Easter Island: Rapa Nui, the Moai and Orongo

1. Day 1: Arrive in Hanga Roa, sunset at Ahu Tahai

   Mataveri airport to Hanga Roa, then on foot to the harbour and Ahu Tahai

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Hanga Roa
   Day 1 details

   Fly in from Santiago, about five to five and a half hours over the open Pacific. Schedules vary by day, and the island runs two hours behind mainland Chile; we send your arrival time with the flight quote. There is no jet bridge at Mataveri airport, so you walk down the steps onto the apron, and your driver meets you outside the small terminal for the five-minute ride into Hanga Roa, the island's only town, where we stay all four nights, about 15 minutes' walk from the harbour and Ahu Tahai. After check-in your See Sight Tours guide walks the group down to the harbour, where the first moai, Ahu Tautira, stands above the fishing boats, then north along the shore road past cafés and surf breaks. We end at Ahu Tahai, the restored ceremonial site on the edge of town: Ahu Ko Te Riku, the one moai with its eyes restored, stands near the five figures of Ahu Vai Uri, and the sun sets behind them into the ocean. A short briefing on the park rules and the days ahead, then a welcome dinner in town.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Mataveri airport (IPC)
   • Walk through Hanga Roa to the harbour and Ahu Tautira with your guide
   • Sunset at Ahu Tahai: Ahu Ko Te Riku and Ahu Vai Uri
   • Briefing on the park rules
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free between check-in and the late-afternoon walk

   Activity: About 3 km on foot, on pavement and grass; the walk back from Tahai is short and the driver can collect anyone who prefers.

   

2. Day 2: Sunrise at Tongariki, the Rano Raraku quarry

   Hanga Roa to Ahu Tongariki at sunrise, then Rano Raraku, back to Hanga Roa

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hanga Roa
   Day 2 details

   The day starts in the dark. Sunrise on Rapa Nui comes late, around 7 to 8 am depending on the season, and we leave Hanga Roa about 45 minutes before it for the half-hour drive across the island to Ahu Tongariki. Its fifteen moai, on the largest platform on the island, stand with their backs to the sea, so the sun comes up behind them and lights the sky around their outlines. A tsunami in 1960 threw them inland; they were raised again in the 1990s. We stay through the first light with a picnic breakfast and a slow walk along the platform, which fills the wait until Rano Raraku opens (we confirm the time for your dates), then drive a couple of minutes there. With your Rapa Nui guide you walk the quarry slope where nearly every moai on the island was carved: hundreds of figures still stand buried to their shoulders, and Te Tokanga, the unfinished giant of about 21 m, still lies in the rock. Look for Tukuturi, the kneeling moai. We are back in Hanga Roa for a sit-down lunch by about 1 pm, and the afternoon is free.

   Included

   • Sunrise at Ahu Tongariki
   • Picnic breakfast at Tongariki
   • Rano Raraku, the moai quarry, at opening with a licensed Rapa Nui guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Hanga Roa

   Easier option: Walk the lower quarry path only, among the standing heads, and wait at the visitor area while the group climbs higher.

   More active option: Where the path is open, walk on into the crater of Rano Raraku to see the moai standing around its reed-fringed lake.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Hanga Roa

   Activity: The only early start of the trip. About 2 km on foot at Rano Raraku on a dirt path with a steady climb. A fire in 2022 damaged parts of the quarry, and some paths may be closed; your guide follows the current route.

   

3. Day 3: Orongo, Rano Kau and the inland moai

   Hanga Roa to Rano Kau and Orongo, Ahu Vinapu, then Puna Pau, Ahu Akivi and Ana Te Pahu

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hanga Roa
   Day 3 details

   A western day, close to town. We drive up to the rim of Rano Kau, the volcano at the island's south-west tip, about fifteen minutes from Hanga Roa, and look down into its crater, more than a kilometre across, with a reed-covered lake at the bottom. Orongo, the ceremonial village on the narrow rim, sits about 300 m above the sea, with low houses of stacked flat stone and rocks carved with the birdman, the figure of a ritual that followed the age of moai building. Each spring, men climbed down the cliff and swam to the islet of Motu Nui to bring back the first sooty tern egg, and your Rapa Nui guide tells the story where it happened. Below the volcano, Ahu Vinapu shows fitted stonework often compared with Inca walls. After lunch in Hanga Roa we head inland: Puna Pau, the red-stone quarry for the moai topknots; Ahu Akivi, whose seven moai stand inland and look toward the ocean; and Ana Te Pahu, a lava-tube cave once lived in, with banana plants at its mouth. We are back by about 4 pm, with the evening free.

