Rapa Nui Highlights

This tour goes in search of the secrets of Rapa Nui’s culture, and begins with a visit to the cave dwellings and moai platforms of Akahanga, on the southern coast of the island. The platforms have been left untouched, with their moai still lying on the ground where they fell, during the destruction of the island’s ceremonial sites. Over time, the statues’ ahus – ceremonial platforms where the moai were originally placed – have become overgrown with grass.

The ceremonial centre Ahu Tongariki, your next stop, is the largest, and perhaps most beautiful, of the island’s ahus. 15 resurrected moai throne on their platform, overlooking the island with their backs to the Pacific Ocean.
Afterwards, the tour continues to Rano Raraku, an extinct volcano of trass stone. This is perhaps the most intriguing sight on the island, because it is the quarry where the moais were cut from the rocks. The giant sculptures lie scattered all over the volcano’s hillsides, ready for a transportation that never took place. Higher up, even more moais can be found in various stages of completion, some still connected to the rock, as if they were abandoned from one day to the next.

From here, you drive north, to Te Pito o te Henua (known as ‘The Red Navel’ or ‘Navel of the World’): a large smooth round stone, supposedly with magical powers. According to legend, King Hotu Matua himself brought this stone here, during the earliest occupation of Easter Island.

Last stop on the itinerary of this exciting day is the beach at Anakena, where King Hotu Matua made land, accompanied by the first Polynesian settlers. You can visit two restored ahus called Nau Nau und Ature Huke The fine white sand is a good place to relax and take a refreshing swim in the Pacific, before being taken back to your hotel.