Things to do in Okinawa: Naha, the north, the islands and the best beaches

things to do on the main island and five outer islands, with entry prices and hours checked on 14 November 2026

27

the day the rebuilt main hall of Shuri Castle opens to visitors, seven years after the 2019 fire

23 Nov 2026

for an adult ticket to the Churaumi Aquarium ($14), open every day until at least 31 March 2027

¥2,180

The best things to do in Okinawa split between the main island and the outer islands. On the main island, start with Naha and Shuri Castle, drive south for the war memorials and north for the Churaumi Aquarium and the Kouri Bridge, then take a boat or a plane to the Kerama, Miyako or Yaeyama islands for the clearest water. Below are 27 of them by area, with prices and hours checked on 14 November 2026, then the islands, the beaches, the typhoon season, the food, how to get around and a budget.

The 15 best things to do in Okinawa

Tours and activities in Okinawa

Six well-reviewed trips on the water and on the road, from the Keramas and the Blue Cave to the turtles of Miyako and the mangroves of Iriomote.

See more activities in Okinawa

Things to do in Naha: Kokusai-dori, Shuri Castle and Tsuboya

Naha is where you land and, for most visitors, where you sleep the first nights. The monorail links the airport, Kokusai-dori and Shuri, so this is the one part of Okinawa you can see without a car. Give it one full day, with Shuri in the morning and Kokusai-dori in the evening.

Things to do in southern Okinawa: Peace Memorial Park, Himeyuri and Sefa-utaki

The south is a short drive from Naha and holds most of the memory of the Battle of Okinawa, which killed more than 200,000 people between April and June 1945, many of them Okinawan civilians. It also has the oldest sacred site of the Ryukyu Kingdom. A loop of Itoman, Okinawa World and Sefa-utaki fits in one day by car.

Things to do in central Okinawa: American Village, Cape Manzamo and the Blue Cave

Central Okinawa is the resort coast. The west side between Chatan and Onna has most of the beach hotels, the dive shops and the sunset spots, about 40 minutes to an hour north of Naha by the expressway.

Things to do in northern Okinawa: Churaumi Aquarium, Kouri Island and JUNGLIA

The Motobu peninsula is about two hours from Naha by car, so most people either spend a night in Nago or Motobu or join a day tour. Group the aquarium, Bise, Nakijin and Kouri on the same day: they all sit within 20 minutes of each other. JUNGLIA and the Yanbaru forest need another day.

Okinawa islands: Kerama, Miyako, Ishigaki, Iriomote and Taketomi

Okinawa prefecture has more than 160 islands, and the water gets clearer the further you go from Naha. The Keramas are a boat ride away and work as a day trip. Miyako and the Yaeyama group (Ishigaki, Iriomote, Taketomi) are flights of about 45 minutes to an hour from Naha and deserve two or three nights each.

Kerama Islands: Zamami and Tokashiki

The Keramas are a national park west of Naha with some of the clearest water in Japan, a reef close to shore and sea turtles off the beaches. Zamami has Furuzamami beach and, in winter, humpback whales that come to breed, roughly from January to March. Tokashiki is the larger island, with the long sand of Aharen beach. The ferries leave from Tomari port in Naha and the morning boats fill up in summer, so reserve by phone or online.

Miyako Island and its bridges

Miyako is flat, ringed with white beaches and linked to its neighbours by long bridges. The Irabu Bridge, 3,540 metres, is the longest toll-free bridge in Japan and leads to Irabu and Shimoji, while the Ikema and Kurima bridges lead to smaller islands. Yonaha Maehama, about 7 km of fine sand on the south coast, is the beach most people come for. There is no rail and little bus service, so rent a car at the airport.

Ishigaki, Iriomote and Taketomi in the Yaeyama Islands

Ishigaki is the hub, with flights from Naha, Tokyo, Taiwan and Hong Kong and ferries to the other islands from the port in town. You cannot swim at Kabira Bay: the bay is seen by glass-bottom boat, and manta rays gather off the island from about July to mid-October. Ishigaki is also an International Dark Sky Place, so the night tours are worth it.

Iriomote, 35 to 50 minutes away by fast boat, is almost all jungle and mangrove, a UNESCO natural heritage site since 2021, and home to about 100 Iriomote wild cats. Paddle up the Urauchi or Nakama rivers, walk to the 55-metre Pinaisara falls, and come between late February and late April for the fireflies. Taketomi, about 15 minutes from Ishigaki, is a village of low houses with red tiled roofs and coral walls, best seen by bicycle or water buffalo cart early in the morning before the day-trippers arrive.

Okinawa beaches: swimming season, jellyfish nets and safety

Most managed beaches on the main island open their swimming season in spring, often with an umi-biraki opening ceremony between late March and April, and keep lifeguards on duty until about the end of October. The main summer risk is the box jellyfish, habu-kurage, whose sting can be dangerous. Swim inside the nets where they exist, keep a bottle of vinegar in the car, as the prefecture recommends for stings, and call the coast guard on 118 in an emergency at sea.

The official list of the Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau names eight beaches with a jellyfish net: Naminoue, Sesoko, Araha, Zanpa, Okuma, Ginowan Tropical Beach, Manza and Maesato. Coral and rocks are sharp at low tide, so wear water shoes, and never take coral or shells from the reef.

Best time to visit Okinawa and the typhoon season

Okinawa never gets cold: Naha averages 19.8 °C by day in January. Its rainy season comes earlier than in the rest of Japan, on average from about 10 May to 21 June (in 2026 it ran from 4 May to 29 June). It also takes the most typhoons, with 7.9 approaches a year on average for Okinawa and Amami, mostly from July to October.

