When I was planning Easter Island, I had no idea where to start with the sites.
I knew there were moai. I did not know how many, or which ones were more important than others. Or what order to see them in. Or whether they were all basically the same thing in different fields. Nothing I found online answered that clearly.
You absolutely need a guide anyway to visit most of the sites (it’s mandatory), and they’ll design an itinerary for you. But here is the breakdown I wanted so I could make sense of the proposed activities from the guide. I’m setting out what each site actually is, which ones are worth your limited time, and what order works.
Obviously you should see as much of the island as you can. As many sites as possible. This is the kind of place you only come once. But there are some sites where you’ll want to spend longer, and others you’ll want to skip if you really are limited by time, or weather, or both.
For the admin side, the park ticket, the guide rules and everything else to know before you go, I’ve covered all that in How to Visit Easter Island in 2026.
And you should also check out my guides on:
Where to eat on Easter Island – to make sure you can pick the best restaurants while you’re there!
Where to stay on Easter Island – a run down of the best accommodation options to fir your budget!
First, what exactly is a moai
A few things nobody tells you before you arrive.
Moai are not just heads
This is the biggest misconception, and I had it too. The moai have full torsos, arms by their sides, and hands that meet over the stomach. The famous “heads” idea comes from the moai in the quarry (more on that below). Centuries of sediment washed down the slope and buried them to the neck. Dig them out and you get a body. But most photos also focus just on the heads so that also doesn’t help the misconception.
Moai have no legs and no genitals
They are ancestor figures, and they are all male. Each one stands for a specific person, rather than a god.
Moai face inland, not out to sea
They were watching over their communities, not guarding the coast.
Some moai wear a pukao
That is the red cylinder on top, which represents hair tied in a topknot rather than a hat. The rock comes only from the Puna Pau quarry on the island. The pukao signalled power, nobility and high social status.
Moai stand on an ahu
This is the stone platform beneath them, and it is the real sacred object. An ahu belongs to one Rapa Nui clan, and is a ceremonial site and a burial place, built and rebuilt over generations. Each clan’s own ancestors are standing on its ahu. The moai are the part you photograph, but the platform is what the site is actually for. You will see the word constantly: Ahu Tongariki, Ahu Akivi, Ahu Nau Nau.
Each moai is somebody
The whole moai era ran roughly from 1000 to 1600. Each moai is somebody. They are chiefs, elders and the founders of family lines, carved after death so the community could keep them present. They are not a literal likeness, but every one of them stands for a named individual. That is what the ancestor link actually means. The Rapa Nui were not building monuments to gods. They were putting up huge statues representing their grandfathers.
Mana
The moai held mana, the supernatural power that ran down through those ancestral links. And the deal was straightforward. The ancestors provide for their descendants. Build more moai, carve them bigger, please the ancestors, get more benefit. Benefit meaning having your needs met, being able to live, being provided for.
Then the trees ran out and the island’s ecosystem collapsed. People came to feel the moai had stopped providing. So the islanders abandoned their building of new moai. And toppled the existing ones. And moved onto a new way of life.
Every moai standing today was put back up in the modern era.
The best things to do on Easter Island: The moai sites
Now, for the sites. Everything you need to know.
Rano Raraku – The Quarry
The highlight of the island. If you only properly see one site, make it this one. But don’t go here first, it will ruin the others for you.
Rano Raraku is the volcanic crater where the Rapa Nui carved nearly every moai on the island. It is still full of them. Almost 400 moai sit there in every stage of production. Some are barely outlined in the rock face, others finished and waiting, others half-buried on the slope.
The largest one never left. It is around 21 metres long and still attached to the rock.
The hundreds of moai are obviously impressive. And you can see them much more up close here than at other sites, which have a no-access perimeter. But it’s the backstory makes this site the most interesting. The abandonment of the quarry was apparently not a gradual wind-down. Work stopped abruptly, mid-carving, and never restarted. People simply lost faith that the ancestors were providing, as the island’s resources ran out around them. They put down their tools one day, and walked away. Or at least that’s how the guide explained it…!
Plan this one carefully. Your park ticket only allows one entry to Rano Raraku. You cannot come back in the afternoon for better light. Aim to spend at least 1.5 hours here. There is a short walking trail – do it slowly. Take your time, get photos, pause for reflection. This is an incredible site. I didn’t want to leave.
About the “buried heads”
You will have seen the online posts. The ones claiming scientists dug beneath the famous heads and discovered hidden bodies underground, supposedly a secret nobody knew about.
