- Where
- Juan Fernández Islands
about 670 km off mainland Chile - Coordinates
- 33.6414° S
78.8411° W - Highest point
- El Yunque, 915 m
(Wikipedia) - People
- 843 (2012 estimate)
mostly in San Juan Bautista - Renamed
- 1966, from Más a Tierra
- Getting there
- Small plane from Santiago, 2.5–3 h
then about an hour by boat - Advisory
- Chile Level 2
The airstrip was bare, dry ground, and a boat carried us on from there, past cliffs where seals lay about like dropped coats. Ahead, green and jagged mountains went up into a cloud of their own. In a garden by the harbour a tiny bird, coloured like a lit match, hung in the air at a flower and looked straight at me.
The short answer
Robinson Crusoe Island is the second largest of the Juan Fernández Islands, about 670 km west of the Chilean port of San Antonio, and the more populous of the archipelago’s two inhabited islands. Wikipedia gives an estimated population of 843 in 2012, most of it in the village of San Juan Bautista on Cumberland Bay, on the north coast, a community that lives largely from the spiny lobster. The island was built up by ancient lava flows, rose from the ocean 3.8 to 4.2 million years ago, and climbs to 915 metres at El Yunque. Chile’s environment ministry says 92 per cent of it lies within the Juan Fernández Archipelago National Park, run by the forestry agency CONAF, and the islands have been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1977. Until 1966 it was called Más a Tierra, “closer to land”.
Why it's worth knowing
Selkirk asked to be left. Wikipedia records that, doubting the seaworthiness of his ship, the Cinque Ports, which sank soon afterwards, he declared his wish to stay on the island during a stop for supplies in 1704, and his captain, Thomas Stradling, obliged him, leaving him a musket, gunpowder, carpenter’s tools, a knife, a Bible and some clothing. He lived first on the shore, then inland, on goats left by earlier sailors, in huts he built himself. On 2 February 1709 the privateers Duke and Duchess arrived; their commander, Woodes Rogers, called the man he found the governor of the island. Selkirk was not the first to be left here: a Miskito man known as Will had been marooned on the island from 1681 to 1684.
Daniel Defoe’s novel of 1719 drew at least partly on Selkirk, Wikipedia says, but his was one of several survival stories Defoe would have known, and Crusoe’s island is set in the Caribbean. Chile renamed Más a Tierra Robinson Crusoe Island on 1 January 1966, to attract tourists, and the farther island, Más Afuera, became Alejandro Selkirk Island, although Selkirk probably never saw it.
The field notes
The lookout
The walk most visitors make is to the Mirador de Selkirk, Selkirk’s Lookout, on Cerro Portezuelo at 565 metres, where, Chile’s national tourism service says, the castaway is said to have watched for rescue; from the top the view runs out over the north-west of the archipelago towards Santa Clara. Park information gives the trail as 3.5 km and two to three hours, and rates it demanding. In 1869 the crew of the British warship HMS Topaze placed a bronze tablet at the lookout to mark Selkirk’s stay, Wikipedia records, citing the explorer Tim Severin. In February 2005 an archaeological expedition found a fragment of a pair of navigational dividers of the early eighteenth century, which its authors thought likely to have been Selkirk’s.
Seals and a hummingbird
The Juan Fernández fur seal, found only on these islands and the Desventuradas, was hunted for its fur until it was thought extinct; Wikipedia records that a group of about 200 was found on the Juan Fernández Islands in the 1960s and that more than 12,000 are estimated today. The island’s other famous animal is far smaller. The Juan Fernández firecrown is a hummingbird found only on Robinson Crusoe Island: the male cinnamon-orange with a fiery crown, the female green and white, so unlike each other that they were once thought to be different species. The IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered. Counts differ: Wikipedia, citing the IUCN, gives 1,500 to 3,500 mature birds, while Chile’s environment ministry, citing CONAF, records an average of about 750 between 1987 and 1990 and fewer than a thousand today. Its threats include domestic cats and the loss of native forest. Of the island’s 211 native plant species, Wikipedia says, 132 are found nowhere else.
The wave
On 27 February 2010 a tsunami raised by the magnitude 8.8 earthquake off mainland Chile reached the island at about three metres high. Sixteen people were killed and most of the coastal village of San Juan Bautista was washed away, Wikipedia records. Another history lies under the water of the bay: in March 1915 the German cruiser Dresden, the last surviving cruiser of von Spee’s squadron, was scuttled by her crew in Cumberland Bay after a British squadron fired on her, and her wreck is now dived.
Dark volcanic cliffs on the island's coast, seen from a boat, January 2013.
Photograph: PatHen3333 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
A Juan Fernández cabbage tree, Dendroseris litoralis, planted in a garden in San Juan Bautista, January 2020.
Photograph: Richard N Horne · CC BY-SA 4.0
Fur seals on the rocks below a jetty, January 2013.
