11 Best Sights in Easter Island, Chile

One of the island's most breathtaking sights is Ahu Tongariki, where 15 moai stand side by side on a 200-foot-long ahu, the longest ever built. Tongariki was painstakingly restored after being destroyed for the second time by a massive tidal wave in 1960. These moai, some whitened with a layer of sea salt, have holes in their extended earlobes that might have once been filled with chunks of obsidian. They face an expansive ceremonial area where you can find petroglyphs of turtles and fish, and the entrance is guarded by a single moai, which has traveled to Japan and back for exhibition.  The perfect morning sunrise behind the moai at Tongariki lasts only from December 21 to March 21.

When it comes to moai, this is the motherlode. Some 400 have been counted at the quarry of this long-extinct volcano, both on the outer rim and clustered inside the crater. More than 150 are unfinished, some little more than faces in the rock. Among these is El Gigante, a monster measuring 22 meters (72 feet). Also here is Moai Tukuturi, the only statue in a kneeling position; it's thought to predate most others. Look out also for the moai with a three-masted boat carved on its belly; the anchor is a turtle. CONAF checks but does not sell tickets here. They are sold at the airport upon arrival or at the CONAF office near the Anthropological Museum, paid in dollars. The same ticket gives access to all archaeological sights on the island.

It's best to buy your national parks ticket upon arrival at the airport.

Tradition holds that this is the burial site of Hotu Matu'a, the first of the island's rulers. The 13 moai lying facedown on the ground once stood on the four long stone platforms. There are also several "boat houses," oblong, boat-shaped outlines that were once the foundations of homes.

These seven stoic moai—believed by some to represent explorers sent on a reconnaissance mission by King Hotu Matu'a—are among the few that gaze out to sea, though researchers say they face a ceremonial site. Others say the oral history of the explorers has morphed into stories about the moai, and that there isn't an actual connection between statues and explorers. Archaeologists William Mulloy and Gonzalo Figueroa restored the moai in 1960.

Eight fallen moai lie facedown in front of this ahu, the first you encounter on the southern coastal road. Three reddish topknots are strewn around them. Even after the ahu was destroyed, this continued to be a burial chamber, shown by the rocks piled on the toppled moai.

Lying here in pieces is the largest moai ever transported to a platform, measuring nearly 10 meters (33 feet). The finishing touches were never made to its eye sockets, so researchers believe it fell while being erected.

One of the few ahus to be erected inland, Ahu Huri a Urenga appears to be oriented toward the winter solstice. Its lonely moai is exceptional because it has two sets of hands, the second carved above the first. Archaeologists believe this is because the lower set was damaged during transport to the ahu.

Beside the swaying palm trees on Playa Anakena stand the island's best-preserved moai on Ahu Nau Nau. Buried for centuries in the sand, these five statues were protected from the elements. Minute details of the carving—delicate lips, flared nostrils, gracefully curved ears—are still visible. On their backs, fine lines represent belts. It was here during a 1978 restoration that a white coral eye was found, leading researchers to speculate that all moai once had them; a replica of that eye is now on display at the Museo Antropológico Padre Sebastián Englert; the original is in storage for safekeeping following an attempted robbery. Staring at Ahu Nau Nau is a solitary moai on nearby Ahu Ature Huki, the first statue to be re-erected on its ahu. Thor Heyerdahl conducted this experiment in 1955 to test whether the techniques islanders claimed were used to erect the moai could work. It took 12 islanders nearly three weeks to lift the moai into position using rocks and wooden poles.

The largest moai ever successfully erected stands at Ahu Te Pito Kura. Also here is the perfectly round magnetic stone (believed to represent the navel of the world) that Hotu Matu'a is said to have brought with him when he arrived on the island.

The appeal of this crumbled ahu isn't apparent until you notice the fine masonry on the rear wall. Anyone who has seen the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru can note the similar stonework. This led Norwegian archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl to theorize that Rapa Nui's original inhabitants may have sailed here from South America. By now it has been established that the first settlers were Polynesian, though evidence points to contact with South America early on. The moai here still lie where they were toppled, including one face up, which is unusual, as most were knocked facedown.

The ancient ceremonial center of Tahai, where much of the annual Tapati Rapa Nui festival takes place, was restored in 1968 by archaeologist William Mulloy, who is buried nearby. Tahai consists of three separate ahus facing a wide plaza that once served as a community meeting place. You can still find the foundations of the boat-shape dwellings where religious and social leaders once lived. In the center is Ahu Tahai, which holds a single weathered moai. To the left is Ahu Vai Uri, where five moai, one little more than a stump, cast their stony gaze over the island. Also here is Ahu Kote Riku, with a splendid moai and red topknot intact; this is the only moai on the island to have its gleaming white eyes restored.

This is an especially good place to come to see the island's blazing yellow sunsets.