This is nonsense, or at least badly told. The moai at other sites have their full upper bodies, as mentioned above.
At the quarry, the carvers worked on the statues where they stood. When the quarry emptied, the moai stayed there in the final stages of work. Sediment washed down the slope over centuries and buried them to the neck. It was not a burial tradition and it was not a secret. It is erosion. Go figure.
Ahu Tongariki at sunrise
Fifteen moai still in incredible condition, on a 220-metre platform, the largest ahu on the island. This is the famous shot you have seen online. And it is stunning.
Go at sunrise. The sun comes up behind the statues and silhouettes the entire row. The light changes from black, to purple, to pink. And if you’re lucky, to golden sun (we weren’t that lucky, but it was still amazing). It is worth the 5am alarm.
Only one of the fifteen still wears its pukao today. Originally they all may have. A tsunami in 1960 flattened the site and scattered the statues inland. By the time crews restored the platform, most of the topknots were too eroded to put back. You can see the spare red cylinders lying around the site.
One practical note. Sunrise here is weather-dependent in a way that no photo online admits. Our guide checked the forecast obsessively so we would get an actual sunrise rather than a grey smear. And it paid off because the pink sky shots were incredible, even if I only got one or two before the light totally changed. Build in a spare morning if you can so you have more of a chance to get a good sunrise.
Anakena Beach and Ahu Nau Nau
The one by the beach, and one of my favourites for all-round ambience.
White sand, palm trees, turquoise water, and moai standing right behind it. It should not work as a combination but it absolutely does.
There are two platforms. Ahu Nau Nau holds a row of moai, several with their pukao still on. They look noticeably fatter and better preserved than elsewhere, apparently because the sand protected them. Then a lone moai stands off to the side on its own platform. Our guide called him the brother-in-law. Nobody put him with the kings.
You can visit the beach without a guide, but not the ahu sector where the statues stand. You can see them from the sand, just not up close. This is one of only three sites in the national park that you can see without a guide. The beach has a separate entrance to the moai site.
There is a restaurant here too, open from around midday, with a view of the moai and the sea. The beach itself is worth a longer visit if you have the time. It’s complete with a Moana style boat. Which obviously I had to get a picture with.
Ahu Akivi – The seven explorers
The first moai I saw, and I was blown away. Then I saw Rano Raraku and Tongariki and was like ok wow it gets better and better. But still, this one is genuinely special.
Seven moai standing in a line, and unusually they face the sea. The traditional explanation is that they represent seven scouts sent ahead to find the island before the first settlers arrived. Which would make sense.
Here is a detail nobody can explain. Ahu Akivi is only 4km from the pukao quarry, and yet not one of its seven statues has a topknot. Nobody knows whether that reflects its age, a different clan hierarchy, or a build that predates the fashion for topknots. It’s an interesting note though, and one I didn’t appreciate until much later when I’d seen the other sites.
Tahai Ceremonial Centre at sunset
The easiest site to reach. And another of the only three you can do alone without a guide.
Tahai sits on the edge of Hanga Roa. You can walk it in around 30 minutes, or drive it in six. It is the classic sunset spot. The site faces west, so you watch the sun drop behind the moai and into the Pacific.
Tahai is not one ahu, it is a whole ceremonial centre. Ahu Tahai holds a single moai and is the oldest of the three. Then Ahu Vai Uri holds a row of five, and that is the one in most of the photographs. Ahu Ko Te Riku holds one moai wearing its pukao. This was a major settlement for centuries, and successive generations built and rebuilt here rather than starting somewhere new.
The moai on Ahu Ko Te Riku is the only one on the island with its white coral eyes restored. It is startling in person, but also has meaning. A moai was only considered awake once the eyes went in. That is the moment it could see its community and project mana over it. These eyes are modern replicas, apparently put in to show what a finished moai actually looked like.
Obviously visiting alone you get a nice photo and no context. Our guide took us here and it was worth the additional explanation. We had no car and weren’t based in town, so we didn’t get to go back for a second day of sunset, but I would do this if you can. Because two breathtaking moments are better than one.
Ōroŋo and The Birdman
This is where the story stops being about moai.
Ōroŋo is a ceremonial village perched on the rim of the Rano Kau crater. The crater lake sits on one side and a sheer drop off a cliff into the ocean on the other. The setting alone justifies the visit.
