Rapa Nui is small enough to cross in an afternoon and dense enough to fill a week: volcanic craters, ceremonial villages, quarries where the moai were carved and the platforms where they stood, and a north coast with no road at all. Seen on foot, at the pace of a walk, the island makes sense as a landscape and not only as a collection of statues. Four nights in Hanga Roa, the only town, are enough to see it whole.
Day 1 · Hanga Roa, Rano Kau and Orongo
Highlight · The rim of Rano Kau, a lake of reeds far below and the Pacific on the other side.
Walk · Rano Kau and Orongo · 2 h
A lei of flowers on arrival, and in the afternoon the first walk, from the harbour of Hanga Piko along the sea, where turtles are often seen, then up the gentle Ara o Te Moai trail to the rim of Rano Kau. The crater holds a lake of reeds hundreds of metres below the edge, with the Pacific on the other side. The path follows the rim to Orongo, the ceremonial village of the birdman cult. Dinner in Hanga Roa is tuna and shellfish.
Night · Rapa Nui
Day 2 · Rano Raraku and Anakena
Highlight · Fifteen restored statues in a line on Ahu Tongariki, the largest platform in Polynesia.
East along the south coast to Akahanga, an ancestral village with the foundations of boat-shaped houses and a cave, then to Rano Raraku, the volcano where almost every moai was carved and many still lie half-finished in the rock. Lunch is a picnic. Below the volcano, Ahu Tongariki lines up fifteen restored statues on the largest platform in Polynesia. Te Pito Kura, with the largest moai ever raised now lying on the ground and its round stone of legendary energy, and Ahu Nau Nau lead to the white sand of Anakena.
Night · Rapa Nui
Day 3 · Akivi, Puna Pau and Vinapu
Highlight · Ahu Akivi, whose seven moai are the only ones that face the sea.
A morning on the west side: Ahu Akivi, whose seven moai are the only ones that face the sea; Puna Pau, the red-stone quarry of the topknots; and Vinapu, with stonework that has drawn comparisons with the Inca. The Father Sebastian Englert museum puts the morning in context. The afternoon is free.
Night · Rapa Nui
Day 4 · The north coast to Anakena
Highlight · The rock carvings of the Make Make cave, and a swim at Anakena at the end.
Walk · North coast · 5 h · easy
The longest walk, along the least visited part of the island: ancient dwellings and ceremonial sites like Ahu Te Peu, cliffs over the ocean, the strange volcanic shapes of Hanga Oteo and the rock carvings of the Make Make cave. It ends with a swim at Anakena.
Night · Rapa Nui
Day 5 · Rapa Nui
Highlight · Departure from the island on the flight back to Santiago.
Flight back to Santiago.
