You need a park ticket (USD $80) paid by credit card only. You can only visit with a guide but can visit as often as you like. Don't expect to have the place to yourself at sunrise. Ahu Tongariki is the largest ahu on Easter Island. Its moais were toppled during the island's civil wars, and in the twentieth century the ahu was swept inland by a tsunami. It has since been restored and has fifteen moai, including one that weighs eighty-six tonnes, the heaviest ever erected on the island.

You can visit Ahu Tongariki in the company of a local guide only. New regulations after covid to create extra employment for the locals. The ticket must be bought online and printed out as they stamp it at the entrance. The cost is $90, it covers all sites on the island, and it's good for 10 days, although some sites can be visited only once.

On May 22, 1960 the largest earthquake in the 20th Century struck off the coast of Chile, sending a tsunami westward that caused damage as far away as Japan and the Phillipines. It also hit the eastern coast of Rapa Nuiat at Tongariki, scattering a group of mo’ai statues hundreds of yards inland from their toppled location on a picturesque beachhead ahu. In the 1990’s a team from the University of Chile worked with a private Japanese crane company (Tadano) to restore the statues to their original place on the platform, where they stand inland guard and provide visitors with arguably the most renowned image on the island. I visited in the middle of the first day while circumnavigating the island. The area is uncluttered with two main features: a separate mo’ai at the entrance and the ahu with fifteen statues down below. After pausing to admire and learn about the traveling mo’ai (loaned to Japan for a “tour” of Tokyo and Osaka), we headed down the path to admire the main group of statues from as many different angles as possible. I walked around the site twice with my guide, who provided expert commentary on the main attraction and surrounding area including some broken topknots and broken remains of discarded mo’ai at the back of the ahu. We spent over an hour in the area. In summary, this was one of the top tier sites on the island and shouldn’t be missed by even a single-day traveler. While Orongo and Rano Raraku are a little more didactic and overall more satisfying, this area presents the finished (or in this case restored) mo’ai product in an original location that has as many photo opportunities as your imagination will allow. It was also an interesting learning about the international cooperation between Japan and Chile, especially given all of the global conflicts these days. Although I wasn’t able to make a sunrise visit, intrepid tourists may want to add that on to their itinerary as well. Definitely recommended