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The fifteen moai standing in a row on the platform of Ahu Tongariki, with grass and stones in the foreground, Rapa Nui

Sample journey · 6–8 days

Rapa Nui: the quarry, the ancestors and the birdman

Santiago, Hanga Roa, Rano Raraku, Ahu Tongariki, Orongo & Anakena

Photo: Azzedine Rouichi / Unsplash

Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.

Rapa Nui belongs to Chile, but in its language, customs and history it is Polynesia, the easternmost island of that ocean world, settled by voyagers who arrived by canoe more than a thousand years ago. Many come to see the moai, and there are indeed many, almost nine hundred. But this journey sets out to show why they stand where they do. At the Rano Raraku quarry you can see how the faces of ancestors were carved out of the rock; at Ahu Tongariki, how they watched over their clan, backs to the sea; and at Orongo, how, when the age of the moai ended, the island created an entirely different ritual: the yearly contest of the birdman.

Five nights is enough not to hurry: one morning for sunrise at Tongariki, another on the rim of a crater, an afternoon on the white sand of Anakena beneath the palms. The park is cared for by the Rapanui community itself, so you visit most sites with a local guide who talks not only about archaeology but about their own family's story. It suits couples and travellers drawn to culture who would rather stay longer in one place than keep moving on; stays range from a simple guesthouse to a cabin looking out over the ocean.

The route

The journey

  1. Santiago
  2. Hanga Roa & Ahu Tahai
  3. Rano Raraku
  4. Ahu Tongariki
  5. Orongo & Rano Kau
  6. Anakena
  7. Santiago
  1. A green district of Santiago with tall buildings and the Andes beyond

    01Days 1–2 · Santiago

    Before the longest domestic flight

    After the flight to Chile, one night in Santiago, so you needn't fly another five hours over the ocean the same day. If you arrive early, an afternoon at the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, whose Andean and Pacific collections are a good introduction to what lies ahead, and a stroll through the Lastarria quarter. In the evening, when the air is clear, the snow-capped Andes turn pink from San Cristóbal Hill. The next morning, the flight to Rapa Nui: about five hours over open ocean, some 3,700 kilometres from the mainland. At Mataveri airport visitors are often welcomed with a flower garland, and Hanga Roa is just minutes from your stay. Set your watch back: the island keeps a different time from the mainland.

  2. Moai silhouetted against the sunset at Ahu Tahai, Rapa Nui

    02Days 2–3 · Hanga Roa & Ahu Tahai

    A first sunset with the ancestors

    Hanga Roa is the island's only town: a small fishing harbour where sea turtles sometimes swim right up to the quay, a little church whose wood carvings weave together Christian and Rapanui symbols, and a market selling carvings in wood and stone. The first afternoon is gentle: a walk along the coast to Ahu Tahai, where moai stand on several platforms and one has had its eyes of coral and obsidian restored. Here the sun sets directly behind the statues, and it's the first evening of the journey when it sinks in where you are. The next morning, with a guide, the island's museum, on Rapanui history, language and the rongorongo script, which no one has yet deciphered. In the evening, a performance of traditional dance and song, or a meal of umu, food cooked in an earth oven.

  3. Two moai, buried to the shoulders in the green slope of the Rano Raraku volcano

    03Days 3–4 · Rano Raraku & Ahu Tongariki

    Where the moai were born

    The most important day of the journey begins along the south coast, past toppled moai still lying face down where they fell. Rano Raraku is the volcano from whose tuff most of the island's statues were carved. Hundreds of moai stand and lie on its slopes, some buried to the neck, others never freed from the rock, as if the carvers had only set down their tools for a moment. Here your guide shows how the statues were carved, how, in the island's telling, they 'walked' to their platforms, and the kneeling Tukuturi, unlike any other. The next morning, while it's still dark, back to Ahu Tongariki, the island's largest ceremonial platform, with its fifteen moai. A tsunami toppled them in 1960, and in the 1990s archaeologists and islanders raised them again. The sun rises directly behind their backs: a moment worth the earliest alarm of the whole journey.

  4. The green slopes of the Rano Kau volcano under a blue sky near Hanga Roa

    04Day 5 · Orongo & Rano Kau

    The edge of the birdman

    In the island's south-west corner rises Rano Kau, an extinct volcano whose crater holds a reed-covered lake, one side of its rim sheared straight into the ocean. On the narrow rim stands Orongo, a ceremonial village of flat-stone houses where the contest of Tangata Manu, the birdman, took place. Each spring, representatives of the clans climbed down the sheer cliff, swam through strong currents to the islet of Motu Nui and waited there for the first sooty tern's egg; whoever brought it back unbroken made their chief the birdman for a year. In the rocks around, hundreds of petroglyphs of bird-headed figures. In the morning, the trail to the crater rim, on foot from Hanga Roa if you like; in the afternoon, the Ana Kai Tangata cave with paintings on its ceiling, and a free evening in town.

  5. A path through palm trees leading towards the ocean at Anakena beach, Rapa Nui

    05Days 6–8 · Anakena & the north coast

    The beach where it all began

    The last full day on the island takes in the interior and the north. First Puna Pau, the small quarry of red stone from which the pukao, the moai's 'topknots', were made, then Ahu Akivi, where seven moai, unlike most, look out towards the sea. In the afternoon, Anakena, a beach of white coral sand among palms. In tradition, it was here that the island's first ruler, Hotu Matu'a, came ashore, and the moai of Ahu Nau Nau, buried for centuries in sand, have kept their finest carving. You can swim here, have lunch by the beach and simply be. With time to spare, a short walk or ride along the north coast, the wild side of the island with no roads. The next day, the flight back to Santiago and a night in the city, then home. For a shorter journey, four nights on the island and an onward departure the same evening you land in Santiago.

Experience highlights

  1. 01

    Sunrise at Tongariki

    Fifteen moai against a brightening sky: a moment worth getting up in the dark for.

  2. 02

    The Rano Raraku quarry

    Hundreds of statues at every stage of carving: a place where the stone itself tells how the moai came to be.

  3. 03

    Orongo on the crater rim

    Stone houses, petroglyphs and the story of the birdman contest above the islet of Motu Nui.

  4. 04

    With Rapanui guides

    Local guides who tell the island's story as their own family's, and speak of the moai as ancestors rather than sights.

First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.

Make it your own

  • More slowly

    A sixth or seventh night on the island leaves room to snorkel or dive in its clear water, ride across the interior or simply spend a day with nothing planned.

  • For a honeymoon

    A cabin overlooking the ocean, a private guide for the sunrise and evenings on the rocks by Tahai, with a week in the Atacama or the Lake District beforehand.

  • For the Tapati festival

    Around early February the island celebrates Tapati, two weeks of dance, song, sporting contests and tradition. Stays and flights then need booking very early.

  • With mainland Chile

    Rapa Nui pairs naturally with the Atacama Desert, Valparaíso and the wine valleys, or Patagonia: two or three weeks in all.

Practical considerations

  • Rapa Nui National Park is cared for by the Rapanui community: entry needs a ticket, some sites, such as Rano Raraku and Orongo, may be visited only once, and most sites can only be visited with a registered local guide. The rules change, so we check them before you travel.
  • Specific entry rules apply to the island, including on length of stay. We check current requirements before you travel.
  • Flights from Santiago take about five hours and are limited, filling early in the busiest months, so it's worth planning the island first.
  • The climate is mild all year, but the weather often changes within a day, with sunshine giving way to a short downpour and strong wind. We never touch the moai or step onto the platforms (ahu): they are sacred places.

General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.

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