Easter Island
Chile
One of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, set 3,700 kilometers off Chile’s coast, Easter Island (or Rapa Nui, as its Polynesian residents have called their home since long before the first European visitors anchored here on Easter Sunday, 1722) is legendary for its towering stone moai. Hundreds of these enigmatic statues were carved between the 10th and 16th centuries, the largest standing 10 meters high and weighing 82 tons, and they dot a dramatic World Heritage– listed landscape of extinct volcanoes, wild meadows, and rock-strewn hills that drape down to the Pacific surf. Today, fewer than 6,000 people call the island home, though tens of thousands more visit annually, some of them checking in to Explora Rapa Nui (56-2/ 2395-2800; doubles from US$5,100 based on a minimum three-night stay, all-inclusive), whose striking curvilinear buildings and oval motifs are a nod to vernacular designs. LEED-certified, the lodge’s 30 pine-and-stone rooms don’t have Wi-Fi, TVs, or minibars, but they do have plenty of style, not to mention expansive ocean and grassland views. Scuba diving and horse riding are among the many outdoor pursuits on offer.