When the statues came down, the islanders needed a new way to choose who held power. What replaced it was the tangata manu, the birdman competition.
Each year, representatives climbed down the cliff and swam through open ocean to a small islet called Motu Nui. Whoever brought back the first intact bird’s egg made his clan’s chief the birdman for the year. The whole transition from the moai era to the birdman era took roughly a century.
The village only came alive for the competition season. Clans moved up here to wait out the competition, and you can still walk among the low stone houses they stayed in. The Motu Nui islet sits out below. Even in poor visibility, you can see how far that swim actually was.
I did this site in the rain and it was slightly miserable. The views were nowhere near their best. It was still worth it though to see the stone houses up close, have the backstory explained, the swimming distances pointed out. I came away understanding far more of the island’s heritage than I had an hour earlier.
Your ticket only allows one entry to Ōroŋo, same as Rano Raraku. Plan accordingly.
Side note – The Rapa Nui Movie
The 1994 film Rapa Nui is built around the birdman competition, and it will give you the gist of the background, cliff descent, the swim and the egg hunt. Treat it as a general gist though, because historically it’s… a bit off. It has moai carving and birdman contests running at the same time, which is not how it happened. One era gave way to the other. Still a good watch if you want to understand a bit more before you go.
Puna Pau – The topknot quarry
Where the red top knots came from.
Puna Pau is a smaller crater than Rana Raraku, and the only source of red scoria on the entire island. Every pukao on every moai came from here.
More than 70 of them still lie in and around the crater at different stages. Some are carved, some part-moved, all abandoned. The red colour mattered because red signalled the sacred and marked high rank.
The pukao are not hats. They represent hair worn tied up in a top knot, which was a normal Rapa Nui style. People believed mana concentrated in the hair, so more hair meant more power.
It is a short visit but worthwhile. It was the first site I visited upon arrival, and having not yet seen any moai, I didn’t really understand the significance. I would recommend you go here after you have been to a couple of moai sites where you’ve seen the top knots in action. It will mean way more.
Akahaŋa
Village remains and toppled moai, left as they fell.
This is where the collapse of the moai period becomes physical. The moai here lie face down where the islanders pushed them over. They had stopped believing the statues could save them.
Most sites you visit show restored, re-erected statues. Akahaŋa shows you what the island actually looked like for a couple of centuries. It is quieter and less photographed. But gives a very different vibe to the others. This is the only one in the list I didn’t make it to, but I did see other toppled moai (below). Try to stop here if you can. I didn’t know about it at the time or would’ve added it in on the way back from the quarry – it is on the way.
Te Pito Kura – The navel of the world
A large, smooth, almost perfectly round stone. With four smaller stones arranged perfectly around it. Tradition says the first king brought it to the island. People claim it holds unusual magnetic properties. And these properties make it the navel of the world.
The name Te Pito o Te Henua translates as the navel of the world. That is also one of the island’s own names for itself.
The site also holds the largest moai ever moved and raised on a platform. It is lying face down.
Things to do on Easter Island beyond the moai
Hanga Roa itself
Do not skip the town. I mean you would struggle to, because it is the main place to eat. But still.
And speaking of Hanga Roa – check out my guides on where to eat and where to stay so you can plan ahead!
Parroquia de la Santa Cruz – The church
This is the most interesting building on the island. Christianity here merged into local tradition rather than replacing it. There is a wooden carved Christ covered in Rapa Nui symbols. A saint appears in the shape of a birdman. The stained glass carries birdman and Christian imagery together.
It is a genuinely unusual example of two belief systems merging rather than one erasing the other. I had never seen this kind of mixing in such detail before. I found it fascinating.
The artisan market and local stores
This sits across the road. Worth a look for carvings made by people whose ancestors carved the originals. You can also get your souvenirs here.
There are also several local stores selling clothing, art and general stuff. Worth wandering up and down the main street to check them out.
Town stories
Another fact I discovered from my guide. You cannot buy land here unless you are Rapa Nui. It is why you do not really see international hotel operators. It’s a way to preserve and protect the land.
The pattern with young people is also the opposite of most small islands. They leave for university on the mainland and they come home. Some drop out specifically to come back because they miss home so much. There is no brain drain here. People love their homeland and want to return. Or at least, that is what I heard while I was there.
Terevaka summit
The island’s high point at 507m, and the only proper hike you can do without a guide. This is one of the three non-guided sites mentioned earlier.
