5 ideas for guided tours in Easter Island

• Anakena

  The white sand beach of Easter Island, protected by a coconut grove and bathed in turquoise blue waters. The beach is equipped with small straw huts where you can eat after a moment of relaxation. Unless you prefer wooden tables and benches for your picnic. The place is ideal for a family outing, with friends or solo for those who want to recharge their batteries.

  The Anakena site is also home to one of the most beautiful platforms in Rapa Nui National Park with its imposing stone statues. A favorite place for visitors and residents alike, it is a beautiful place full of history: it is the cradle of Rapanui culture. Enjoying the mild temperature of its waters with the Moai as a landscape will leave you with unforgettable memories.

• Tongariki

  Fully restored in the 1990s, you can’t miss visiting Ahu Tongariki. Its stone giants leave no one indifferent. A real challenge to the imagination and ancestral technologies, it is a fantastic testimony of this past civilization of which the current descendants are, with reason, very proud.

  On the seashore, raised several meters on a megalithic platform, the image of the ancients is still present and continues to intrigue the international scientific community. Nestled in the northeast of the island, at the foot of the first volcano to emerge from the waves and protected by a second volcanic cone, the same one that saw their birth, they have been reminding the world for centuries of the extraordinary human adventure of their creators.

• Rano Raraku, the quarry of the Moai

  The site of Rano Raraku is not to be missed under any pretext. It is here that the soul of the Moal stone statues is found. In one place you can discover where almost all of these buildings that have made the world famous of Easter Island were carved.

  No restoration has been necessary to continue to admire the Rapanui statuary from up close, frozen there since its creation. You stroll between these giant heads, along a unique pathway built on the outer slopes of this ancient volcano, each face seeming to tell you a little more about its history.

  All the visitors will confirm it: the place emanates a certain aura and it is very difficult to leave it. Enjoy your visit because it will be unique, the administration of the Rapa Nui National Park having decided to limit access to only one time during your stay for the sake of preservation of the site. So for a maximum immersion in the place, have a private Easter Island guide accompany you. He will be able to explain to you in detail the hidden mysteries of these legendary constructions.

• Ano Kau and Orongo

  On the southern tip of Easter Island, a volcanic land (all the volcanoes have been extinct for a long time), one of the most beautiful panoramas is offered to you: the caldera of Rano Kau, with its cut-out on the immensity of the sea encircling the island.

  After a stop to admire the island as a whole, then the immense crater, you will continue to meander along its edges to arrive on the area which shelters the vestiges of the ceremonial village of Orongo where the competition of the man-bird was still held in the 19th century. Once again defying the elements and bounded by a limited natural space, the top of the cliffs offers a superb view of the three islets below.

• Hanga Roa, the village

  After visiting the previous sites during a day-long guided tour, we return to the charming little Polynesian village of Hanga Roa, full of flowers, where it is pleasant to stroll just before sunset. The iridescent light of late afternoon bathes the streets of the only village on the island where population and economic activities are concentrated.

  A large number of small stores, handicrafts, souvenirs, grocery stores and restaurants are concentrated in just a few streets, which makes them easily accessible. The Sunday mass with its Polynesian songs is always popular with visitors and locals alike. The waterfront is home to a small artisanal port from which fishermen and providers of underwater activities depart. The gastronomic offer is very diversified and will convince all the requirements.