For the beaches, aim for late June to mid-July, after the rain and before the typhoon peak, or late September to October, with warm water and fewer families. Keep a spare day on any island trip, because a typhoon can cancel flights and ferries for one or two days. Our guide to the best time to visit Japan has the full monthly weather for Naha and the rest of the country.

Things to do in Okinawa in November, December and January

From November to February the sea is too cool for most swimmers, the wind picks up and boat trips are cancelled more often. It is the best season for everything else: Shuri Castle's new main hall from 23 November 2026, the aquarium without the summer queues, hiking in Yanbaru, whale watching off the Keramas from about January, and the cherry blossom at Nakijin Castle and on Yaedake in Motobu in late January, the earliest in Japan.

Ryukyu Kingdom history and culture in Okinawa

Okinawa was an independent kingdom, the Ryukyu Kingdom, for more than four centuries. Shuri Castle was its royal palace from 1429, when the island was unified, until 1879, when Japan annexed it and turned it into Okinawa prefecture. The kingdom traded with China, Japan and Southeast Asia, and its culture mixes all three: red-tiled roofs, shisa lions, bingata textiles dyed in bright colours, the sanshin and eisa drum dances. Nine of its sites, including Shuri, Nakijin, Zakimi and Sefa-utaki, were listed by UNESCO in 2000 as the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu.

The island was devastated by the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 and stayed under US administration until 1972, and cars only switched to the left side of the road, like the rest of Japan, in 1978. Karate was born here, and the Okinawa Karate Kaikan in Tomigusuku, near the airport, tells its story.

US military bases in Okinawa

Okinawa makes up about 0.6 percent of Japan's land but holds about 70 percent of the land area of the facilities reserved for the exclusive use of US forces in Japan, according to the prefectural government (70.3 percent in its figures). Bases shared with Japan's Self-Defense Forces are not in that count. These exclusive-use bases cover about 8 percent of the prefecture. The largest are Kadena Air Base and Camp Foster in the centre and the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, whose planned move to Henoko in the north has been disputed for decades. As a visitor, you see the bases mainly as long fences along Route 58 and in the American feel of Chatan and Koza. Their presence remains a local political issue, and most residents want it reduced.

What to eat in Okinawa: goya champuru, Okinawa soba and awamori

Okinawan food is its own cuisine, built on pork, tofu, seaweed and sweet potato. Goya champuru is the dish to try first: bitter melon stir-fried with tofu, egg and pork. Okinawa soba is not buckwheat but thick wheat noodles in a pork and bonito broth, topped with soki (stewed pork ribs) or rafute (pork belly braised in awamori and brown sugar). Taco rice, invented near Camp Hansen in the 1980s, puts taco meat, cheese and salsa on rice.

Awamori is the local spirit, distilled from Thai long-grain rice and aged in clay pots, often at 30 to 43 percent. Orion is the island beer. For dessert, try beni-imo purple sweet potato tarts and an ice cream at Blue Seal, an American-founded brand. The idea of hara hachi bu, stopping at 80 percent full, comes from here too.

Getting around Okinawa: Yui Rail monorail and car rental

The Yui Rail monorail is the only train in Okinawa. It runs through Naha over 19 stations, from Naha Airport to Tedako-Uranishi in Urasoe. A 24-hour pass costs ¥1,000 ($6) and a 48-hour pass ¥1,800 ($11), half price for children under 12.

Everything outside Naha is easiest by car. Buses reach the north and the resort coast, but they are slow in Naha traffic, and the capes, castles and beaches are spread out. Rent at the airport for the days you leave the city, and use the Okinawa Expressway to save time on the way north. Our guide to car rental in Japan covers the International Driving Permit, insurance and the map codes used on Okinawan sat-navs.

How to get to Okinawa: flights from Tokyo, Osaka and abroad

Almost everyone flies to Naha. From Tokyo the flight takes about 2 hours 30 to 3 hours, from Osaka about 2 hours, with JAL and ANA plus the low-cost carriers Peach and Jetstar Japan from Narita and Kansai, and Skymark from Haneda. Booked ahead, the low-cost seats are often cheaper than the train from Tokyo to Osaka.

Naha also has direct flights from Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Seoul, Busan, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Singapore, so a stopover in Asia can save the domestic leg. From the US, United starts San Francisco to Naha on 27 March 2027, three times a week. From Europe, Canada or Australia, fly into Tokyo, Osaka or an Asian hub and connect. Our page on flights to Japan compares the routes, and the Osaka guide or the Tokyo guide help you plan the nights before or after.

How many days in Okinawa is enough

Three to four days cover the main island. Spend day one in Naha and Shuri, day two in the south, and days three and four in the north, with a night in Motobu or Nago so you reach the aquarium at opening and still have time for Kouri and Yanbaru. With a week, add a Kerama day trip and two nights on Miyako or Ishigaki. Ten days or more let you do the main island, Ishigaki, Iriomote and Taketomi without rushing. If Okinawa is part of a longer trip, our guide to things to do in Japan shows how it fits with the mainland.

Okinawa budget per day in 2026

Okinawa costs about the same as mainland Japan for food and a bit more for transport, because of the car. Hotels are cheapest from November to March, outside the New Year week, and most expensive in July, August and Golden Week.

Count about ¥12,000 to ¥18,000 ($75 to $110) a day per person on a budget, with a hostel or shared room, and about ¥25,000 to ¥40,000 ($155 to $250) for a mid-range trip with a hotel, a car shared by two and one paid sight a day. Add the flights to the islands. Before you go, see our guides to travel insurance for Japan and the best eSIM for Japan, which also covers Okinawa and its islands.