It’s a three to four hour round trip from near Ahu Akivi, for a full 360 degree view of the island. Take water and a windproof layer. And download offline maps.
As a total anti-hiker, I very obviously did not do this trip. I didn’t have enough time anyway, but still. One for if you have an extra day on the island. And exclusively one if you actually like hiking.
The caves
There are lava tubes across the island, some with carvings and openings that frame the sea. Most require a guide.
Ana o Keke, sometimes called the virgin’s cave, is the most famous. Families reportedly kept girls out of the sun there to keep their skin pale. It also appears in the 1994 Rapa Nui film mentioned earlier.
This one also requires a 2-3 hour hike. I actually did want to see this one, but I asked the guide about it way too late. And probably wouldn’t have been up for the walk, especially as it was raining the day I hoped to go.
Again, if you have a fourth day and you like walking, it is meant to be worth it, and it carries real cultural significance.
Diving
The water here is famously clear, with visibility that apparently beats anywhere else in the Pacific. Operators run from the harbour in Hanga Roa. There is so much to see on land though that I’m not sure I’d recommend prioritising this.
I would call diving a nice-to-have, for stays of five days or more. And only if there’s something you reaaaally want to see.
How to fit the main things to do on Easter Island into three days
If you have three days, this worked well:
Afternoon of arrival. Tahai for sunset, plus one or two nearby sites to get your bearings. Evening in Hanga Roa checking out restaurants, bars, and stores.
Full day two. Sunrise at Tongariki, then Rano Raraku while you are already out east. Followed by Anakena for the beach and the afternoon light – you could even grab lunch here. This is the big day and it is incredible. Think about the weather though. If it rains, these sites are far less enjoyable. My full guide to visiting Easter Island covers the best times to go and how to plan around it.
Day three. Ōroŋo, Puna Pau, Akahaŋa and more of Hanga Roa town. The quieter, more historical half of the island, and easier to reshuffle or condense if it rains.
Add a fourth day for caves, the Terevaka hike or diving.
The moai that are not on the island
Three footnotes if you have ever seen a moai elsewhere in the world. Because I thought this was worth mentioning.
The British Museum has a moai, called Hoa Hakananai’a, which translates roughly as the stolen or hidden friend. It is one of very few moai carved from hard basalt rather than the soft volcanic tuff. Birdman carvings cover the back. That makes it a rare record of the transition between the two eras. The crew of HMS Topaze took it from Ōroŋo in 1868 and presented it to Queen Victoria. She passed it to the museum in 1869. They took a second one, Moai Hava, on the same trip. That one is still in the museum’s study collection rather than on display, and it has spent years out on loan to Manchester and Liverpool.
The Rapa Nui have asked for the two moai back, and have offered to carve exact replicas in exchange. The museum has so far declined.
There is also a moai at the Museo Fonck in Viña del Mar, on Chile’s mainland. Our guide thought it was a modern carving given as a gift. Sources online describe it as authentic. Jury is still out.
At Tongariki there was also a moai standing on its own near the gate. Apparently this one has travelled. It went to Osaka for an exhibition and then came home. Perhaps it has been elsewhere too. If you ever see a moai in an international exhibition, it is probably this one. I thought that was pretty cool.
Things to do on Easter Island FAQ
What are the best things to do on Easter Island?
A tough call, because so many are extraordinary. Rano Raraku, the quarry, is insanely cool. Tongariki at sunrise is an absolute gem too. But there are so many things to do on Easter Island that you should give yourself enough days to see all of the main sites!
How many moai are there on Easter Island?
Around 900 in total. Nearly 400 of those are still at Rano Raraku, the quarry. Never finished and never moved. Visiting the quarry remains one of the best things to do on Easter Island because you can see so many moai in one place, at different stages of development.
Are the moai really just heads?
No. They have full torsos with arms and hands. The famous “heads” at Rano Raraku are buried up to the neck by centuries of sediment.
Can you see the moai without paying for the park ticket?
Only at Tahai and from Anakena beach. There are also a couple in Hanga Roa town centre. Everything else sits inside the national park and needs both a ticket and a guide.
Why were the moai knocked down?
The islanders toppled them once they stopped believing the statues were providing for them. Every standing moai you see today was re-erected in the modern era.
How long do you need to see the main sites?
One and a half to two full guided days covers the main archaeological circuits. A third day gets you the quieter sites and the town. A fourth gets you caves or hikes. So three, up to four days to see the best things to do on Easter Island.
Planning the rest of your trip
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