Having just returned from my first visit to Easter Island, or Rapa Nui that is the official name nowadays, I am full of the impressions of the marvellous stone heads and the story behind.

This post is the first in a series of posts about Rapa Nui that I will post to condense my experience from our stay at Easter Island and our travel around the small island far out in The Pacific Ocean.

Like most tourists to Easter Island we stayed in the small town Hanga Roa that functions as the main town or capital of Easter Island. As the only town of Easter Island the smallness of the population is obvious. Easter Island has a total of around 4000 inhabitants.

On excursions with a clever local guide we travelled to the most impressive sightings of Easter Island and developed our understanding of the history of Easter Island and of the amazing stone heads.

Since childhood when I read Thor Heyerdahl’s widely published book Aku-Aku I have been fascinated by the stone heads at Easter Island and all the mystery around their history. The cultural heritage not only in the form of the stone heads and other historical artefacts but also in the form of the stories of Easter Island is outstanding.

For good reasons Rapa Nui National Park is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

I list some helpful resources below and will soon return with my personal experience and advice concerning travel to Easter Island.

Big list of guide books and other resources about Easter Island – Rapa Nui culture and nature.

Here are some useful links about Easter Island – Rapa Nui, – Rapanui (opens in new windows)

• Easter Island Foundation
• Wikipedia about Easter Island
• Rapa Nui – Easter Island home page
• Information about Easter Island from a fan of Chile
• Easter Island excursions
• Extract about Easter Island from the 8th edition of Moon Handbooks South Pacific by  David Stanley,

Read more about Easter Island – Rapa Nui at our sister site.