Rapa Nui, Lickanantay and Mapuche hosts in Chile

The journey in one line

7 stops in Chile so far. The first rung is 3 of them, and the list keeps growing.

In 2017 Chile signed the administration of Rapa Nui National Park over to Ma'u Henua, the Rapa Nui community organisation, on a fifty-year renewable concession. The park covers more than forty per cent of the island. Everything on it now runs on Rapa Nui terms, including the rule that you may not enter without a ticket and an accredited guide. On the mainland the pattern is smaller but the same. Two of the Atacama's best known sites are looked after by Lickanantay communities, and the Mapuche museum at Cañete works with a council drawn from the communities around it.

Handing a national park to the people it belongs to is rare, and it was not a gift. Rapa Nui leaders spent years occupying and negotiating for it. What the visitor sees is the ordinary result: a ticket office, a guide requirement and a set of rules written in Rapa Nui and Spanish. The Atacama sites were declared national monuments by the Chilean state in 1982, long before the communities got a say in them. Quitor and Tulor are now run from the villages of Quitor and Coyo.

Rapa Nui is a five-hour flight from Santiago. The park ticket is bought before you go to any site, and Rano Raraku and Orongo may each be entered once on a standard ticket. Quitor is about two kilometres north of San Pedro de Atacama and Tulor about eight kilometres southwest, both easy by bicycle in the cool part of the day. Cañete is on the coast road south of Concepción.

Where it goes

The stops, in order

What a visit means here. A visit means entering the named site through its own ticket point or, for the park, buying the park ticket and visiting at least one of its sites.

1. 1

   Rapa Nui National Park

   Parque Nacional Rapa Nui

   Hanga Roa, Chile

   

   The park covers more than forty per cent of Rapa Nui and has been administered since 2017 by Ma'u Henua, the Rapa Nui Indigenous community. Its own site states that a ticket and a guide accredited by Ma'u Henua are both compulsory, and addresses visitors as guests on Kāiŋa 'Ono Tupuna, the ancestral land.

   What counts as a visit

   The park, entered on a Ma'u Henua ticket with an accredited guide.

   Access

   A ticket bought from Ma'u Henua and an accredited guide are both required. Park rules are published on the same site. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Permit required

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

2. 2

   Rano Raraku

   Rapa Nui, Chile

   

   The quarry the moai were cut from, with hundreds still on the slope in every stage of work. It sits inside the park Ma'u Henua administers and is entered on the same ticket, with an accredited guide.

   What counts as a visit

   The quarry slope and its marked path.

   Access

   Entry on the Ma'u Henua park ticket, with an accredited guide. Entries to this site are limited on a standard ticket. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Permit required

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

3. 3

   Ahu Tongariki

   Rapa Nui, Chile

   

   The largest ahu on the island, with fifteen moai raised again after a tsunami swept them inland in 1960. It stands below Rano Raraku inside the park Ma'u Henua administers.

   What counts as a visit

   The platform, seen from the marked path.

   Access

   Entry on the Ma'u Henua park ticket, with an accredited guide. Climbing on an ahu is prohibited. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Permit required

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

4. 4

   Orongo

   Rapa Nui, Chile

   

   A ceremonial village of stone houses on the rim of Rano Kau, above the islets where the tangata manu competition ended each year. It is inside the park Ma'u Henua administers and is entered on the same ticket.

   What counts as a visit

   The village and the clifftop path.

   Access

   Entry on the Ma'u Henua park ticket, with an accredited guide. Entries to this site are limited on a standard ticket. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Permit required

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

5. 5

   Pukará de Quitor

   San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

   

   A hillside fort of stacked red stone above the San Pedro river, built by the Lickanantay from the twelfth century. Chile's Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales declared it a national monument in 1982 and describes it as testimony to the Atacameño or Lickan Antai people. The Atacameño community of Quitor administers the site.

   What counts as a visit

   The terraced fort and its path.

   Access

   Two kilometres north of San Pedro de Atacama. Administered by the Atacameño community of Quitor, with its own admission. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

6. 6

   Aldea de Tulor

   San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

   

   A village of round mud-walled houses, one of the oldest settled sites in northern Chile, mostly still under the sand. Chile's Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales lists it as an archaeological monument. The Atacameño community of Coyo administers the visit.

   What counts as a visit

   The excavated circle of houses and the interpretation path.

   Access

   About eight kilometres southwest of San Pedro de Atacama. Administered by the Atacameño community of Coyo, with its own admission. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

7. 7

   Museo Mapuche de Cañete

   Museo Mapuche de Cañete Juan Antonio Ríos Morales

   Cañete, Chile

   A state museum of Mapuche culture in the Arauco province, built around a ruka and a collection of Mapuche silver, weaving and beadwork. Its own site presents the ruka as a Mapuche architectural form rather than a display case, and it works with a council drawn from the surrounding communities.

   What counts as a visit

   The museum galleries and the ruka in its grounds.

   Access

   Part of Chile's national heritage service. Check the museum's own site for current hours. Checked 2026-09-17.

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

Respect and access

On Rapa Nui do not climb an ahu, do not touch a moai, and do not walk off the marked paths. The guide requirement exists because people did all three. At Quitor and Tulor the ground holds burials. Stay on the paths. Nothing on this journey asks you to attend a ceremony, and none of these communities owe you one.

Permit required

Entry needs a permit, a booking or a ticket arranged in advance.

Opening times, prices, permits and eligibility change. Nothing on this page is a statement about today. Follow the Check access link on a place before you plan around it.

Sources

• rapanuinationalpark.comhttps://www.rapanuinationalpark.com/ · checked September 17, 2026
• monumentos.gob.clhttps://www.monumentos.gob.cl/monumentos/monumentos-arqueologicos/pucara-de-quitor · checked September 17, 2026
• monumentos.gob.clhttps://www.monumentos.gob.cl/monumentos/monumentos-arqueologicos/aldea-de-tulor · checked September 17, 2026
• museomapuchecanete.gob.clhttps://www.museomapuchecanete.gob.cl/ · checked September 17, 2026

TravelDay selected and grouped these places. Naming a custodian, a government agency or UNESCO as a source is not a claim that any of them endorsed this journey.