Photograph: PatHen3333 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A male Juan Fernández firecrown, July 2016.
Photograph: Fraenerys · Sephanoides Fernandensis Male · CC BY 3.0
- Climb to the lookout early and slowly, and at the top sit facing the sea, saying nothing, until the quiet has finished with you.
- Look for the tiny orange bird in the flowering gardens of the village, then keep very still and let it decide how close to come.
- Walk through the village as a guest rather than a reader of a famous book. It has stories of its own, and its people tell them better.
- Take the list up the ridge and read it aloud to the ocean. Mine is long, and the ocean heard it out very patiently.
- Stay long enough to spend a whole day without wishing to be anywhere else. It took me rather longer than the list allowed.
Selkirk’s Lookout. A high point on the ridge of Cerro Portezuelo, 565 metres above Cumberland Bay, reached by a steep trail of 3.5 km from San Juan Bautista, where Alexander Selkirk is said to have kept watch for ships during his four years and four months alone. In 1869 the crew of HMS Topaze set a bronze tablet there to mark his stay. From the top the view runs out over the north-west of the archipelago towards the islet of Santa Clara.
Tally, in the marginA high seat on a ridge, kept for the sake of somebody’s waiting. I had sat up there the best part of an hour before I caught myself watching the sea for a sail.
Getting there
How to get there. By air, in a small chartered plane from the Tobalaba aerodrome in Santiago, a flight of two and a half to three hours, Chile Travel says, to the Robinson Crusoe airfield at the far end of the island; from there a boat takes about an hour to Cumberland Bay and San Juan Bautista. By sea, cargo ships sail from Valparaíso or Algarrobo, a voyage of two to three days depending on the sea. The more distant bays of the national park are reached only by boat, arranged at the pier.
When to go. Chile Travel recommends November to March, when it is warmer and drier, or October to April for outdoor activities. The firecrown breeds from September to mid-November, and in summer the males are often seen in the village’s gardens, according to Wikipedia.
What to arrange ahead. Flights and a bed months in advance, as Chile Travel advises; the boat transfer from the airfield; and spare days at either end. The trail to the lookout is demanding: start early and carry water.
Safety. The State Department has Chile at Level 2, exercise increased caution, because of crime and civil unrest, with demonstrations in Santiago and other cities, and names no areas to avoid. It also notes a CDC Level 1 notice for Andes virus, a hantavirus, in the region, and describes the risk to most travellers as extremely low.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Robinson Crusoe Island?
Robinson Crusoe Island is the second largest of Chile’s Juan Fernández Islands, in the South Pacific about 670 km west of the port of San Antonio. Most of its people, an estimated 843 in 2012, live in San Juan Bautista on Cumberland Bay, and most of the island is national park.
Who was marooned on Robinson Crusoe Island?
The Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who asked to be left on Robinson Crusoe Island, then called Más a Tierra, in 1704 and lived there alone for four years and four months until the privateer Woodes Rogers took him off on 2 February 1709. A Miskito man known as Will had been marooned there from 1681 to 1684.
Why is it called Robinson Crusoe Island?
Chile renamed the island of Más a Tierra Robinson Crusoe Island on 1 January 1966 to attract tourists, after Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel, which drew at least partly on Alexander Selkirk’s years there. The novel itself is set on a Caribbean island.
What is Selkirk’s Lookout?
Selkirk’s Lookout, the Mirador de Selkirk, is a viewpoint at 565 m on Cerro Portezuelo on Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, where Alexander Selkirk is said to have watched for ships. The trail is 3.5 km and demanding; in 1869 the crew of HMS Topaze placed a bronze tablet there.
How do you get to Robinson Crusoe Island?
Robinson Crusoe Island is reached by a small chartered plane from the Tobalaba aerodrome in Santiago, a flight of two and a half to three hours, then a boat of about an hour from the airfield to San Juan Bautista, according to Chile Travel. Cargo ships from Valparaíso take two to three days.
What is the Juan Fernández firecrown?
The Juan Fernández firecrown is a hummingbird found only on Robinson Crusoe Island in Chile, listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered. The male is cinnamon-orange with a fiery crown; the female is green and white. Chile’s environment ministry, citing CONAF, puts the population at fewer than a thousand birds; the IUCN estimate, as Wikipedia reports it, is 1,500 to 3,500 mature birds.
When is the best time to visit Robinson Crusoe Island?
Chile Travel recommends November to March, when Robinson Crusoe Island is warmer and drier, or October to April for outdoor activities, and advises booking flights and accommodation months ahead because the island is remote and protected.
Is Chile safe to visit?
The U.S. State Department has Chile at Level 2, exercise increased caution (advisory dated 20 May 2026), because of crime and civil unrest, with demonstrations in Santiago and other cities; it names no areas to avoid. It notes a CDC Level 1 notice for Andes virus, with an extremely low risk to most travellers.