Hello all. My wife and I are going to Okinawa for 4 days late October. I am blank about the place. I know there are some castles, some beaches, lots of us GI’s and that’s the extent of it.
I would like to see Naha if there is anything to see. I would like to rent a car and drive around a little. Who has some pointers?
never been there, but if I go I want to drive through the North Shores and find one of those cafes on a cliff with a view of the sea.
one of these maybe…
You should definitely check out the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (the whale shark exhibit was awesome). If I remember correctly, it was about 1.5 hour from Naha, but the drive was smooth because Japanese people have respect for the roads.
Great, that I will do. Where would you stay, in a resort or in Naha city?
I am fine with renting a car, has driven in the UK and Australia before.
Any hotel on or near the beach will be fine. The night life was bleak, but it’s just a relaxing place.
Driving on the other side is pretty entertaining.
Was late 90s when i was there so things probably have changed.
Naha is fine to stay in. Good hotels around, not expensive. Very small town it is though.
The beach hotels are far away and were already 3 times Naha prices back then.
Think 6500nt/night as compared to 1600nt/night I spent at a very nice little hotel in Naha. Prices may be more now.
Whatever you do , don’t take one of those tours on a bus. Some old lady (bus tour guide) was compelled to talk NONSTOP for the entire day (in Japanese). LIke listening to a witch cackle especially since I couldn’t understand a single word.
You have to have an international drivers license to rent a car.
I wish I was able to rent one. Would have been fun
4 days seem like plenty for Okinawa.
Tommy, good point about the IDP. That was the first thing they checked when the rental car company came to pick me up at the airport.
Just a heads up about the international drivers license. The IDLs issued in Taiwan are not valid in Japan. (At least the one I received in Taiwan)
What you will need is your Taiwan drivers license and an official translation document in Japanese. Any DMV in Taiwan can provide you with this.
Thank you for that one. My missus and I are not great on night life, a bottle of wine after dinner and that’s it.
I like driving around, I like scenery and museums. I do not like lying on the beach all day, however a bit of snorkelling would come in handy. And thank you for the heads up regarding the IDL, I only have a Taiwan IDL, so would need that paper you are mentioning.
Hello Mr He…
stay in a BnB up north, if you can. somewhere in Kunigami village or Ogimi Village or Nakijin are excellent options. The big hotels are crazily overpriced.
Driving is safe and easy. Most rental companies pick you up at the airport in a bus for the short drive to their premises, there is no room at the airport for rental car companies. Factor in an extra hour of faffing around.
Snorkelling is awesome everywhere, but best in the west coast. Some locations near the middle of the island (Yomitan and Onna areas) include Maeda (but the blue cave is a bit overrated and almost always full of Chinese tourists. best time for that is early morning). Also good are off beaches near the Ali Villa hotel and the ANA Manza hotel.
the aquarium (as mentioned) is great, but there’s much more than just the aquarium itself in that complex. Spend more than two hours at least. Close to the aquarium is Bise, a tiny old village of old-school architecture and great avenues of fukui trees. Go do a picnic lunch there!
north of Nago city the west coast road is narrow and flat, trapped between the hills and the ocean. the other side of the island has the best driving road, winding from cape Hedo in the north down to Higashi village in the north east. Connects across to Ogimi village by the 331. Make sure to cross over the island on roads 18, 14, or 2 for excellent driving opportunities. doing the 2 around sunset allows glimpses of the rare kuina, the Okinawa rail and emblem of the north.
do visit a couple of the old castles (all that’s left are stone walls). Katsuren is the best situated and best looking, IMHO, while Nakijin is the biggest and has more of the original stones left. Shuri castle is all rebuilt but has the most information and tourist infrastructure. One option is to get there by monorail from the airport on your last day (stash your bags at the airport and dump the rental car in the morning, visit Shuri, then do last minute shopping in Naha city by monorail). There is absolutely no reason to visit Naha city itself.
PM me for more details if you want, especially food recommendations.
I went with my wife and her family for a few days in June. We rented an 8-seat van and drove around. The driving is much more civilized than Taiwan’s and quite similar to Australia’s, but slower.
We stayed in Airbnb’s for 6 people. Generally, we find Airbnb accommodation is better than hotels of the equivalent price.
Shuri Castle is definitely worth a visit.
Also, if you are a beer drinker, you can do a free tour of the Orion brewery in Nago, which takes about 20 minutes, and enjoy two free beers per person afterwards. The tour is mostly in Japanese 
.
Gyokusendo Cave is also good.
Has anyone been to Okinawa since Covid? I’m wondering how much of the above is still applicable.
Edit: namely, how necessary is it to rent a car? And what is there to see other than beaches (e.g. a winter trip)?
Shuri Castle had a fire:
So I don’t know if it was restored or there are any sites inside the property that were unharmed, and you can still visit them.
I don’t drive, so I just cycled around the big island, and it was a great way to enjoy the marvellous weather and sea breeze!
https://goo.gl/maps/xHn1mHKe1vC1Xquf7
This google review from 3 hours ago shows there is a festival for the arrival of the tree that’s going to be used for the giant beams of the castle. So I guess reconstruction is on going?
It’s burnt down to the ground and rebuilt multiple times. The last rebuild finished in 1992.
It’s quite similar to many of Taiwan’s temples. Many of Taiwan’s oldest temples were rebuilt like Longshan Temple
Definitely consider renting a car. You can see so much more with it!
Rent a car or bring a bike. You cannot rely on public transport because there basically isn’t any.
Shuri castle will take many years still to rebuild. The gardens and main walls and so on remain, and are open for tourists. But parking is a hassle.
Everything else I wrote above is still valid….
You will need an IDP or a Taiwanese license with translation to rent a car, and a credit card from one of the major companies. I’m not sure they like any Chinese cards anymore.
As for stuff apart from beaches: we’ll, the beaches are still good in winter! Water will not go below 21 degrees in February. That’s like Sydney summer sea temperatures!
You could do a history tour of WWII sites, or include some forest adventure activities like hiking, waterfalls, zip lining, kayaking. Camping in the northern forest area.
You could do food tours to a variety of local farms and restaurants.
You could do a local culture tour: unique music, textiles, religious sites, pottery, museums, castles.
There is even one Japanese department store in Naha, called Ryubo. Only one! Well, we only have about one million people.
Thanks for all the replies, a lot of helpful information!
Unfortunately, it seems that rental cars are in short supply these days, especially when you need 6 seats. I only found one website with availability this month, and they want ~$125 USD/day. I assume Okinawa’s tourism industry is still getting back up to speed.
there are a bunch of caves too