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From Times Online

May 23, 2006

How to get to Easter Island

Doc Holiday opens his travel clinic on a daily basis to answer your holiday queries. Today: Easter Island

It's my long-term ambition to visit Easter Island. The island website seems tourist friendly, but I'm nervous of travelling so far without support. Do you know of any specialist tour operators I could use, without needing to commit to a tour of South America? Jean Lilly, Sheffield

Doc Holiday responds: It is a very safe place to visit and it is possible to put together your own trip. However, a major hurdle is that there is no competition on the route between Chile and Easter Island. The four flights a week from Santiago are operated by Lan Chile (www.lanchile.com) and booking them independently can be very expensive. Tour operators can negotiate better deals, and with the help of local ground agents, it means that you'll have some back up while you're away.

Several good tour operators offer small group tours to the island, or tailor made trips. In either case, you don't need to do a big trip round the rest of Latin America, or even the rest of Chile, to see it.

Last Frontiers (01296 653000, www.lastfrontiers.com) can organise a private tour of the island from £1,555pp. This includes flights from Heathrow to Santiago (via Madrid), one night in Santiago with transfers at each end of the island stay, flights to Easter Island and three nights B&B accommodation.

You'd be met on arrival in Easter Island and transferred to your hotel, and included are daily tours with an English-speaking guide. Three nights is about the right length of time to take in all that this small and intriguing island has to offer. You'd stay at the Hotel Iorana, just outside the main town of Hanga Roa, and would visit the Rano Raraku volcano and stone quarry, La Perousse Bay, Ahu Hekii, Te Pito Te Kura, the archaeological site of Anakena, and the ceremonial city of Orongo.

If you prefer an escorted tour with other tourists, the Explora Lodge on Easter Island is a good option. It offers a choice of daily walking excursions, accompanied by an English-speaking guide. It's a comfortable, but not luxurious hotel, and all meals are included, also available through Last Frontiers. Or try Tim Best Travel (0207 591 0300, www.timbesttravel.net), Sunvil (020 85684499, www.sunvil.co.uk), or Audley Travel (01869 276 210, www.audleytravel.com).

For further information on the island, visit http://www.netaxs.com/trance/rapanui.html, or www.easterislandstatueproject.org