactly what we needed: plenty of space, a convenient Hanga Roa location and local help arranging the tours that made our two day itinerary possible.
We spent very little time sitting at the accommodation, so paying for extensive hotel facilities would have been wasted on us. What mattered more was being able to walk into town, sleep comfortably and make the most of the limited time we had on Rapa Nui.
Check current prices and availability for Cabañas Raupa on Airbnb.
For everything else you need to organise before arriving, see our Easter Island Travel Tips: Things to Know Before Visiting Rapa Nui.