   Included

   • Rano Kau crater viewpoint and Orongo ceremonial village with a licensed Rapa Nui guide
   • Ahu Vinapu
   • Sit-down lunch in Hanga Roa
   • Puna Pau topknot quarry
   • Ahu Akivi and its seven moai
   • Ana Te Pahu lava cave

   Optional experiences

   • A Rapa Nui dance performance in Hanga Roa in the evening, paid on the night

   Easier option: Skip Ana Te Pahu, where the floor is uneven lava and the ceiling low in places, and wait with the vehicle.

   More active option: Walk up to Orongo from the edge of town on the Rano Kau trail, about 4 km one way with about 300 m of climb, and meet the group on the rim.

   Free time: Evening free in Hanga Roa

   Activity: About 3 km on foot in total, on gravel paths at Orongo and rough lava in the cave. The Orongo rim can be very windy.

4. Day 4: Anakena beach and the east coast

   Hanga Roa to Anakena, then Ahu Te Pito Kura, Ahu Tongariki and the south coast back to Hanga Roa

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Hanga Roa
   Day 4 details

   Today crosses the island to its main sandy beach and comes home along the east and south coasts. We leave after breakfast on the inland road and reach Anakena by mid-morning, before the beach fills. Tradition says Hotu Matu'a, the first king, landed here. Above the white coral sand and coconut palms stand Ahu Ature Huki, the first moai raised again in modern times, and Ahu Nau Nau, whose moai lay buried in sand for centuries and kept the fine carving on their backs. Swim, read in the shade, then a sit-down lunch at Anakena. Along the north coast we stop at Ahu Te Pito Kura, where a smooth round stone called the navel of the world lies beside Paro, the largest moai ever raised on a platform, now fallen. Then back to Ahu Tongariki in afternoon light, with the sun on the faces of the moai, and home along the south coast past Ahu Akahanga and Ahu Vaihu, where toppled moai and their red topknots lie where they fell. A farewell dinner in Hanga Roa ends the day.

   Included

   • Anakena beach, Ahu Nau Nau and Ahu Ature Huki with a licensed Rapa Nui guide
   • Sit-down lunch at Anakena
   • Ahu Te Pito Kura
   • Ahu Tongariki in afternoon light
   • Ahu Akahanga and Ahu Vaihu on the south coast
   • Farewell dinner in Hanga Roa

   Easier option: Stay on the beach at Anakena through the morning and see the coastal sites from the vehicle with short stops only.

   More active option: Swim or snorkel off Anakena, the one beach on the island where the water is usually calm enough.

   Free time: Free time on the beach at Anakena

   Activity: Easy walking on sand and grass; short stops at each site. Bring a swimsuit and a towel.

   

5. Day 5: A free morning, then fly to Santiago

   Hanga Roa to Mataveri airport

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 5 details

   A free morning in Hanga Roa before the flight back to Santiago. Walk down to the harbour for coffee and the fishing boats, browse the craft market for wood and stone carvings, or visit the Padre Sebastián Englert Anthropological Museum near Ahu Tahai, which tells the island's story from the first Polynesian settlers to the present (we check its opening days for your dates). If your last morning is a Sunday, Mass at the Holy Cross church in Hanga Roa is sung partly in the Rapa Nui language, and visitors are welcome at the back. Your guide sees you to Mataveri airport, five minutes from town, in good time for check-in. Flight schedules vary by day; the flight back takes about four and a half to five hours and gains two hours on the clock, so it lands in Santiago late in the day. Plan any onward international flight for the next day, or stay on in Santiago and start our Chile trip from there.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Mataveri airport (IPC) with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • Sunday Mass at the Holy Cross church, if your last morning is a Sunday

   Free time: Morning free in Hanga Roa

   Activity: Book onward international flights from Santiago for the next day, not the same evening.

   

Wildlife and weather: Subtropical and breezy all year: warmest from January to March, coolest in July and August, with showers in any month that usually pass quickly. The sun is strong even on cloudy days. The Tapati Rapa Nui festival in early February fills hotels early.

• Hanga Roa4 nights