Tips for Okinawa, Japan

[PeteM]

Hi all!

We have five days on Okinawa towards the end of the year – any tips for hotels and/or fun things to do?

We’ve managed to book a hire car with a local company after much searching (none of the big brands had availability), so pretty mobile. We’re not divers, if that makes a difference 🙂

[SamG]

We had a fun trip here a couple of years ago. Car hire was amusing, we used OTS, we had a safety briefing of sorts which my OH was not amused by after 5hrs overnight flight in economy! Driving very easy.

We enjoyed:-

Gurume Conveyor Belt Sushi & the American area

We did a driving route to Kouri Ocean Tower
stopped at

Busena Marine Park Underwater Observatory
Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

ate at HANAHOU (Was local to us, wouldn’t go out my way for it)

Song Bird Cafe for western breakfast

Naha itself is worth a visit e.g. Shurijo Castle (may still be under reconstruction following the fire)
The Hyatt Regency has a nice bar with a happy hour

The beaches are nice too and of course many hours spent at Lawsons buying weird snacks 🙂

Any decent restaurants you need a reservation for especially at the weekend which caught us out a bit

[SamG]

We stayed here

https://abnb.me/EvMxtKIgZtb

And then a night in the Mercure as we were flying out early in the morning so returned our car the night before and took the railway in the morning to the airport

I believe Hilton has a nice hotel there

[PeteM]

Thank you very much!

We’re using OTS too, but the safety thing can now be done online before arriving! 🤣

[meta]

There are two Doubletrees in Naha and one in Chatan. The one in central-ish Naha is not very good. Choose Mercure if you want to be in the centre. Otherwise Hyatt Regency is best. There’s also a nice Novotel in terms of chains.

I also stayed at a newly opened Japanese hotel androoms in the Naha Port and have an upcoming booking at another hotel similarly called Hotel Anterooms near Tomari port. Naha is a small city and pretty much everywhere is walkable apart from Shuri castle.

Renaissance up north is okay-ish, but I’d rent a beach villa or similar. If you have 5 days, you might want to think about spending time on the main island and go for Ishigaki or Miyakojima instead. Short flights from Naha Airport and beaches are better. But since you already booked a car that might not be an option.

[SamG]

IIRC you can use Avios on the flights too. But for me adding internal flights on a 5 night trip was too much hassle. The beaches look absolutely beautiful though

[PeteM]

Thank you as well, @meta! 🙂